APPLE VALLEY, Minn. — You can stare long and hard at the bat exhibit at the Minnesota Zoo, but if you can't tell which bat was the one that had surgery, it's a job well done for Dr. Lesanna Lahner.
"The keepers actually found the bat - because of the injury it fell to the ground," Dr. Lahner said.
A young female bat had somehow broken what would be equivalent to a human pinky.
"The bat wing is kind of like our hand, if you imagine the wing like this, that's kind of their hand," Dr. Lahner said, with her hand sticking out to her side. "So the break was down here, and I was able to remove some of the broken bone and fix it so it was never broken."
Dr. Lahner said the surgery was relatively rare because bat wings are so delicate.
"Because the membranes on the wing are so thin, I was able to use really tiny sutures that we would use for facial or eye surgery for humans with a magnifying lens to repair the wing," she said.
Sure, bats may have gotten a bad rap over the years. However, Dr. Lahner reminded us that they're pollinators and good for humans too.
"One tiny bat could eat from 1,000 to 8,000 insects a night, which is way more effective than any other form of insect control," she added.
Plus, around this time of the year, they have a lot more in common with us than you might think.
"Yup, because fruit bats need a lot of sugar!" Dr. Lahner said with a laugh.
So maybe instead of hailing the bat as a spooky icon, Saturday can be a day of appreciation for the icon of treats.
"They might look spooky to us but they're actually friends, not foes," Dr. Lahner said.
The bat that went underwent surgery has recovered and successfully rejoined the colony.