Creepy Wonderful Critters is an event sponsored by Auburn University's Louise Kreher Forest Ecology Preserve and Nature Center on Oct. 11 at 10 a.m.
The event is devoted to educating children and adults about often-feared animals that are beneficial to the ecosystem.
This year, the creature of focus is the bat.
"Many people don't realize that bats consume a staggering amount of mosquitos," said Jamie Anderson, membership and marketing coordinator for the Preserve. "We can thank the bat for making our outdoor expericence much more pleasant."
Vicky Beckham Smith, Auburn alumna, will be the expert speaker.
She travels under the business name A-Z ANIMALS to do bat programs across the Southeast.
"We will be meeting three species of bats," Smith said. "We'll meet an Egyptian fruit bat, and we'll have two native bats. We'll have the big brown bat and an evening bat."
Along with the two native bats Smith is bringing, there are 13 other species native to Alabama.
She also plans to teach about the different incorrect myths surrounding bats.
"Of course, bats are not blind," Smith said. "They don't all carry rabies. They're not flying mice. We'll go over all of that."
Smith will also discuss the eating patterns of bats and their predators.
"We'll talk about how the bat's feeding strategy actually benefits humans," Smith said. "The biggest benefit to us with bats here are that they're pest controllers. One little bat can eat about 3,000 insects a night. They eat about half of their weight in insects each night. All of ours in Alabama are insect-eaters."
Smith has life-size cutouts of bats she will be using for the presentation in addition to the live bats.
She also has masks for volunteers to wear that are modeled after bats and a child size bat costume for any willing volunteers to put on.
Smith is also bringing a bat detector, which detects ultrasonic sound waves humans cannot hear, but some bats make, and will translate the bat's echolocation into sounds the audience can hear.
The annual event attracts at least 100 attendees, according to Anderson.
Admission is $4 for members of the Preserve and $5 for non-members.
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