Linking bats, people, and ecosystems

Nebraska One Health is creating a year-long event to highlight the importance of bats and their connections to health and socio-environmental systems. As the world deals with emerging infectious diseases like COVID-19, bats have received negative attention. This ongoing event will explore interactions between bats, humans, and ecosystems, and address myths surrounding bats. Our project will be online as we build an interactive bat, human, and ecosystem health activity book for kids and families. We’ll be releasing monthly installments focusing on connections among bats, people, and our shared environments. Our first activity (shared Nov 3) will engage participants in creating a mobile featuring bats from different countries with diverse diets, physical traits, and habitats. To spur conversation and learning among children and families about bats and their benefits to ecosystems, we’ll also be hosting online readings of bat-themed stories from different parts of the world in diverse languages.