(more than slightly off topic )Bats as ULTRASONIC bug repellers
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Posts: 46,084
Hi Tracy and all,
I was intriqued by Tracy's mention of rabid bats (and skunds) attacking
ultrasonic sources whereas normal animals avoid them. I'm skeptical about
any solid evicdence for this, at least in regard to bats. Bats generally do
a lot of good by eating enormous numbers of mosquitos. This far outweighs
any alarmist urban myths about rabid bats.
After observing nightly migrations of millions of Mexican freetail bats from
the Congress St bridge in Austin TX, I joined the Bat Conservation Society
www.batcon.org ). The best ultrasonic bug repeller is a bat, and yes, it
really works. That's why I have a bat house (condominium actually) mounted
near my home.
Dennis
Dennis O'Leary
WSR, Inc.
Pasadena CA
Original Message
From: Tracy Allen [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=PUzHw1HvBf5I6vlzxEn7aRpI9ZWyw57rXtcyHyEgD16bKtkHusLymZoLugIEOQ-pgnf3iQ4yeh29Aqg]tracy@e...[/url
Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2001 12:07 AM
To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] (more than slightly off topic ) ULTRASONIC
bug repellers
>>Does anybody know if ultrasonic bug repellers really work. If so,
>>does anyone know what frequency they operate on?
>>
>>If they really work I'm gonna build me a great big one.
>>
>>I hate bugs.
>Rich
>--- In basicstamps@y..., burtsz@a... wrote:
> > They do not work on mosquitos (have it on very good authority)
>regardless of
> > frequency. Not sure about other insects, flying or otherwise.
>
>That's what I figured. Thanks.
Hi Rich and all,
I must say I like bugs, but definitely not bugs of the mosquito
persuasion. They do have an amazing sense of hearing that earns them
(maybe!) grudging respect. Their hearing is tuned closer to 300 or
400 hertz, which is the wing beat frequency, not ultrasound. Here is
a nice presentation with pretty pictures:
http://www.unizh.ch/~ormia/research_mosquitoes.html
I think nobody! is going to want to be bombarded with real mosquito
flight sound buzzzzzzzing at >100dbm.
I've been constructing pulsed ultrasound emitters for the state
health dept, where a scientist is using them in the wild to _attract_
rabid bats and skunks to traps. Apparently the rabid animals find the
noise highly annoying and come in for the attack. Normal animals
avoid them.
I do not mean to imply that ultrasound will attract only the most
vicious and bloodthirsty mosquitos to your vicinity! All I have
heard is that after 10 or 15 good scientific studies, there is no
discernable effect of ultrasound on mosquito orientation behavior.
People still flock to buy those repellers, why?, maybe because of the
quasi-plausible mystique of the invisible, safe, shield.
-- regards,
Tracy Allen
electronically monitored ecosystems
mailto:tracy@e...
http://www.emesystems.com
To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
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I was intriqued by Tracy's mention of rabid bats (and skunds) attacking
ultrasonic sources whereas normal animals avoid them. I'm skeptical about
any solid evicdence for this, at least in regard to bats. Bats generally do
a lot of good by eating enormous numbers of mosquitos. This far outweighs
any alarmist urban myths about rabid bats.
After observing nightly migrations of millions of Mexican freetail bats from
the Congress St bridge in Austin TX, I joined the Bat Conservation Society
www.batcon.org ). The best ultrasonic bug repeller is a bat, and yes, it
really works. That's why I have a bat house (condominium actually) mounted
near my home.
Dennis
Dennis O'Leary
WSR, Inc.
Pasadena CA
Original Message
From: Tracy Allen [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=PUzHw1HvBf5I6vlzxEn7aRpI9ZWyw57rXtcyHyEgD16bKtkHusLymZoLugIEOQ-pgnf3iQ4yeh29Aqg]tracy@e...[/url
Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2001 12:07 AM
To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] (more than slightly off topic ) ULTRASONIC
bug repellers
>>Does anybody know if ultrasonic bug repellers really work. If so,
>>does anyone know what frequency they operate on?
>>
>>If they really work I'm gonna build me a great big one.
>>
>>I hate bugs.
>Rich
>--- In basicstamps@y..., burtsz@a... wrote:
> > They do not work on mosquitos (have it on very good authority)
>regardless of
> > frequency. Not sure about other insects, flying or otherwise.
>
>That's what I figured. Thanks.
Hi Rich and all,
I must say I like bugs, but definitely not bugs of the mosquito
persuasion. They do have an amazing sense of hearing that earns them
(maybe!) grudging respect. Their hearing is tuned closer to 300 or
400 hertz, which is the wing beat frequency, not ultrasound. Here is
a nice presentation with pretty pictures:
http://www.unizh.ch/~ormia/research_mosquitoes.html
I think nobody! is going to want to be bombarded with real mosquito
flight sound buzzzzzzzing at >100dbm.
I've been constructing pulsed ultrasound emitters for the state
health dept, where a scientist is using them in the wild to _attract_
rabid bats and skunks to traps. Apparently the rabid animals find the
noise highly annoying and come in for the attack. Normal animals
avoid them.
I do not mean to imply that ultrasound will attract only the most
vicious and bloodthirsty mosquitos to your vicinity! All I have
heard is that after 10 or 15 good scientific studies, there is no
discernable effect of ultrasound on mosquito orientation behavior.
People still flock to buy those repellers, why?, maybe because of the
quasi-plausible mystique of the invisible, safe, shield.
-- regards,
Tracy Allen
electronically monitored ecosystems
mailto:tracy@e...
http://www.emesystems.com
To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and
Body of the message will be ignored.
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/