America's Neighborhood Bats: Understanding and Learning to Live in Harmony with Them

by Merlin D. Tuttle

Since its publication in 1988, America's Neighborhood Bats has changed the way we look at bats by underscoring their harmless and beneficial nature. In this revised edition, Merlin D. Tuttle, founder and science director of Bat Conservation International in Austin, Texas, offers bat aficionados the most up-to-date bat facts, including a wealth of new information on attracting bats and building bat houses and a totally revamped key to the identification of common North American species.

Genres: Animals, Nonfiction, Nature, Science, Natural History, Reference, Science Nature

96 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1988

Reviews

[Kerri Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bananas, avocados, dates, figs, peaches, mangoes, cloves, cashews, carob, agave, the baobab tree (of life!): All reliant on bats for survival. And yet at the time this book was written (1988), bats were our most endangered land mammal.*

This little book filled to the brim with bat facts was written by one of the United States' foremost bat scientists, and was written expressly to combat people's (misplaced, unnecessary) fear of bats.

I dig how no-nonsense it is, and how earnest. Tuttle wants everyone to understand how beneficial bats are, how essential to so many ecosystems (from the water to the tallest canopies), and how easily and peacefully humans and bats can coexist.

There's even a section on how to construct your own bat house to attract and safely house bats on your property, + a section at the end called "A Beginner's Key to American Bats," both of which greatly appealed to the bat nerd in me.

It's a hopeful little book, even as Tuttle has seen first-hand how devastating humans can be to creatures they irrationally fear. I'll never forget Tuttle's description of men throwing sticks of dynamite into caves where bats were roosting, sleeping peacefully during winter months, not a harm or a danger to anyone.

That we as humans have tried to valiantly to decimate so many wild species that this earth needs to survive continues to be testament to our inability to be good stewards of the land we often occupy as if it were ours and no one else's. 

That's the story with bats, just as it is with so many creatures on this planet: They're in trouble because of us. Because we won't leave them well enough alone.

"Even more important, we need bats whether we like them or not; their loss poses serious, potentially irreversible consequences to the environment that we all must share." -pg. 51

*The most recent data I could find on bats via the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists 24 bat species as "Critically Endangered" (facing imminent risk of extinction), 53 others as "Endangered," and 104 bat species as "Vulnerable" to extinction.

[Five stars for the hope we won't ruin everything before it's too late, and for humans like Tuttle who spend their lives fighting for species that aren't always so easy to love.]**

**For the record, I love bats. They're beautiful, and amazing, and whenever I swim at night, they skim and swoop and swim the surface of the water alongside me.

[Carbonearts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a lot of really interesting information! It has practical advice about dealing with bats plus an overview of all kinds of different species around the world. Loved it.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

A better book than I expected! I especially like the field guide section at the end, but then I'm always weak for field guides. The beginning sections, which talk a lot about how bats' habitats intersect with humans', felt dated, though. Partly in a good way - I feel like a modern edition of this book would have to spend a lot less time reassuring people that no, you don't have to flee in fear in your underwear just because you think there might be a bat somewhere possibly nearby. (Not that there aren't still people who are terrified of bats, but I feel like it's a lot less mainstream than it was even fifteen years ago - books like this are doing their job, I guess.)

Partly in a sad way, though, because this book predates the white nose syndrome that has been decimating bat populations all over the US for the past seven years - the world this book describes of abundant bats everywhere is one we may not see again for a very long time.

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and a quick read

Book was written presumably in the 70s or 80s and would make a great book for a young reader that has an interest in bats
Being my first book on bats it may be a great starter for me but I finished it In a couple hours and found it to focus more on dispelling irrational fear(a great objective for the publishing time) than on information concerning bats
More concisely put, throughout the informative text there was an attempt to dispel irrational bat-phobia in nearly every page, I imagine the repetition would've been great for ME at say, 10 years old but for ME I found it unessacarily repetitive, overall decent book on bats imo

[Don Gubler · Rating 3 out of 5]

You have got to love bats.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

When my sister and I reminisce about our fondest childhood memories, one that always comes up is piling into the back of our grandparents' station wagon on Friday nights in the late winter and early spring to see the UWM Science Bag. These were (are!) free presentations put on by the university for community members, by professors and local science experts.

At their worst, Science Bag presentations were dry lectures and made for a very boring hour sitting in a dated lecture hall, after which we were rewarded with a soft-serve cone from the McDonalds across the street from campus.

At their best, they were engaging presentations that captured our imagination, usually with small explosions or light-bending tricks, and made us forget that the ice cream was waiting for us.

My sister and I both agree that the best of all the Science Bags was the one with Merlin Tuttle and his bats.

You read that right - Dr Tuttle not only showed up for the presentation, but he brought a whole cast bats with him. I seem to remember that the bats each came tied securely into a mens' sock, but it has been a very long time and I may be making that little detail up. And Dr. Tuttle assured us that at some point we would get to see them fly through the auditorium.

Fly? Through the auditorium? We were on the edges of our seats. It was exciting and terrifying at the same time. Would they fly for our heads? Tangle themselves in our hair as we'd been warned by older relatives?

As we waited to see the bats, Dr Tuttle taught us about the different types of bats and about why we should not fear them. We heard the love and excitement that he held for his bats and we began to love them too. Any fears we had to begin with melted, and by the time the bats were finally allowed to fly from the front of the auditorium to Dr Tuttle's assistants at the back, we were at least their second biggest fans and wanted nothing more than for them to swoop close to us.

At the end of the presentation, Dr Tuttle invited the children up to the front of the hall to meet his bats in person. We waited impatiently in line to pet one of the sweet little bats, and it was worth every second.

This book by Dr. Tuttle is the next best thing to being at one of his presentations. It shows the same love and concern for bats, and seeks to educate people, with our often irrational fears of bats. It does a great job of explaining the actual risks involved with interactions with bats and also describes some of the bats North Americans are most likely to encounter. It's a quick read and very informative.

Thank you Dr Tuttle for tirelessly working to protect bats by educating humans about better ways to interact. And thank you for the best Science Bag ever.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Merlin D. Tuttle is a bat expert. Tuttle is the Founder and President of Bat Conservation International, based in Austin, Texas. Tuttle worked to preserve the bats' colony that lived under the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, which is now a tourist attraction in the city (Ninesling 2019). Tuttle writes about the Congress Avenue Bridge briefly in his Second Revised Edition of America’s Neighborhood Bats and includes a colored picture of the bat colony of Congress Avenue Bridge (Merlin 61-65). The bats in the colony in Austin are of the species of bats known as the Mexican Free Tails (Merlin 61-65). The second edition of Tuttle’s guide to humans living with bats, known as America’s Neighborhood Bats, was published in 2005. Tuttle’s book includes many colored pictures, a picture glossary, an anatomy guide, and selected bibliography. Tuttle writes that the purpose of his book, America’s Neighborhood Bats, is “my purpose is to introduce these frequently misunderstood animals to the layman, to provide solutions to problems, to dispel unnecessary fears, and to encourage an appreciation of bats and their conservation needs” (Merlin 1). I think Merlin D. Tuttle’s book, America’s Neighborhood Bats, succeeds in achieving the goals listed on the book's first page.
Work Cited:
Ninesling, Rose. 2019, September. “The Year Austin Wanted to Exterminate the Bats.” Austin Monthly. Accessed on September 7, 2022. The Year Austin Wanted to Exterminate the Bats - Austin Monthly Magazine

[Brenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has a lot of good information and is an easy read for the average person too understand. However, it was published in 1988 so some information is not up to date as research has continued from there.

[Sarah Beaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't a bad book, but there were too many 'not much is known about' statements. The book is a little dated, but had interesting information about bat houses and good photos.

[Tristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommend for everyone to read!

[Valerie]

There are other field guides to bats--what sets this one out is Tuttle's brilliant camera work.

BCI (Bat Conservation International) produces other guides to bats, some of them in English. It's useful to know the US bats, but (as is often pointed out in Bats Magazine), many bats are migratory, and national borders mean little to them.

Furthermore, many agricultural crops, restoration of rainforests, vital desert plants, etc depend on bats worldwide--so a limited field guide is useful mainly as one of a multivolume set.

I have an older edition, and I'm not sure when this was revised, so I don't know whether this edition includes discussion of such things as the danger from wind turbines and White Nose Syndrome.

Generally, I would recommend that if you buy the book, you also join BCI, so you'll get the quarterly journal, as well.

[Meagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that this book had great information, I definitely want to put up a bat box in my backyard! But there was a lot of research information in it I wasn't really interested in. I didn't really need to or wanted to read about all the species, etc. But it was a good read, fast and it was informative.

[Avery N. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this book, my grandmother gave it to me last summer and I have been rereading it ever since. I love bats and have read every single book that I can find on them. This book was unlike the others(besides the fact that it isn't meant for 8-year-olds) it gives very good details that really helped me understand bats(more than I already do).

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to be really afraid of bats. I saw a show once where this man was just standing amongst swarming bats. I couldn't believe it! I sought out this book to find out all I could about bats. This book was really good and gave me a new found appreciation for who bats really are.

[Fishface · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction to understanding, appreciating and wooing bats. Be aware this came out before the white-nose epidemic.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

such a great book!