European Bat Night is the name of an annual popular event of ecologists and families to draw public awareness for the sake of menaced bat populations. It is always going to be settled on a late summer weekend. In 2004 the "Night" has been celebrated at the 28./29. August for the 8th time.
The European dimension means that it is a small highlight of the summer for ecological interested people, children and families but there are events in not so small a number of regions and communities all over Europe. The main areas may be in the UK, France and Germany but also in Hungary, Belgium and Poland it is gaining popularity.
Depending on the local contributors there are species exhibitions, workshops for constructing bat detection kits and excursions at nighttime, for the bats are actively flying out only at night. All of this is frequently extremely fascinating for children for it is far off every day life and feeding positive fantasy about flying and being helpful.
Because the bat has a thin wing membrane, flying during the heat of the day could be hazardous causing excessive absorption of heat and resulting in dehydration and possible heat prostration.
Bat bites of humans are uncommon and rabies in humans resulting from such bites is extremely rare.
Once the hazards of youth are over, bats enjoy a relatively old age, some reaching the age of 20 and in one documented case of a brown bat, to 30.
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