FROM the EDITOR

NATHAN LUMP

WHEN MY HUSBAND and I lived in Seattle, we noticed something peculiar on our house’s deck overlooking Puget Sound. In one spot, there was a continual accumulation of what looked to my eye to be mouse poop. But it was both on the deck’s floorboards and on the exterior wall of the house. We couldn’t figure it out. When a pest control company came to investigate, they knew instantly what it was: bats. The design of our house—its steeply pitched roofline with deep overhangs—had created a perfect place for them to roost. It was a favorite launchpad for bats to conduct their nighttime forays to hunt insects. We didn’t try to deter them. Bats occupy an important place in our ecosystems, and watching them fly out into our little valley every evening…

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National Geographic (Digital) - 1 Issue, August 2024

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