To the Bat Tower

Have you taken time out of your day to think about how to cure HIV, or feed the world? Many of us never give those subjects thought, because we simply feel that they are far beyond our area of influence. We take the passive position by only supporting verbally, but hardly ever do we contribute our ideas on how to solve the issue. Dr. Campbell did not agree with this popular train of thought, so he decided to make a difference. He found a problem (malaria carrying Anopheles mosquitoes), thought of a solution (mosquito eating free-tailed bats), and acted on his idea (by building bat towers).

In 1902, Dr. Charles Campbell launched his first prototype, the bat box. He constructed boxes of various sizes that he thought would be appropriate for bats to make a temporary home in. He covered the inside of these boxes with cheese cloths that were saturated with bat guano. Then he went out and placed these boxes out in various locations such as under bridges, in old warehouses, and even some barns. Due to the small size of the constructs, and there proximity to the ground (on the ground); they were not ideal for Dr. Campbell’s freaky, fury, flying friends. It was a good thing that Campbell was a determined man who would not back down from a challenge, and would learn from his mistakes. He immediately started to work on a new design, the bat tower.

The original design for the bat tower would remain pretty much the same throughout Dr. Charles Campbell’s experimental stage. In 1909, Campbell would eventually spend five hundred dollars of his own money to build the first prototype of the bat tower on the United States Experiment Farm near San Antonio, Texas. In its entirety the tower stood thirty feet. Campbell designed a stilt system that would raise the box ten feet off the ground, and give room for a hopper system that was invented for the sole purpose of harvesting the guano. The guano was later sold as fertilizer. The towers central core spanned a height of twenty feet with a base width of twelve feet, and a point width of six feet. This entire construct was covered from within by slanted shelves that served the purpose of guiding the bat guano to the hopper. The tower seemed to be designed well, but Campbell decided to make some improvements. In 1910 there was still no sign of bats coming to nest in the tower, all that seemed to take interest in the tall oddity were exotic house sparrows. So that same year Campbell tore down his bat tower and sold it for parts, but this hard headed doc was not conquered so easily by failure. After this last incident, Dr. Charles Campbell decided to quite his practice, and leave the medical field behind for his new found love, malaria curing bats. The good doctor would never go back on his decision. He recommenced his research on natural bat habitats in order to find out what were the potential problems with his towers. After searching and comparing the caves around the area, he started to see the essential differences between the ones that were inhabited by bats and the ones that were not. Now he had what he needed and he gathered himself for one more run, which would eventually lead to “gold”.

In 1911, Campbell had become aware that the major flaw in his design was location. He needed a place that would be suitable for the bats to feed in. The bats not only needed a good home, but an adequate surrounding as well. So after some searching he came across Mitchell Lake, which was the perfect place for his next bat tower. That April, Campbell erected the first successful bat tower by Mitchell lake. Within three months the tower had already attracted many free-tailed bats. As their numbers grew the count became impossible to keep up with. At one point, they were estimated to range in the hundreds of thousands. The guano collected from all these bats weighed in at four thousand five hundred pounds. Royalty checks for the sale of the guano were still being collected by Campbell’s heirs for some time after his death in 1931. The freaky, flying flock of fury, little mammals were a spectacle of wonder, and a “must see” for the surrounding community. Space had to be made for all of the spectators. They would come watch the bats fly from their tower and into the night, off to the hunt.

Campbell’s idea spread throughout the world, and this humble doctor’s name became well known among certain circles. Hundreds of these towers were built around the United States and the world, but only three remain. One is located on the land of a former mayor of San Antonio, Texas, Albert Steves’ who has passed on, but his descendents still keep the tower functional. The other is located on private property as well, but it has been neglected, and most likely will not last much longer as it presently stands, in Orange Texas. Lastly, the final tower (and the only one open to the public) stands in Sugarloaf Key, Florida, which was built to for R.C. Perky back in 1929.

Even though what Dr. Campbell did was very noble the question still remains, “Did it work”? Some bat experts do not think so because of the fact that only two percent of the Mexican free-tailed bat’s diet is made up of mosquitoes, but Dr. Campbell never did stated that his methods were to be the sole recipients of credit for the eradication of malaria. They were simply contributors, which were also a form of income. Also this was a form of biological pest control, which is an environmentally friendly way to counter act the effects of overpopulation of a disease infested pest. Even if it can be argued that they were not completely responsible for the triumphant end to this historical account; it is very important to remember that it was the initiative taken by this man to make a difference that is to be remembered. Plus, it is a known fact that bats are very optimistic eaters, and that if given the chance who is to say that they wouldn’t devour a whole horde of mosquitoes. -1060 words

Murphy, Mari, “A Campbell Bat Tower Restoration Project in Texas”, 1989

http://www.batcon.org/batsmag/v7n2-6.html

© Bat Conservation International, Inc., 1997. Absolutely no rights of distribution by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease or lending, preparation of derivitive works, or reproduction, in whole or in part, is granted. No text, graphics or photos may be downloaded and used on another Internet site, without express permission of BCI. For information on obtaining photo useage and rights, please contact our Visual Resources Dept. BCI reserves the rights to actively protect against infringement.

Kiser, Mark, “Dr. Charles Campbell: Bat Tower Pioneer”, 2002

http://www.batcon.org/bhresearcher/bv10n1-04.html

Bat Conservation International, Inc., 2002. Absolutely no rights of distribution by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease or lending, preparation of derivitive works, or reproduction, in whole or in part, is granted. No text, graphics or photos may be downloaded and used on another Internet site, without express permission of BCI. For information on obtaining photo useage and rights, please see our contact page. BCI reserves the rights to actively protect against infringement.

SCIENCE HOTSPOTS, “Batman” http://www.scienceyear.com/sciteach/hotspots/pdf/hotspots_texas_bats.pdf