Flint students are learning more about the animal kingdom by seeing them up close and personal.

The Organization for Bat Conservation is visiting Flint schools - showing off a sugar glider, a bearded dragon, a fruit bat and a screech owl.

"The more exposure they can have to these kinds of animals that they don't know much about, the more they can learn about them, the less people are afraid. And they realize they're not so bad and we should do something to protect them," said Christina Funk, of the Organization of Bat Conservation.

The students learned each animal serves a purpose and has an

OBC set up a bat workshop to Nicaragua to contribute to bat study, conservation and education, the second Batwatch Nicaragua. Our trip started in Managua with an evening visit to Masaya Volcano on Feb 24 where we set up a harp trap outside a lava tube occupied by several species of mormoopid bats. The next day we went to Refugio Bartola, a small lodge located next to the large Indio-Maiz National Park, just across the San Juan River from Costa Rica. We spent six nights here, observing and netting bats on trails around the Refugio and in the national park.