By Jerry Hall

[dropcap]L[/dropcap]et’s hear it for our little buddy, the bat.  This beneficial creature is widely misunderstood, but no other group of Texas mammals is more important to the balance of nature.

There are more than 32 species in Texas and most of them eat insects, often those that farmers find most damaging.  A single colony of free-tailed bats consumes billions of insects – including mosquitoes – every summer night.

Worldwide, there are more than 1,100 kinds of ba...