|
It started with one.
Michigan State grad Kim Williams was working at a nature center, putting her zoology degree to work in the field of animal rehabilitation.
"Somebody walked in with a little red bat, and I immediately fell in love with it," says Williams, who is now the director of the Bloomfield Hills-based Organization for Bat Conservation at the Cranbrook Institute of Science.
Williams called around to area veterinary clinics. It took a while, but she finally found someone who was willing to set the bat's wing. The tiny creature was with her for three months and started a life-long passion.
After connecting with Susan Bernard, executive director of Basically Bats and a bat rehabilitation pioneer and attending a bat rehab symposium, Williams realized she'd found her calling.
"I fell into it, but when I got there, I knew it's what I wanted to do," she said.
'It's cool. It's different'
Much of Williams' time is spent in education through OBC, encouraging children to learn more about bats and science in general. The fear surrounding bats is often rooted in false beliefs, Williams said. For instance, many people believe most bats carry rabies, and it's just not true.
"When you hear reports from the Health Department that 60 percent of bats tested in one year had rabies - the report deals with only those bats that area down and paralyzed," Williams explained, adding other studies show half of one percent are affected by the disease.
She also cites reports issued years ago that alleged all bats carried the rabies virus. Researchers had injected mice with bat saliva, and the test animals all died of rabies-like symptoms. However, further studies showed the cause of death was actually a unique reaction to the saliva itself.
Most people don't know the important role bats play in our ecosystem, Williams said. Bats consume about 1,000 mosquitoes and other more destructive pests. They help pollinate cactus plants and re-seed fruit trees. Bats also pollinate natural banana trees, which are vital to the survival of the industry's cultivated trees. And vampire bat saliva contains an anti-coagulant that can be used to treat human diseases and injuries.
And believe it or not, bats aided in the development of birth control pills, through a study of their reproductive systems. That's information Williams doesn't generally share in her school presentations, where she encourages young people, especially girls, to pursue careers in science. Particularly in her field, which is very specialized, what really counts is not what gender a person might be, but education and expertise.
"It's cool. It's different," she says of her work. "There's not a whole lot of women in the field. You have to be a different kind of person to get into studying bats, and the professors don't seem to judge you based on whether you're a man or a woman."
|
|
