Fleder(t)raum

The male goes in search of female when in heat. They give birth to the young in so-called brood chambers. When it has found this, the paring begins. They are 3 months pregant and will carry the babies to term. The babies are suckled for 4–6 weeks. When the young animals are strong enough after 4–6 weeks, they learn from the mother (insect hunting and everything you need to survive) They are born in early June to late July. Depending on the weather, they can come 2 weeks later. But in the winter they hibernate for six months. In order for this to happen, the females collect the sperm from autumn until ovulation in spring and are then pregnant for 1-3 months. Normally, they have 1 young bats per year.

There are 950 species of bat around the world 

<a href="https://pixabay.com/de/photos/flughunde-fledermaus-2237209/">https://pixabay.com/de/photos/flughunde-fledermaus-2237209/</a>

Our class 6d wanted to do something good for the nature and the animals, so we looked for an endangered animal which needs help. We decided to help the bats, because they are very threatened.

We considered what we can do for the bats and our class had the idea to make bat boxes. And that the bats have something to eat we planted seeds in flower beds.

Intro:  Ich sitze im Büro und schaue aus dem Fenster. Draußen ist es warm und es wird langsam finster. Batmans kleiner Bruder, die Fledermaus,  fliegt stillschweigend um ein kleines Haus.   1. Strophe:  Das ist die Fledermaus, sie ist keine Maus.   Sie ist ein Säugetier, ihr Lebensraum ist hier.  Sie wird nich‘ so alt, und mag es nich‘ so kalt.  Sie ist sehr bedroht und in großer Not. 2. Strophe:  LISTEN! – Kannst du sie hören, auf der Jagd sollst du sie nicht stören.  LOOK! –  Sie ist schwarz wie die Nacht,  sieh genau hin was sie alles macht.

Refrain:  Die Fledermaus braucht ja wohl auch ein Haus,  und das bieten wir ihr, denn sie es ein bedrohtes Tier. Das schwarze Wesen, hängt Tags herum,  dafür hat es dann aber nachts viel Schwung. 3. Strophe:  Sie haben keinen Schiss, besitzen ein scharfes Gebiss Nachts jagen sie Käfer, Tags sind sie Schläfer  Ihre Beute mögen sie jagen, so stillen sie ihren Magen Sie jagen in the Night, in hoher height 4. Strophe:  Sie sind besonders klug, und fliegen im Sturzflug Sie fressen gerne Falter, auch im hohen Alter Fledermäuse –  jagen in der Nacht,  damit ihnen keiner Konkurrenz macht. Refrain:  Die Fledermaus….

4. The wood that you glued, you have to screw together, because it holds better.

Special Things : So that the bats can live well in the boxes, that they can claw themselves. The box is small, but still many bats can live in it. In addition, no birds can nest in it because the opening is at the bottom, which is perfect for the pipe fish that usually live in the boxes. We painted the boxes with insectfriendly paint.

<a href="http://www.all-about-bats.net">www.all-about-bats.net</a>

And there were also a lot of other animals to see …

The first thing we did was remove weeds! Then we had to loosen the ground. The last thing we did was sow seeds… Now we have to water regularly!

5. Strophe:  Sie ist doch kein Vampir, sondern ein ganz normales Tier. Sie saugt kein Menschenblut, mit Menschen meint sie‘s gut. Sie hängt auch von der Wand, und hat sowas wie `ne Hand. Sie ist kein Unglücksbote und macht sich Insektenbrote.   Refrain:  Die Fledermaus … Bridge:  Unser Projekt, der Fledertraum,  gibt der Fledermaus mehr Lebensraum.  An dieser Stelle werd’ ich langsam schlapp,  deshalb geb‘ ich das Mikro an die Fledermaus ab:

6. Strophe:  Wenn ich im Winterschlaf, in dunklen Höhlen schlaf. Darf mich niemand erschrecken, und mich damit wecken. Denn wache ich mal auf, geh ich manchmal drauf. Ich werd‘ jetzt nichts mehr sagen, sondern stille meinen Magen. Refrain:  Die Fledermaus …

Quelle: https://www.nps.gov/chis/learn/nature/townsends-bats.htm

The ultrasound calls are adapted to the hunting methods. For example: The Longears belong to the „whisperers“. They sit in the tree foliage and locate their prey on a short distance. The noctules use free air spaces. The sound pressure of their calls, corresponds to a jackhammer and reaches about approximately 50 meters.

Based on their summer-quarters we categorize the bats into forest- and housebats. Forestbats prefer left woodpecker-caves, loose bark or hollow spaces in trees. Housebats prefer roller shutter boxes, wall cavities and crevices.

The bat eats a third until half of her own body weight every night. E.g. the water-bat eats about 4.000 flies per night.

One pupil from our class drew a logo for the project. On the logo is a bat and the name of our project: FLEDER(T)RAUM. It means bat-room and bat-dream in one word.

Lots of teachers were involved in our project and gave us their lessons to help us with our project. For example: Math=there we did calculations around the bats Music=there we did a rap about the bats German=there we learned how to write a report Biology=there we learned about insects (the food of the bats) Also we had help from a professor from our school, he supported us and presented a lecture about bats.

Coming-into-being of the batproject

Here you can see and hear our rap. Enjoy it!

<a href="https://learningapps.org/display?v=p95cv2bu521">https://learningapps.org/display?v=p95cv2bu521</a>

Bats in danger

Why are they in danger?

- Climate change - Food deficiency - Wind turbines - Small living space

Many bats, that are in big danger, are in Germany, the UK, Austria, Portugal, Slovakia and Netherlands.

How can we help them?

- plant flowers for insects, so bats can eat them

- build entrance openings in the roof area

https://pixabay.com/de/photos/fledermaus-mond-nacht-himmel-5756131/

We listened to a rap and watched a video of how a rap is structured. We collected words on the topic e.g. how the bat lives, and each group wrote its first verse. Everyone wrote their second stanza. Groups were divided and the order was agreed. We practiced rap and performed our verses. We recorded the rap. In the rap there are noises of a bat. The bat noises can be heard with a special bat-detector.

<a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Townsend-Langohr#/media/Datei:Big-eared-townsend-fledermaus.jpg">https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Townsend-Langohr#/media/Datei:Big-eared-townsend-fledermaus.jpg</a>

Here are the steps how we made the bat boxes:

Why do we do that? In the bat boxes the bats can make their summer quarters. There they can sleep and they are safe. In this one there are about 200 pipefish bats, and there is more habitat. They can multiply in that.

1. First you have to draw points with stencils on the wood.

2. Then you have to drill holes in the points that you drew.

The bat boxes should be installed at a height of at least 5 meters, and the opening must point downwards. They should be hung in a sheltered sunny place. It is also good to know that other animals, such as hornets, can nest in there.

3. Next you glue the two parts of the front and back wall together,then the hanging rails and the side parts are glued to the back wall.

Name

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