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California has quite a few symbols that officially represent us.
There’s an official state bird (California quail), mineral (gold), tree (redwood), fish (golden trout), insect (California dogface butterfly), lichen (lace), fabric (denim), sport (surfing), dance (West Coast swing), soil (San Joaquin) and even dinosaur (Augustynolophus morrisi).
But there’s an effort to make another Californian an official symbol of the state. A group of ecologists and legislators have come together to put forward Senate Bill 732, which would make the pallid bat California’s official state bat.
A pallid bat usually weighs between 20 and 35 grams and has thin, long wings, which lend well to navigating the open grassy areas it likes to frequent. It’s also got golden fur, perfect to represent the Golden State (and by the way, that moniker became the official state nickname in 1968).
“Pallid bats live in California’s deserts, oak woodlands, coastal redwood forests, and high up into the pine forests of the Sierra Nevada mountains,” the bill states. “The food they eat and the way they catch it varies both within and between different communities of pallid bats around the state.”
That food includes tons of insects — a female bat nursing a baby can eat three times her body weight in just a day — like flies, moths and mosquitoes, making bats a key player in California’s pest management system. The state estimates that the furry placental mammals provide more than $1 million in pest control annually.
If you wanted to catch a glimpse of the pallid bat, you’re in luck: They live in just about every county in California, including Sacramento and Yolo.
You can see them — and several other breeds of bats, like the Mexican free-tailed bat and the big brown bat — by visiting the freeway that connects Davis and Sacramento, the Yolo Causeway. Bats nest in the concrete nooks and crannies under the freeway and emerge in the evening into what some call a bat ribbon.
A tour group watches bats fly out from underneath the Yolo Causeway on Aug. 6, 2014.Andrew Nixon/CapRadio
Another place you can catch bat activity is a bit closer to Sacramento proper. Have you ever noticed the upside-down orange traffic cones affixed to the top of the Highway 50 underpass in Midtown?
They were placed there in 2020 to help bats — and birds, too — navigate out of the nooks and crannies of Highway 50, which is currently undergoing construction. The orange cones give wildlife a safe place to move away from concrete, water and other disruptions made by working humans.
We’ll find out soon if the pallid bat will become the California state bat, as SB 732 has passed both the state Senate and Assembly, and is sitting on Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk. His deadline to sign bills is Oct. 14, exactly one month after the Legislative session ends.
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