Bats

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 9:44 am

Cuties!

I remember a warm darkening summer evening, strolling around with my dad and tracking the bats by their sonar blips. He didn't believe I could really hear them, until I tracked the flight of one that nearly hit us, and he saw it.

izzarina · Post by **izzarina** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 9:45 am

eeewwwww......Gary, that was just wrong

Not that I hate bats or anything (although I'm very opposed to them flying around my house, which they seem to like to do from time to time). It just that with this fever, I'm sure I'm going to have those fever induced dreams now, and they're going to be about bats with big teeth

Post by **Nanohedron** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 9:47 am

Fruit bats! This belongs in the Cutie-Pie thread.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 9:50 am

I love fruit bats! My dog looks like a fruit bat. Actually, I love bats in general.

(Thank you for tuning into GaryKelly's Animal Chiffdom)

benwalker · Post by **benwalker** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 10:03 am

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 10:06 am

emmline wrote:I love fruit bats! My dog looks like a fruit bat. Actually, I love bats in general.

(Thank you for tuning into GaryKelly's Animal Chiffdom)

That's funny, Em -- we always called our old Daisy Dog "Fruit Bat" for the same reason!

I love bats; they eat mosquitoes. And on a horse farm this is a very good thing, what with West Nile and all ...

mvhplank · Post by **mvhplank** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 10:11 am

In the general theme of unexpected cuteness (I love the bat in the lower left corner of Gary's picture, looking right at the camera)...

The maned three-toed sloth

M

susnfx · Post by **susnfx** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 10:14 am

A few years ago there was an article on bats in some magazine like Smithsonian, talking about how interesting and usually harmless they are. The story I recall most is of a scientist who had two bats in a large cage in his office - one was a large bat of a loner type, not especially fond of cuddling with other bats, and the other was a small touchy-feely little guy who was always trying to get closer to the large bat, who would inch away from him. The large bat was slightly ill one day and the scientist saw that the little bat had snuggled up next to the large bat and put his wings around him. Is that sweet or what?

Susan

izzarina · Post by **izzarina** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 10:17 am

susnfx wrote:The large bat was slightly ill one day and the scientist saw that the little bat had snuggled up next to the large bat and put his wings around him. Is that sweet or what?

Susan

That is sweet

Despite my lack of fondness of them flying around my house (although I'm sure they're not fond of it either), I do think that they are very cool.

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 10:28 am

Here's something I did not know until today:

Fruit Bat Quick Facts:
The largest of bats, and one of the most important to humans. Many of the fruits and vegetables we enjoy on our table would not exist without these bats. They disperse the seeds and pollinate the flowers of many plants.
Fruits that depend on bats for pollination or seed dispersal include:

Bananas
Peaches
Dates
Carob
Avocados
Jack fruit
Plantains
Mango
Guava
Cashews
Figs
Durian

Post by **Nanohedron** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 10:34 am

Figs? I thought itty-bitty wasps did that. Or ants. Or something.

dwinterfield · Post by **dwinterfield** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 10:47 am

Cathy Wilde wrote:I love bats; they eat mosquitoes. And on a horse farm this is a very good thing, what with West Nile and all ...

We also love bats, living near a marsh. We love to watch the bats come out for dinner around dusk on a warm summer evening. One of the ideas that I keep procrastinating is putting up a few bat houses around the yard to encourage a bat population explosion. There's plenty for them to eat!!

Thinking about songs because of another thread. Does anyone know of any positive songs about bats -our mosquito-loving friends?

Post by **Nanohedron** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 10:56 am

Nana-nana-nana-nana Nana-nana-nana-nana Batman!

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 11:21 am

Hmmm. Bat songs ... all I can think of is "Die Fleidermaus" stuff, but I'll ponder that.

Small story ... here in Kentucky we have many caves; I mean, they are EVERYWHERE. Anyhoo, one evening around sunset a friend and I were just finishing a walk thru the woods near Mammoth Cave and suddenly HUNDREDS of bats came spiralling up from one of the cave's branch entrances. It was a veritable tornado of bats, just rising in an upward sort of vortex for probably three or four minutes total.

It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen -- the fact that these little guys are roosting way down in the dark but can still know when it's sunset and time to go hunt.

And one other story ... While visiting Ireland's Dingle Peninsula and staying in an old hunting lodge, I woke to the sound of a "thwup-thwup-thwup." I lay in the darkness, straining to see, and finally realized a bat had gotten into the room and was desperately trying to find his way out. I tried to wake my mom quietly so she wouldn't leap up and have a heart attack or something, but she was snoring peacefully away ... UNTIL, of course, I was perched on a chair with a towel spread out, trying to fool the bat and his radar into thinking the towel was a wall and thus gently "herd" him out the window (which was one of those narrow vertical slatted types, so we were working with a small opening). Anyway, Mom sits up, shouts "WHAT ARE YOU DOING????" and I promptly fall off the chair in a tangle of towel, nightgown, and hissed curses ...

By dint of careful creeping and subtle towel-herding the pair of us finally got the little fellow shooed out, and needless to say, it was one of our best memories ever. And of course, we had great fun taking the p**s out of the hotel management about it the next day.

Meanwhile, bat houses ... or hotels! .... for everyone!