Sep 15, 2007

Harbinger of Death

They've discovered a new fruit bat species on an island south of Manila. It's being called the Australian grey-headed flying fox (pteropus poliocephalus).

I guess Mother Nature decided we need another fruit bat out there. That's fine. But does something as innocuous as a fruit-eater have to look like a harbinger of death? Even your average vampire is ducking for cover.

Photo source: Yahoo!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fantastic photo!! I wish I could see this guy up close. His face looks like a little like a werewolf from this angle--I love it...

Anonymous said...

http://www.batreach.cairns.tc/ffoxes.html Try here for some pics. I'm glad I live in Australia so I can see these adorable critters. I have even held them. They look like little fluffy foxes. Hence the name - flying foxes.

Anonymous said...

anonymous--
You lucky, lucky duck, getting to hold them. Your link shows what beautiful faces they have--not werewolfish at all.

Arachnophile said...

I was blown away by this picture and after I looked this guy up I was equally impressed by it's face.

What an amazing creature. If you read the news story about it on National Geographic, it's a classic case of the native population asking a researcher, "what is the bat that looks like this?" and the researcher said it didn't exist... until they caught one a week later. DUH! ;) Those silly scientists