From the category archives:

Bats

Daily Mammal Now: Indiana Bat (Myotis sodalis)

by JR Kinyak on April 10, 2008

in Bats,Mammal News

The second Daily Mammal 24-Hour Mammal Extravaganza is coming April 19! Reserve your own special mammal now: just click the “donate” button in the right-hand navigation bar. Get an original, custom-made work of art and help animals at the same time!

click image to enlarge

0142

Today is the inaugural installment of a new periodic Daily Mammal spotlight feature, which I’m calling Daily Mammal Now. (I admit that I got the idea from Dr. Phil’s “Dr. Phil Now.” I just don’t have the newsy-sounding arrangement of my theme song to play for these special “Now” episodes. In fact, no theme song at all.) Daily Mammal Now (like Dr. Phil Now) will focus on mammals that have been in the news. If you see a mammal in the news, please drop me an e-mail or comment on this site to tip me off! Get the scoop if you have a nose for news!

A couple of weeks ago, the New York Times ran an article called “Bats Perish, and No One Knows Why.” Alarmingly, certain populations of bats in New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts have been stricken with what they’re calling White Nose Syndrome. Is it a virus? Is it caused by exposure to a toxin? Is it bacterial? Well, no one knows. What they do know is that it makes the bats very thin and sometimes spotted with a white fungus. Since last winter, it’s been killing bats who should have been peacefully hibernating. Instead, they’re staggering out of caves and mines in broad daylight in the dead of winter and dropping dead. One scientist quoted in the article calls them “dead bats flying.”

This particular bat, the Indiana bat, has been on the federal endangered species list for four decades now. The major threats to its survival are human-caused: commercialization of the bats’ cave habitats, pesticides, “human disturbance,” and the like. While some Indiana bat populations seemed to be on the upswing, now White Nose Syndrome threatens to knock them back down again. Scientists fear that the syndrome could cause extinctions of several species.

The phenomenon reminds me of Colony Collapse Disorder, the mysterious catastrophe that has been killing bees, and the lethal fungus that attacks frogs. Unlike Dr. Phil on his topics, there’s not much I can say about these strange syndromes. I’m baffled, and all I can do is read the news and see what happens. What do you think?

Tagged as: endangered, now, threats

{ 0 comments }

Newly Described Mammals Week: Alpine Long-Eared Bat (Plecotus alpinus)

by JR Kinyak on February 21, 2008

in Bats,Theme Weeks

click image to enlarge

0127

Here’s another one that was discovered to be a species through DNA, at least I think that’s what happened. I’m sorry to say that I’m a little too bushed to figure it all out right now. I’ll leave that to you, if you care to download the PDF of the 2002 article that described this little guy for the first time. Plecotus alpinus, my friend, I am sorry that your roll of the 5,000-sided die came up this month, when I cannot give you the time I ordinarily (I hope) would be able to, but it had to happen to someone.

Here is a fact I learned while researching Mr. Alpine Long-Eared Bat, though. See the long, sort of triangular-shaped things on the front of his ears? Those are called tragi (singular tragus). The word comes from the Greek tragos, or goat, which my dictionary explains thusly: “with reference to the characteristic tuft of hair that is often present, likened to a goat’s beard.” I think it’s likely that the triangular-shaped things we have in front of our ears are also tragi, although neither we nor the Alpine long-eared bat have the characteristic tuft of hair.

Homepage of Andreas Kiefer, one of the professors who first described this bat

Tagged as: bat, discovery, dna, words

{ 4 comments }

North Carolina Week: Evening Bat (Nycticeius humeralis)

by JR Kinyak on January 29, 2008

in Bats,Theme Weeks

click image to enlarge

0112

All week on The Daily Mammal we’re looking at mammals of North Carolina. Evening bats, like this one here, live throughout the eastern United States in the lower elevations, and they’re particularly common in the southeastern states, like North Carolina. They’re similar to brown bats but much smaller—their bodies are only about four inches long and their wingspans are less than a foot. They roost mainly in buildings, but also in tree cavities and underneath loose bark; you may find them in a bat house every now and then. They eat insects—they love moths, junebugs, and beetles.

It’s rare to spot a male evening bat in the northern parts of its range, and we’re not completely sure exactly what the bats do during the winter. Reports of winter sightings in the south indicate that they probably migrate. In the short time I’ve been working on The Daily Mammal, I have been continually surprised by the things we don’t know, the mammals we’ve never seen, the adaptations we can’t explain, the behavior we’re not sure about. Maybe it’s because there’s so much flashy news about technology and quantum physics and whatnot that I’ve tended to assume that we know pretty much what there is to know about the more basic facts of life on earth. It’s so amazing and magical that there’s still so much mystery to figure out just by looking closely.

Take this mammal home with you!

Tagged as: bat

{ 7 comments }

Large Flying Fox (Pteropus vampyrus)

by JR Kinyak on December 23, 2007

in Bats,Mammalthons


0098

For Ted, a Large Flying Fox! These are really huge bats, with wingspans up to 6′! I had to draw two of them because I couldn’t decide whether to highlight its size in flight or its beautiful face. And it’s the last of the 24 mammals, which is actually making me a little sad!

I have two questions for any bat experts who are reading this. First of all, do bats sleep with their eyes open or are they just very light sleepers who wake up when someone comes near with a camera?

Also, pictures of the flying fox from the ventral side, when its wings are spread out and all, make it appear as though it’s wearing little rectangular pants! What are those??

—————-
Now playing: Merle Haggard – I Think I’ll Just Stay Here And Drink
via FoxyTunes

Tagged as: bat

{ 2 comments }

24 Hours: Silver-haired Bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans)

by JR Kinyak on December 23, 2007

in Bats,Mammalthons


0089

A silver-haired bat! For Sara! I’m starting to really like drawing bats. That’s all I’ll say about that.

—————-
Now playing: Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Stay a Little Longer
via FoxyTunes

{ 0 comments }

24 Hours: White Tent Bat (Ectophylla alba)

by JR Kinyak on December 22, 2007

in Bats,Mammalthons


0082

I have to thank Elliot for introducing me to tent bats. I had never heard of them before. This particular tent-making bat species is also known as the Honduran white bat. It lives in Central America and is very small. Tent bats bite the ribs of big leaves to turn them into tents. Then they cuddle up under them to roost during the day. The leaves also provide a sort of camouflage for the white tent bats because the light coming through the leaves makes their white fur seem greenish, and they’re harder to see.

Tagged as: bat

{ 2 comments }

Common Vampire Bat (Desmodus rotundus)

by JR Kinyak on December 10, 2007

in Bats

Please consider contributing at least $25 to Defenders of Wildlife to get your own original Daily Mammal art! Read more about 24 Mammals in 24 Hours!


0068

Do you know the vampire bat? If not, please allow me to make the introduction—I’d be delighted. Vampire bats live in South and Central America. They don’t just fly, like regular bats: they actually have their own unique gallop, and I highly recommend this short video of a vampire bat running on a treadmill.

When it’s time to feed, they first approach their victim from the air, sometimes emitting an odor that has a slight tranquilizing effect. Then they land nearby and run along the ground (with the aid of their large, fleshy thumbs and by tucking their wings up next to their arms), leaping onto their prey. They use their sharp front teeth to slash their victim’s skin, then lap the blood out.

I’ll let Timothy E. Lawlor and his Handbook to the Orders and Families of Living Mammals explain the biological process involved: “Efficient kidneys reduce the burden of transporting the large quantities of blood. As the bat feeds, much of the water in ingested blood is lost through the production of copious, dilute urine. Once the bat returns to the roost, the kidneys shift to the production of a highly concentrated urine, conserving water and thus avoiding dehydration.”

In other words, while they’re drinking your blood, they’re also peeing on you!

If you’re ever attacked by a vampire bat, you’ll notice that you’ll bleed a lot. That’s because their saliva contains anticoagulants, which some researchers think could actually help stroke victims recover and lessen their chances of brain damage. (If you’re ever attacked by a vampire bat, you should also get a rabies shot, I think.)

Tagged as: bat, humans

{ 2 comments }

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →