Are you afraid of bats? The Idaho Falls Zoo has the perfect opportunity to face your fears with their upcoming Bat Night.
The event is on Saturday and starts at 8:30 p.m. at the William J. Maeck Education Center located at the zoo. After a brief presentation and activities, guests are invited to explore the zoo at night and see all the different bats.
“We have red lights lighting up the whole space so you can see the bats really well. We have bat monitors that are catching the chirping sounds that the bats are making to use their echolocation and it transfers those frequencies into a sound that humans can hear and we play that sound over speakers so you can not only see the bats really well, but you can also hear them. So it's a really cool experience. There's the zoo tour, the games and activities, really cool encounters with biologists who are working with bats. And it's just a fun night,” said Bethanie West the curator of education at the zoo.
The event costs $6 and is free for everyone under two. You can register at idahofallsidaho.gov/zoo.
The Idaho Falls Zoo has around 130 species with six exhibits. It is a small zoo, but compares with larger zoos in the U.S. because of their high standards, great staff and their involvement with global conservation, West said. The Zoo strives to participate in global conservation and educate the public about ways they can participate in conservation.
“We don't just have animals here to be entertaining. Our purpose here is when people visit the zoo, our goal with every animal exhibit, every interaction we have with the guests, our goal is to help them feel connected to those animals and hopefully go home and be a little bit more conscious about the way they're behaving. You know, am I conserving water? Am I, buying sustainable products? Every little action we do can have an impact,” West said.
For more information about the zoo visit idahofallsidaho.gov/zoo.