Bat Pollinators in Texas and Worldwide

Wild Spirit Wild Places will create connections and build a community committed to protecting the expansive wild lands of Texas through conservation and education efforts.

Wild Spirit Wild Places

DId you know that bats are important pollinators in Texas and worldwide?

The Rackhouse at Desert Door Distillery

Join us for an evening of Tuttle Tales devoted to the storytelling and conservation work of Dr. Merlin Tuttle, founder of Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation (MTBC). Merlin’s unique photography and communication first led to global appreciation of bats as safe, invaluable, even cute, and likable. Importantly, he will share how bat pollinators benefit humans, save billions in annual agricultural losses, and protect the health of the ecosystem, wildlife, and especially other pollinators! Merlin’s legendary photos and experience provide invaluable guidance and inspiration that must be preserved and shared for future generations.Tickets for this event include:<ul><li>a fun and interesting seminar presented by a world renowned ecologist and conservationist,</li><li> light snack options,</li><li>one Desert Door cocktail, and</li><li>a native Texas seed give away.</li></ul>Additional drinks, limited edition WSWP Pollinate Austin t-shirts, and MTBC merchandise may be available for purchase at the event. WSWP CONSERVATION MONTH: POLLINATE AUSTINPollinators, including native bees and honeybees, are vital for the preservation of ecological balance and biodiversity in nature, responsible for the reproduction of almost 90% of the world’s flowering plants, and play a role in bringing us one out of every three bites of food. Habitat loss is one of the greatest threats to bees today.<a href="https://www.wildspiritwildplaces.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Wild Spirit Wild Places </a>(WSWP) and Desert Door are working in partnership with the City of Austin to maintain the newly-confirmed Bee City USA designation. This commitment to conserve native pollinators requires city staff, businesses, organizations, and community members to work together to make Austin a better place for pollinators. In support of this partnership, Desert Door and Wild Spirit Wild Places will implement a variety of events to meet the <a href="https://beecityusa.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Xerces Society’s Bee City USA</a> requirements by:<ul><li>Creating pollinator habitats on public and private land, and increasing the abundance of native plants and providing nest sites;</li><li>Hosting pollinator awareness and education events; and</li><li>Publicly acknowledging Bee City USA affiliation online and in print.</li></ul>OUR EXPERTDr. Merlin Tuttle is a resident of Austin, Texas. He is an internationally recognized leader in research, conservation and photography of bats. His photos and research have been featured in five National Geographic articles, the journal Science, and many other leading publications. He founded and led Bat Conservation International for nearly 30 years, left BCI, then founded Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation (MTBC) in 2014. Since founding MTBC, he has continued his worldwide efforts from Brunei, Bulgaria, and Cambodia, to Taiwan, and Thailand, and from Brazil, Chile, and the Vatican, to South Africa. Through MTBC, Dr. Tuttle continues to provide the world's finest bat photo gallery and the most up-to-date responses to grossly exaggerated disease speculation about bats. This is also the only place to access his more than 60 years of unique expertise or support his work. At age 80, he is still passionately teaching the world to understand and appreciate the vital roles of bats. His first book, America’s Neighborhood Bats, published in 1988, played a key role putting unfounded fear in perspective and in outlawing the then widespread poisoning of American bats living in buildings. His inspiring autobiography, The Secret Lives of Bats: My Adventures with the World’s Most Misunderstood Mammals, was published in 2018, with top reviews, including from The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker and National Geographic. And in 2019, he served as science editor and sole photographer for the Smithsonian book, BATS: An illustrated guide to all species. He also serves as a Research Fellow in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin and still takes approximately a thousand new photos annually. Through Tuttle’s personal efforts, many of our planet’s most important bat colonies are now protected, including the world famous colony of approximately 1.5 million Brazilian free-tailed bats in Austin, Texas. Like bats or not, you will after learning what Dr. Tuttle has to share about these mysterious but magical animals. To learn more and support his work visit MerlinTuttle.org.

Bat Pollinators in Texas and Worldwide

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Bat Pollinators in Texas and Worldwide

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