UNDERSTANDING BATS: They have fur, they fly, and they're coming 
to a crevice near you ... details ahead on Passport to 
Texas.
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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Despite improved public relations about them, some 
people remain terrified of bats.

A lot of people fear bats because of a lot of myths and 
superstitions associated with them. :04

Meg Goodman is Texas Parks and Wildlife's bat biologist. 
She says bats will not purposely entangle themselves in 
your hair, nor will they attempt to suck your blood.

We do a lot of work to get the message across that bats are 
actually very, very beneficial for us, and they're very gentle 
creatures and very interesting to learn about and learn from. 
:08

Thanks to the work of people like Ms. Goodman we're 
beginning to appreciate bats. In fact, we even look 
forward to the return of certain bats, such as the Mexican 
free-tail, which winters in Mexico and summers in Texas.

The Mexican free-tailed bat is probably one of our most 
common bats in the state, and people know it because it lives in 
such large numbers in places such as bridges and caves and 
makes nightly emergences that many people can come out and 
watch. :12 

Tomorrow: the benefits of bats.

The Mexican free-tailed bat, in particular, is really valuable for 
agricultural purposes. :05

That's our show for today ... thank you for joining us ... for 
Texas Parks and Wildlife ... I'm Cecilia Nasti.