Bain News Service. Bat Roost, San Antonio. ca. 1915. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2014699615/.
Students will have the opportunity to consider how the animals in our environment affect the ecosystems they are a part of by considering the addition of the Bat Roost in San Antonio, Texas. After observing the image and defining what a roost is, students will research how bats contribute to the environment. Then, they will write a letter to the 1915 San Antonio City Council, proposing why they should build bat roosts around the city.
Malaria was a concern for communities in the early 1900s. Dr. Charles Augustus Rosenheimer Campbell was a doctor who attempted to attract bats to the area in an effort to help control mosquitos that carried the disease. He built large bat roosts for the animals to rest in, hoping it would attract them to the area.
Source: https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/campbell-charles-augustus-rosenheimer
- Looking at the image, what can you tell about its purpose?
- What is a bat roost?
- How big is the structure?
- Why do you think they included a cross at the top?
- After some research opportunities, students can answer several of the following extension questions:
- How did Dr. Charles Augustus Rosenheimer Campbell impact his community?
- Why did he want to build this bat roost?
- What was he trying to accomplish by building such large structures?
- How symbiotic was the relationship he attempted to create between the city and the bats?
- What other problems might we be able to solve by looking more closely at the world and environment around us and focusing on how things connect to one another?
ELA Standard
3.12.D. Composition. Compose correspondence such as thank you notes or letters.
Science Standard
5.12.A. Organisms and environment. Observe and describe how a variety of organisms survive by interacting with biotic and abiotic factors in a healthy ecosystem.
Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
- Begin the lesson with a quickwrite. Ask students to list everything that comes to mind when they think of the animal, the bat. Have students share what comes to mind and document their ideas on the board. Discuss the physical characteristics they might know, connections to pop culture/ literature, and how people feel about bats.
- Next, show them the image of the bat roost and ask them what they see. If students seem to have run out of observations, you may want to enlarge sections of the image (especially if they do not notice the name of the city at the top or the man standing just under the Municipal Bat Roost sign).
- Ask students to theorize what the structure might be used for. Also see if anyone knows what a roost is. If not, explain that a roost is a place where birds and bats rest.
- Once they have had a chance to share their wonderings at what the structure might be used for, explain that it was the idea of Dr. Charles Augustus Rosenheimer Campbell. During the time he lived, malaria was a serious illness that was mostly transmitted by mosquitoes. He knew that bats are mostly insectivores—that is, they eat moths, flies, beetles, and mosquitoes. He thought that by building the roosts throughout the city, he would attract them to rest and hoped that while they were in the area, they would consume many mosquitoes.
- Have the students consider how people in the community may have felt about someone trying to attract bats closer to their homes.
- Do you think everyone felt safe and happy about the idea?
- Do you think they everyone was happy about the look and size of the structures?
- Do you think everyone agreed to building the bat roosts right away?
- Convincing his community to build bat roosts was probably not simple. He probably had to present many positive facts about bats before the city would pass an ordinance. Individually or in small groups, have students research ways that bats benefit the environment. They can use library books or school databases. There are also a many web articles, including those at National Geographic for Kids (https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/nature/article/bat-myths-busted), Bat Conservation International (https://www.batcon.org/about-bats/games-and-activities/bat-squad/), and Britannica for Kids (https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/bat/352835), to name a few options.
- Once facts have been collected, students should draft a letter to the San Antonio City Council of 1915 trying to convince them why building the bat roosts would be beneficial to the city.
- If time allows, students could also look up current proposals to city council, research the proposal, and write a letter to their current council member laying out their view on the proposal.
Giltsch, Adolf, and Ernst Haeckel. Chiroptera. — Fledertiere. 1904. Print. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2015648949/.