Batling

You're looking at a baby Pipistrellus pipistrellus bat, named after the Italian word for bat, pipistrello. Baby bats are called pups. The wikipedia entry on this bat describes it as having a "weak, fluttery flight reminiscent more of a butterfly than anything else."

Come on, is that a kind way to invite this pup into the world, with those harsh words? Weak and fluttery? Bats are hunters; you can't lump them in with butterflies. Butterflies are prey! This batling needs to know that he will be the terror of the insect world, that bugs will flee his squeak, and that his flitting about and indirect flight will be the stuff of nightmares to countless chitin-covered creepy crawlies.

Thanks for the bat, Denita.

Photo source: Wikipedia.com

Gratuitous Bat Photos

Morgan sent in these photos of bats having been plucked from their roosts and petted by humans. No bats were harmed in the taking of these photos. If anything, some seemed to enjoy having their heads stroked.

These bats are, in order of appearance: 1) a silver-haired bat, 2) a pallid bat, 3) another pallid bat, 4) Myotis californicus, and finally, a bat that looks like a bison with wings and big ears, 5) a myotis bat.

Enjoy.

Photos by unquenchable.fire

Gratuitous Bat Photos

In light of yesterday's bat guano roaches, I thought I'd post a bunch of gratuitous bat photos. Enjoy. I'll be staying indoors the next few nights.

New Frugivore

Morgan is studying the behavioral neurosciences, which includes learning the incredibly complex ins and outs of bat echolocation and fish electrolocation (that's a fun word to say out loud). Morgan took time out from the coursework to send us a new bat: Sphaeronycteris toxophyllum, the visored bat.

Photo source: Guaquira.com





















The visored bat, so named for the growth over its nose, is a rare bat endemic to northern South America (throughout the Amazon basin and part way up with bordering mountains). It's a frugivore. Frugivore is of Latin derivation and, as everyone knows, means 'one who feasts on human souls.'

...wait...um, Google is telling me something different. Evidently, a frugivore is one whose diet consists mainly of fruit. Still, you need to be afraid. Just stare into those bulging eyes and peek beneath that fleshy flap, and you'll know why. In this second photo the female looks like she's smirking, like she knows something I don't. I hate that.

Photo by Lizette Siles





















Photo by R. M. Barquez
Click on this last photo for a larger view. The side view of the skull looks disturbingly human, if more fangy than normal. It looks a lot like the ultrasounds taken of one of my daughters while in utero... that's more than a little freaky.

Thanks, Morgan. The Amazon just got a bit less hospitable.

Spiders, Bats, and Vipers Oh My

Here are a few more species recently discovered in Greater Mekong, as brought to you by Nerva, Sherry, and Laura. I've cherry picked the animals for the purposes of this site, so you may want to go to the original article to read up on a rare rabbit, a furry ROUS, a snake, and a few others.

Every cache of newly discovered creatures always includes the token spider. In this case we have two, both of the Heteropoda genus. I'm sure you arachnophiles will be happy to find yet another huntsman spider.

Here's Heteropoda maxima...



















and Heteropoda dagmarae


















And of course there are bats (can you explore new Laotian caves and not find them?) Both are wooly bats. First off, Kerivoula kachinensis...


















and Kerivoula titania.


















No survey of virgin jungle terrain can fail to turn up a new snake. Here's Grumprechts green pitviper (Trimeresurus grumprechti). He does look grumpy. I don't think he appreciates having been discovered.

Night Scene at the Feeder

What's more quaint than a patio eave festooned with decorative hummingbird feeders? I've always wanted one, and now I want one even more.

Turns out that hummingbirds aren't the only winged creatures who show up to dine on the nectar. Down in Tucson, AZ, US, especially when agaves aren't blooming as much, nectivorous bats take their turn sipping at the feeders.

Photo source: The Firefly Forest

















T. Beth Kinsey of The Firefly Forest reports that two varieties of bats show up at her feeders: the lesser long-nosed bat (there they go again, adding lesser to the name) and the Mexican long-tongued bat. You can see both varieties below (in order).



















































The bats all seem to get along for the most part (it's hard to stay in a fighting mood when you're drinking nectar), but not always. Some turf wars do break out, though no one gets hurt. The bats access the nectar in different ways. Since they can't hover, some do sipping fly-bys and then circle around for more. Others just lie down in the tray and sip away (I share a lot in common with this latter group).

Animals go where the food is. You leave out cat food, and every stray in the area will show up (including raccoons, possums, etc.). Leave out pizza, and I'll show up. You leave out blood, and you'll get vampires. Leave out nectar, and you just might have to keep your doors open for both the day and the night crowds. And the only tips either will leave you come in the form of droppings.

Ghost Bat and Loose Excreta

This ghost bat was a show stealer at the Darling Harbour enclosure in Sydney, Australia on Halloween. It flew about the enclosure to the oohs and ahhs of the appreciative crowd.

The ghost bat, Macroderma gigas aka false vampire bat, is Australia's only carnivorous bat (and it's endangered). They dine mainly on ground-based prey, like large insects, frogs, small mammals, and human brains. Their hunting technique: to drop on their prey from above, envelop it in their flight membranes, and then attack the prey's head and neck with vicious bites until dead. They then begin eating, either on site or after dragging it back to the lair, including the flesh, bones, fur, scales, etc. They seem to need this roughage in their diet, otherwise they develop loose excreta. And no bat wants loose excreta.

Photo source: DailyMail.co.uk
















Though, knowing nature, I'm sure there is a bat out there who uses its loose excreta in an aerial attack of some sort. It splatters its prey with sticky bat guano, thereby pinning it to the ground. How 'bout it nature? Got one of those?

Thanks for the ghost bat, Laura.

Not for Wallflowers

Photo source: un-ulm.de
Ever since I was a boy, I've had an issue with hammerhead sharks being called hammerhead sharks. They don't look like they have hammer heads to me. Maybe a spade or even an axe, but not a hammer. So when Jessen forwarded this photo of a hammerhead bat , I was dubious.

But then I saw the photo below, and I was sold on the name (you'll notice that I feel quite a bit of angst over biological nomenclature--talk about borrowing trouble).

Hypsignathus monstrosus (love the species name), is a native of the swamps and riverine, mangrove, and palm forests of Senegal and Angola. These two specimens are male, as demonstrated by their elaborate snouts (being a sexually dimorphic species, the females have regular fox noses).

For all you wallflowers, or men who have trouble finding dates, be thankful you aren't a hammerhead bat (as if you needed another reason). These bats practice what's known as 'arena mating'. Large groups of them gather around river beds. The males line up on trees in 10 meter intervals and begin calling out and honking to attract the females. With a group of around 150 individuals, this results in some loud vocalization. When a female chooses her mate, the male makes a buzzing noise, they copulate for 30-60 seconds, and then go their own ways. This happens twice a night during mating season. The evening session is usually much more productive, but the females do show up for the 4am round, for all those males who couldn't get their act together earlier in the night. Well, that's nice of the females. More forgiving than a lot of other species (captive mantids come to mind...).

Thanks for the photo, Jessen.

Photo source: abovetopsecret.com

Equity in the Wild Kingdom

Every so often, mother nature allows for a bit of fair play and turn about.

Here's a photo of a fringe-lipped bat (Trachops cirrhosus) dining on a tungara frog in Panama (not an uncommon occurrence). The bat looks overwhelmed by the meal awaiting it. The frog looks put out.

Photo source: National Geographic


















Not to be out done, the amphibians even the score. Large green tree frogs (Litoria cerulea) like to lurk outside the lairs of little bent-wing bats (Miniopterus australis) and nab one for dinner.

Photo credit: D. Bruce Means










Though I would never suggest that there is a natural law of parity or equity in the wild kingdom, I think my kids can learn a good lesson from this, perhaps in a Brothers Grimm-style dark fable. A children's book about bats eating frogs and frogs eating bats is in order. I'm sure they'll be charmed.

New Bat Discovered

Whenever you hear of a new species of animal having been discovered, a safe bet is that it was found on Madagascar.

Such is the case with a new bat that has been entered into our taxonomic records. Everyone give a high-pitched screech of welcome to our new inductee, the sucker-footed bat (Myzopoda schliemanni). This creature "has suckers (large flat adhesive organs) attached to its hind feet and thumbs which are used to attach itself to the smooth surface."

If you're going to be a bat, you might as well have suckers on your thumbs, especially if you can keep those useful claws. Well done, sucker-footed bat. Now we just need to get you a better name.

As a side note, if you hear of an animal from Madagascar, you can also assume with some safety that it is endangered. Such is the case with this little guy.

Thanks for the article, Annica.

Photo source: Scienceray.com

Dangling Glory

What is this? Why is Ugly Overload featuring a cute pair of...puppies...kittens...er...

Those are bats, people. Bats! Don't be fooled by those warm, brown eyes, or the fuzzy snouts. Those are, if I am not mistaken, flying foxes.

The photo below shows them in all their dangling glory (imagine the photo rotated up-side-down). Cute little heads mounted on devil bodies, complete with leathery wings and talons. It's so wrong.

Photo source: Knuttz.net

A Quick Demise

If you hear chirps and squeaks just on the edge of your hearing, and they seem to be getting closer, followed by a whoosh of air and the buffeting of wings: duck.

I can only assume that Kermit met a quick demise. Though, looking into a bat face would be an awful final image.

Thanks for the photo, Jade. I'll be watching over my shoulder during the next few dusks.

Some Discretion

The face below comes with two names. The first one is kind of pretty and picturesque: lattice-wing bat. The second one is ugly, and suits are purposes far better: wrinkle-faced bat (Centureo senex).

This endangered bat is a nocturnal denizen of Central America. Where most echo-locating bats are equipped with a dainty (but still repulsive) leaf-shaped nasal appendage with which to collect their sensory data, this fellow has elected to grow fleshy folds and lumps all over his face for the same purposes.

But this bat can display some discretion. During the day, while roosting, he covers his face with a flap of skin that he pulls up from below his chin and hooks to an appendage at the top of his skull. I wish a neighbor of mine had that same ability.

For those of you who fear bats, vampires, and demons, you needn't fear this creature. It dines on fruits.

Thanks for the photo, Booge.

How Does a Bat Fly?

The obvious answer to this question is that they flap their wings. But the more complete answer is intriguing. Here's a video from LiveScience.com illustrating how bats fly differently from birds. I'm looking forward to the industrial applications of this new finding; I could really use a bat-shaped flying car.

Thanks for the link, Ida.

Ledhrblaka

Here's a bit of trivia: the word 'bat' comes from the old Norse ledhrblaka, meaning 'leather flapper' (the word got reduced to bakka, then to bat). It would seem that the Vikings were very practical in their nomenclature.

This particular species of leather flapper is known as the fisherman bat, found from Central America down to Argentina. They collect their food by swimming across the surface of the water and gaffing small fish with their curved claws.

This particular photo triggered an 'aw' from me do to the baby clinging to mommy's fur. But I'll tell you what, these bats can swim, using their wings as oars. And I can't think of a worse final moment for a fish than to be swimming just beneath the surface of the water, only to see one of these rowing its way over to you, baby or no baby.

Thanks for the link, G Felis. Thanks also to the good folks at the Manzanita Project for allowing me to post this photo.

Photo source: Glenn and Martha Vargas © California Academy of Sciences

For My Own Sanity

Please, for my own sanity, tell me that this image has been photoshopped. I'm not sure I can live in a world where these fly around at night. I'm already afraid of spiders, giant land crabs, standard poodles, and naked mole-rats. I don't want to add demon bats to my list.

Photo source: Knuttz.net

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!

First Ever in Photo

This photo comes to you from National Geographic via the good folks over at Zooillogix. You're looking at the first-ever Maclaud's horseshoe bat to be photographed. This little beast is native to Guinea, Africa, and has not been seen in the wild for 40 years. So it's good news that more (even if only 16 individuals) have been found, all living in the same cave.

I think this bat has inspired my next Halloween costume. I just need to figure out how to perform echolocation.

Thanks for the link, Rasmus and Miss Cellania.

Photo source: Zooillogix

Public Service Announcement

This post is more of a public service. I know that many of you woke up with this morning wondering if you were at risk of encountering a vampire bat. So let me lay it out straight for you: you are at risk.* In fact, you will most likely be attacked tonight.* And you probably won't survive the encounter.* I am sorry.

Thanks for the photo, Shaina.















* This assumes that you are a livestock animal that lives in Mexico, Central or South America, near a vampire bat lair, who will spook at seeing your blood dripping from the small incision the bat makes, and then bolt onto the highway into oncoming traffic.

Four For Your Pleasure

Clare noticed my dearth of bat photos and went to the trouble of sifting through the many bat images out there to present you with this quad-pack of Chiropterans.

Why does each of them look like they are caught between a sneeze and laughing? That last one's nose really gets to me. It reminds me of one of my kids' spikey play-toys.

BTW, you can click on each of the 'Photo' links to get more species information on each of these four beasties.

Thanks for the links, Clare.

Photo credit: Alex Borisenko, via the Royal Ontario Museum and LiveScience.com



















Photo credit: Alex Borisenko, via the Royal Ontario Museum and LiveScience.com



















Photo credit: Alex Borisenko, via the Royal Ontario Museum and LiveScience.com



















Photo credit: Alex Borisenko, via the Royal Ontario Museum and LiveScience.com