{"id":163,"date":"2009-07-30T08:00:28","date_gmt":"2009-07-30T12:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=163"},"modified":"2009-07-30T08:00:28","modified_gmt":"2009-07-30T12:00:28","slug":"%e2%80%98bat-box%e2%80%99-to-the-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/%e2%80%98bat-box%e2%80%99-to-the-rescue\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Bat-box\u2019 to the rescue!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roma<\/strong>, our illustrious capital, is launching a new campaign to improve living conditions in the quartieri periferici<\/strong> (city suburbs). We are pretty much used to hearing about these campaigns: a campaign to fight against the deterioration of the environment, a campaign to help homeless immigrants, a campaign against le lucciole<\/strong> (lucciole are fireflies but the word is used as a euphemism for prostitutes). However this latest campaign is not against \u2018fireflies\u2019 but the dreaded zanzare<\/strong> (mosquitoes), and the secret weapon being deployed in this battle is the humble pipistrello<\/strong> (bat) which consumes zanzare in prodigious quantities.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Bat-box\u2019 is the name given to the small cassette in legno<\/strong> (wooden boxes) specially constructed to house bats, and 25 of them have been put into operation by Ater<\/strong>, the organization which manages thousands of case popolari<\/strong> (council houses) in the city. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLa nostra Amministrazione, man\u00adtenendo fede alle promesse fatte agli inquilini, lancia un segnale importante sulla stra\u00adda del rispetto e della tutela ambientale con l’in\u00adstallazione, presso gli stabili di Corviale, delle Bat-box, stru\u00admento estremamente efficace e biologico di lotta alle zanzare\u201d<\/em><\/strong>, (\u201cOur administration, adhering to the promises made to our tenants, is sending out an important message about the care of, and respect for the environment with the installation of \u2018Bat-boxes\u2019, a very effective and natural instrument in the fight against mosquitoes, in the vicinity of\u00a0our establishments\u00a0in Corviale\u201d) explained Luca Petrucci, president of Ater del Comune di Roma<\/strong> (Ater of Rome Council).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The \u2018Bat-boxes\u2019 have been installed on trees near housing managed by Ater<\/strong> in Corviale, a suburb of Rome, by the Consorzio na\u00adzionale servizi (Cns)<\/strong>, which deals with environmental health and hygiene services. The initiative is linked to a project run by the Museo di Storia Natura\u00adle dell’Universit\u00e1 di Firenze<\/strong> (The Natural History Museum of the University of Florence), and the installations in Corviale are the first of their kind in Lazio. In the future, Ater<\/strong> expects to be able to expand the project city wide. Meanwhile several other regions of Italy have already got similar projects underway. These include\u00a0Toscana, Trentino Alto Adige, Piemonte, Emilia Romagna, Marche and Liguria. Desperate inhabitants of mosquito infested city suburbs not yet provided with \u2018Bat-boxes\u2019 can always do a bit of Fai da te<\/strong> (D.I.Y) and build their own bat establishment by following the advice given on the Natural History Museum website: Museo di Storia Naturale<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Alternately, pre-made units are on sale in the stores of a big supermarket chain in Toscana. Designed by the Zoological department of the Museo di Storia Naturale, and based on experience acquired from the study of Italian bats, the boxes measure 35 cm wide by 60 cm high, and are only 5 cm thick. The location of the \u2018Bat-box\u2019 is very important as the bats only use them as a refuge if they are well placed and easily identifiable. An ideal location is on the wall of a house, or on a tree trunk about 4 meters from ground level and preferably near vegetation.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

So just how good are these bats? Well I was amazed to learn that a single pipistrello can consume up to 2000 insects,\u00a0in just one night!<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roma, our illustrious capital, is launching a new campaign to improve living conditions in the quartieri periferici (city suburbs). We are pretty much used to hearing about these campaigns: a campaign to fight against the deterioration of the environment, a campaign to help homeless immigrants, a campaign against le lucciole (lucciole are fireflies but the…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[619],"tags":[637,846,906],"class_list":["post-163","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-italian-language","tag-bat-box","tag-pipistrello","tag-zanzare"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}