Created Jan 2009
Last updated March 2020
“Life is a beautiful and strange creature that appears at a window, flies swiftly through the banquet and is gone.” The Venerable Bede So this section is dedicated to the strange and wonderful things which make bat group members laugh, agree with or wonder at. If you have something you’d like to post here, quotations, facts, trivia or whatever email us __________________________________________________________________
The Daily Mail published photos of a Natterer’s bat feeding over a pond . It was misidentified as a Daubenton’s.
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A particularly gruesome story in New Scientist reports that Blue Tits in Hungary have been found predating on bats – a far remove from taking the tops off milk bottles
__________________________________________________________________ and if that weren’t bad enough, this bush squirrel has also been reported to feed on bats. Some British bat workers are wondering if british squirrels feed on bats. More from New Scientist __________________________________________________________________ Bats are regarded as harbingers of good fortune. Their highly decorated kites often reflect this . This kites show the 5 bats of good fortune . The peaches are a symbol of longevity . Click here for more of these
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The world’s smallest, and one of the rarest, bats in the bumblebee bat Also known as Kitti’s Hog nosed bat they are found in Thailand and weigh only 2 grams
Read about our visit to met the bumble bee bat2011-1-Kitti’s hog nosed bat
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Centurio senex, the wrinkled bat is regarded by many as the world’s ugliest bat. Now researchers have found that he bites hard into the bargain. Weighing 17 grams, range shaped skull gives it extra biting power , some 20% more than other similarly sized species More
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This beautiful piece of
Aboriginal cave art depicts white striped a bat which is no longer found in Australia. The suggestion is that in the past these bats may have been blown in from places like Sulewesi
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Scientists at Brown University, recently filmed Cynopterus brachyotis, a tree-roosting bat common in tropical parts of southeast Asia species of bat as they swooped toward a latticed landing pad. It did half-backflip as it swooped upward to the landing site, landing as its hind legs and thumbs touched the pad simultaneously — a four-point landing.The landing is hard with an impact force more than four times the species’ body weight
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Carollia perspicillata and Glossophaga soricina two tree roosting bats , approach their landing target with a vertical pitch and then, at the last instant, yaw to the left or to the right — executing a cartwheel of sorts — before grasping the landing pad with just their hind legs and make a much softer landing with an impact force of only one third of their body weight.
You can see film of this and other related events at http://tinyurl.com/cqw6b3
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In March 2009 a free tailed bat made the news when it clung tenaciously to the side of the Discovery Space Shuttle as it was launched. Its fate in uncertain
We’re characterizing him as unexpected debris and he’s probably still unexpected debris somewhere,’ said launch director Mike Leinbach after the take-off. For more photos see the Daily Mail Report
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video of bats flying in a wind tunnel (The commentary is in Italian) Click to view (There is an advert at the beginning of the sequence)
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Is this the world’s ugliest bat?
Centurio senex is certainly on of the strangest bats on the planet
Folds of naked skin surrounding the nose and mouth of the broad, flat face give the bats a “wrinkled” appearance. Males have additional skin folds on the face which contain scent glands.
It is even more unusual as it roosts in the open. To keep an eye for predators, it has evolved wings with clear piece of wing membrane, so it can wrap itself in its wings AND see what’s happening. Updaqte . In 2020 this is dsiputesd
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Two species of tropical bats thought to issue feeble calls actually send out echolocation that peak at an ear-splitting 110 decibels. That’s about as loud as a rock concert from the front row and intense enough to cause permanent ear damage . You can see Daniel Hargreaves’ film of these bats eating fruit on You Tube
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One of the winners of 2008’s Wildlife photographer of the year was Carsten Braun’s photograph of a mouse eared bat
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Equally impressive was a photo of a bat taken within a tree trunk by Christian Zeigler who spent long hours in a very smelly tree to get this
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Much excitement in September 2008 when a particoloured bat was found in a pillbox in Norfolk. It is thought it was blown over from the continent in a storm Photo Steve Ganlett
Another particoloured bat was found in London in 2009. and taken into care . see recent pictures and read 2009-7 particoloured bat
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It was once thought that spells written in bat’s blood would be more potent. (The kit illustrated here makes it clear it does not contain real bat’s blood)
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Plants have evolved complicated mechanisms to attract bats to pollinate them. In addition to a strong sulphury scent, scientists are now discovering that their shape helps the bats find their way to the nectar. The photograph on the left is from
Nathan Mucchhala’s website about at nectar feeding bats
Read a newsletter article about this 2009-4 Bat pollination
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It was Nathan Muchhala who first reported that Anoura fistulata had a tongue 150% the length of its body – see Nathan Mucchhala’s website
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