When the sun goes down, it usually means the day is coming to an end for us, but for bats the day is just getting started.
Michigan is home to nine types of bats; the most common is the big brown bat.
Our Kila Peeples was invited by our friends at the Michigan Wildlife Council to learn more about this furry flying creature.
Although many people are frightened by the presence of a bat, there's no reason to be afraid.
Bats have excellent eco-location abilities, so they aren't going to fly in your hair or anything like that. They don't want to bother you as much as you don't want to bother them.
They also play a very important role in our ecosystem. Bats help eat a lot of insects, like files, moths and mosquitoes. They typically go after insects that tend to damage crops in Michigan.
But these bats are struggling to survive. The state of Michigan is hard at work to help preserve the bat population. There are things that you can personally do to help.
You can put up a bat house or help maintain some habitats for bats around your property by maintaining trees. Also be sure to follow all decontamination protocols if you visit a cave so you don't bring white noise syndrome fungus, which is deadly for bats, from one location to the next.
If you would like to learn more about bats and other species Michigan is working hard to conserve, visit the Michigan Wildlife Council website hereformioutdoors.org. And to learn more about bats visit the website mi.gov/bats