Bat Planet

Bats are all around us and have coexisted with humans for tens of thousands of years.
They live in our attics and under our porches. Bats account for 20 percent of all mammal species on Earth and live on every continent (except Antarctica). Some are as small as a bumblebee and others have wingspans that could envelop an adult human. Bats eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes an hour, making our summertime camping trips more bearable. They live in colonies with thousands of their cousins, where they hang upside-down and groom each other, like monkeys hanging from monkey bars. These winged wonders have zipped and pinged through the night skies for seventy million years, but today almost 25 percent of bat species are at risk of extinction. In Bat Planet, discover the biology, habitat, risks to survival and how you can help one of the most widespread, diverse and fascinating groups of animals on Earth.

Neil Griffin is a writer and former wildlife biologist. In his time as a biologist, he caught bats in Northern Canada, counted rhinos in Africa, tracked jaguars in Honduras and hung out with monkeys in Belize. His nature writing has appeared in magazines across Canada, and he is the author of two poetry chapbooks. Neil is an alumnus of the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity, a finalist for CBC's Poetry Prize and an Alberta Magazine Award, and was an artist-in-residence for Ocean Networks Canada, where he was the first writer to ever hold the position. He has an MFA in writing from the University of Victoria and is a teacher on Vancouver Island, where he works with the most dangerous wild animals imaginable: teenagers.