Bat man rewarded - York's Brock Fenton a boon to science

By Martha Tancock

Brock Fenton

Ask Brock Fenton to give a talk about bats and he'll come running with slides and a warm furry speciman. Since he organized the first bat walk for the National Capital Commission in Ottawa almost 25 years ago, he's probably introduced millions of people - in person, in print, on radio and on television - to a winged rodent they'd rather avoid.

There is no hint in his curriculum vitae of the time and effort this York biology professor and Canada's leading bat expert devotes to sharing his enthusiasm for this misunderstood nocturnal creature with school children, naturalists, teachers and other interested audiences.

"It's just been a way of life. It's not a big deal."

The Royal Society of Canada thinks it is. This spring, it presented Fenton with the McNeil Medal for the Public Awareness of Science. The medal recognizes an outstanding ability to promote and communicate science to students and the Canadian public and has gone to such renowned science educators as broadcasters David Suzuki and Jay Ingram.

Fenton gives dozens of presentations a year. Since September Fenton has given his bat show to four naturalist clubs, two schools, animal control officers and animal-protection charity Zoocheck Canada - all within a two-hour radius of Toronto. He went out of his way to speak to biology students at Brandon University in Manitoba, during a trip to a Vancouver conference. "It's kind of fun to go and talk to people who respond to things you have to say."

Until recently, Fenton wouldn't say no. Whether there were two people or 200, he couldn't resist talking about his favorite subject. It's fun. "People have a latent interest in natural history and if you make any effort at all, the animals will sell themselves." He doesn't intend to stop, though he has decided to decline invitations this summer so he can have an uninterrupted holiday.

Fenton doesn't give the same old talk every time. But he always takes a live bat for his audience to pat and see up close. If he can't go, one of his graduate students always step in. Every one of them has taken up the cause.

"If you can go and deal with Grade 2s, you can talk to anybody." The youngsters are blunt and let you know if they're bored. "It's a good training ground."

It's also good PR for bats.

Children never forget Fenton and his bats. "There's no doubt, some breathing in of the natural world" leaves a deep impression. "All of a sudden it's not a picture in a book, it's about the person who came and talked about raccoons or bears or bats. I've personalized it."

It's good PR for science.

For years, Fenton urged his peers to talk to ordinary folks about their research. "I kept saying to everybody: 'If you just take one day a year and go and talk to kids," you can do more for science than petitioning governments and politicians. Even in our so-called scientific age, "there are a lot of misconceptions about what science is." He uses bats to talk about bigger issues such as conservation and ecology. "If you want to change how people view science, you're going to have to go out."

It's good PR for universities. "If you work for a university, you're almost a civil servant and part of the job is showing the flag. And if you don't show the flag, how do you ever expect the community to support you?"

What drives him - and most bat biologists like him - to talk about bats in public? "I do it because I love animals. I'm excited by them and I'm glad that somebody's interested. I also realize that the only future animals have is if people are interested in them."

Fenton has also used the mighty pen to dispel myths and educate people about bats. In addition to hundreds of academic papers, chapters and reviews based on research that has taken him around the world, Fenton has written articles for nature magazines, youth science newsletters, museum quarterlies and city newspapers. He has designed bat exhibits for the Royal Ontario Museum, where he has been a research associate since 1969, and National Museums of Canada. His seven books include a comprehensive natural history full of colour photographs called The Bat: Wings in the Night Sky published by Key Porter in 1998 and revised and republished by Fitzhenry & Whiteside in 2001.