In the end of April and May representatives of the Science for Nature Foundation and Fortis Vizio visited the municipalities of Krumovgrad, Madjarovo and Bolyarovo. Despite the successful attempts of our team to get lost in the Eastern Rhodopes, we’ve managed to visit 10 schools for 10 days and thus carry out 16 “bat workshops” involving nearly 400 children between the first and seventh grade!
The students had the opportunity to learn more about what bats are, what is their favorite food, where they live, how big they are, how many different bat species are out there, and how their babies look like. Through games and interactive activities, the participants had the opportunity to find out how echolocation works, what the similarities between bats and humans are, and what makes these small mammals so unique to our country.
Last but not least, students learned about what it is like to be an ecologist, a speleologist and / or a bats’ specialist. This included acquaintance with the necessary cave equipment and climbing trees (no caves near the schools :)).
In addition to pure joy, our visit and the new bat knowledge was of great interest to all children and their teachers. The general attitude from rather fear was changed to interest and sympathy for the bats, as well as understanding of the need to protect them, even if this means – how to save a bat who have accidently entered our home or how to make a bat house.