Hiking Farm: Young farmers create a paradise of ecological coexistence

Many people have negative stereotypes about bats. However, with speculation that the recent COVID-19 virus ravaging the world may have originated in bats, public disgust and fear have deepened. In fact, bats are an auspicious creature in Chinese culture. Hiking Farm, an ecological farm in Jinshan District, New Taipei City, uses five types of bat to symbolize the five ancient traditional blessings - health, wealth, long life, virtue, and a peaceful death．

From the Ching Ming Festival to October each year, the Formosan leaf-nosed bat flies in to breed. There are about 300 Formosan leaf-nosed bats on the farm, which can eat more than 400,000 insects in one summer, helping to remove pests from crops and fertilize the soil with their feces. The proprietor of Hiking Farm spent three long years reorganizing the farmhouse and kept the original ruins to maintain a quality living environment for the bats in the hope they will continue to return long into the future.

以下為中文對照

蝙蝠遠足之處 青農打造生態共存樂園

許多人對於蝙蝠充滿負面的刻板印象，加上今年肆虐全球的新冠病毒曾被推測可能來自蝙蝠，更加深大眾的反感與恐懼。事實上蝙蝠在中華文化中是帶有福氣的一種吉祥物，位於新北市金山區的遠足生態農場，就以五隻蝙蝠作為標誌，象徵五福臨門。

名為葉鼻蝠的牠們每年清明節到十月之間會飛來繁殖下一代，農場裡大約有三百多隻葉鼻蝠，一個夏天便可以吃掉四十多萬隻昆蟲，不僅幫助作物去蟲害，牠們的糞便還能當推肥使用。為了使蝙蝠的生活環境不被改變，農場主人耗時三年整理農舍並保持原始廢墟樣貌。

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