hey little bat!

A week ago today, as my husband was outside grilling, he noticed a bat flitting about! He called me over to confirm and then we observed about 15-20 flying around our house and quite low over the street around 8:45pm. This is the first time since moving here last October that we've observed bats! Around our house there are plenty of squirrels, birds, sometimes frogs, even a small owl once! But never bats! I was absolutely ecstatic!

Our first night here we saw bats (not sure of the species) flying around at dusk right outside the back of our bungalow, lots of them! And they would fly very near us! What an experience! bats outside Lapa at dusk * * * Some nighttime views from our bungalow's observation deck... Off to bed... * * * At dawn, you could sit out on the observation deck and observe the bats finding their way back home. What an early morning treat! bats outside Lapa at dawn * * * Bosque del Cabo has (that I currently know of): White-Lined Sac-Winged Bats  ( Saccopteryx bilineata / leptura ) in a cave on the Pacific beach (which I learned after our trip) Spix's Disk-Winged Bats  ( Thyroptera tricolor ) - observed in rolled heliconia leaves Jamaican Fruit-Eating Bats  ( Artibeus jamaicensis ) - observed pollinating the Guapinol or Stinky Toe Tree Tent-Making Bats  ( Uroderma bilobatum )  - note: several bat species roost under leaf tents, including the Caribbean o...

December 26, 2009 Costa Rica is home to 110 species of bats, and 60 of those are found in Monteverde. That makes Monteverde the perfect place to house a bat museum! So here we are - another trip to the Bat Jungle!  bat house on the grounds out front oversized bat heads illustrate the diversity among species the arm structure is like a human's with greatly elongated fingers some of the bats in the exhibit I was very happy the gift shop was open this time round because I not only got to purchase this book, but I was able to get it autographed by bat researcher Dr. LaVal! (He designed and manages the Bat Jungle.) * * * first visit to Monteverde Bat Jungle next post >> Monteverde Activities previous post <<  Hidden Canopy Treehouses

My husband and I visited the bats once again last Friday night. We arrived a bit late - the "vortex" was there, but I think the majority of bats had already emerged, so it wasn't quite as spectacular as the time we went a couple of months ago (didn't post anything on that). During that time, we did observe an incredible vortex of bats and a tremendous, steady stream of them as they emerged from the vortex. It really was an amazing sight to behold! Here are some shots of the surrounding scenery, the dandelion fountain, and the bridge... "The Waugh Bridge Bat Colony" (hlb 5-2-10) "Waugh Bridge Bat Colony Pontoon Boat Tour" (hlb 6-15-09) Buffalo Bayou's Waugh Bridge Bat Colony The Waugh Bat Monitor

WNS fungus on the nose of a little brown bat photo courtesy of Ryan von Linden, NY Dept of Environmental Conservation Since my first post on White-Nose Syndrome , three more species and several more US states have been affected. First detected in February 2006 in New York state, the then-unidentified disease spread to Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut by Spring 2008. In Spring 2009, it spread to New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania and then south into Virginia and West Virginia. (There was even one case confirmed in France in December 2009 - a bat tested positive for the WNS fungus but showed no symptoms.) In February/March 2010, it spread out into Tennessee, Maryland, and Ontario, and in April/May 2010, the fungus was confirmed on bats in Delaware, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Québec. This brings the total to 14 US states and 2 Canadian provinces. The rate that it is spreading is quite alarming - it was thought that once it hit the more southern latitudes or more northern lati...

Myzopoda aurita ready to cling! - photo by Daniel Riskin This is the sucker-footed bat , or Myzopoda aurita - myzo meaning "suck," poda meaning "foot." Though contrary to its name and what was previously thought, it does not adhere to surfaces by means of suction but rather by wet adhesion, as research by Daniel Riskin and Paul Racey has discovered. These little guys (and girls) are two inches long and weigh 1/3 of an ounce. They roost head-up, way up in the furled leaves (that open at the top) of the Traveler's tree in Madagascar. Only six species (out of 1,200) of bats are known to roost in an upright position. They do so because it allows for a quick escape from predators. Traveler's tree - photo by Daniel Riskin These Old World bats have flat to slightly convex pads at their wrists and ankles that enable them to cling to the smooth surfaces of the leaves. Or Plexiglas. Myzopoda aurita climbing on Plexiglas - photo by Daniel Riskin foot pad of Myzopoda ...

help...stuck... (Anoura caudifer) - photo by Nathan Muchhala No, this nectar-feeding bat is not really stuck. (Nor what I would call a dainty eater.) Bats are known to push their heads into bat-flowers to lap up the nectar. Anoura caudifer - photo by Nathan Muchhala Anoura fistulata - photo by Nathan Muchhala Indeed. (I love these photos! They're so funny to me!) A bat will insert its head into the flower - even when its tongue is longer than the flower's tube. It extends its tongue as much as it needs to, then retracts it, lapping the nectar much like a dog drinks water. By pushing its head into the flower, the bat collects lots of pollen on its head and chest, inadvertently transferring it to the next flower. Moths are also nectar-feeders; however, when a moth drinks nectar, its tongue acts as a straw. So if a moth evolves a tongue longer than the floral tube, it could potentially partake of the flower's nectar without actually pollinating it. Therefore, the flower is a...

I see you! Geoffroy's tailless bat (Anoura Geoffroyi) - photo by Nathan Muchhala Ever since coming across this word, I can't stop saying it: chiropterophily. Chiropterophily, or pollination of plants by bats, is very common in the tropics. Hundreds of tropical plant species are exclusively or at least partly pollinated by nectar-feeding bats. Many tropical flowers are night-blooming, specializing in attracting bats. Bat-flowers are typically white, cream, or pale green in color, making them easier to see in the dark. They usually have a musky, fermented odor - like that of the bat - or sometimes a fruity odor. They have a large, sturdy, open shape with long, bushy anthers so that the bat's head and chest get coated in pollen when it visits. In return for the bat pollinating the flower, the flower provides the nectar that these high-energy flying mammals need.* Tube-lipped nectar bat (Anoura fistulata) - photo by Nathan Muchhala Nectivorous bats have both good eyesight an...

Spix's Disk-Winged Bats ( Thyroptera tricolor ) roost upright in rolled Heliconia and banana leaves. You can see the little suction discs on the thumbs and ankles. These lightweight little insectivores use these to cling to the leaves. The other bat species found at Lapa Rios are the Greater Fishing Bat ( Noctilio leporinus ), Thomas' Fruit Eating Bat ( Artibeus watsoni ), and the Greater White-Lined Bat ( Saccopteryx bilineata ), which is seen but uncommon. These pictures were taken on 6/29/08 along the Osa Trail at Lapa Rios. Link to " Costa Rica: Day 11 - Lapa Rios Osa Trail ." Read about the Sucker-Footed Bat ( Myzopoda aurita) that also roosts head up in "Sucker-Footed Bats Don't Use Suction After All" (Science Daily).

Peters' Epauletted Fruit Bat (Epomophorus crypturus), Kruger National Park - photo by Peet van Schalkwyk Have you ever noticed how under certain lighting conditions some animal's eyes seem to glow? Animals that are nocturnal hunters - and a few of them that are not - have something called eyeshine . Eyeshine is the light that we see reflected back from the animal's tapetum lucidum (a membrane behind the animal's retina). Light enters the eye, passes through the retina, strikes the reflective membrane, and is reflected back through the eye toward the light source. This phenomenon makes the most of what little light there is at night for these nocturnal creatures. a moth with pink eyeshine Humans can display the red-eye effect in flash photography, but we do not have a tapetum lucidum , and thus, do not have eyeshine. Eyeshine is best observed by wearing a head lamp or holding a flashlight at eye level against your temple because the light is reflected right back into ...

The Sucker-Footed Bats, though sometimes referred to as such, are actually Spix's Disk-Winged Bats. Their scientific name is Thyroptera tricolor , Thyroptera meaning "disk" ( thyro ) "wing" ( ptera ). Link to my post on "The Disk-Winged Bats of Lapa Rios."

Bats are the only true flying mammals. They belong to the order Chiroptera (coming from the Greek words for "hand" and "wing"). They are further divided into 2 suborders: Megachiroptera (megabats) and Microchiroptera (microbats). Bats account for 20% of all of the world's mammals. They are present on every continent except Antarctica. They are integral in seed dispersal and the pollination of certain flowers, and they help keep the insect/pest populations down. Being a mammal, the skeletal structure of a bat's wing is more like a human arm than a bird's wing. In fact, a bat's wing very closely resembles a human arm - the difference is in the proportions. (Imagine your arm with extremely elongated fingers - link to bat wing anatomy) . Monteverde Bat Jungle Also, the difference between bat and bird flight is that bats do not flap their entire forelimbs like birds, but rather flap only their spread-out "fingers". bat skeleton, Monteverde Bat J...

Little Brown Bats exhibiting WNS symptoms photo courtesy of Nancy Heaslip, New York Department of Environmental Conservation I'm going to switch gears now and tell you about something quite serious that is devastating bat populations in the Northeastern United States and continuing to spread. It is called White-Nose Syndrome, or WNS, and since its discovery in a cave near Albany, New York in February 2006, it has wiped out an estimated 1 million bats in 9 states - with some caves experiencing a 90-100% mortality rate! - and scientists have yet to figure out the how's and the why's. So far, it has affected 6 different bat species, all of which are insectivorous and hibernating species - the endangered Indiana myotis ( Myotis sodalis ) , the little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus ) , the big brown bat ( Eptesicus fuscus ) , the tri-colored bat ( Perimyotis subflavus ) , the northern myotis ( Myotis septentrionalis ) , and the eastern small-footed myotis ( Myotis leibii ) . To ...

adult White-Winged Vampire Bats (Diaemus youngi) - photo by Daniel Riskin So Why the Misunderstanding... Like most misunderstandings, it comes down to people's ignorance. Through research, the myths surrounding bats have all been dispelled: They're not blind. They don't get tangled in your hair. They don't carry rabies any more than any other wild animal. They're not mice with wings. They're not bloodsuckers. They're not ugly. Read Merlin Tuttle's Rebuttal to These Common Bat Myths

Tamana Cave, Trinidad - photo by Daniel Riskin Some Amazing Bat Trivia click on the links to view a photo of the bat/s* The world's smallest mammal is the bumblebee bat of Thailand, weighing less than a penny. Giant flying foxes that live in Indonesia have wingspans of six feet. The common little brown bat of North America is the world's longest-lived mammal for its size, with life spans sometimes exceeding 34 years. Mexican free-tailed bats sometimes fly up to two miles high to feed or to catch tailwinds that carry them over long distances at speeds of more than 60 miles per hour. The pallid bat of western North America is immune to the stings of scorpions and even the seven-inch centipedes upon which it feeds. Fishing bats have echolocation so sophisticated that they can detect a minnow's fin as fine as a human hair, protruding only two millimeters above a pond's surface. African heart-nosed bats can hear the footsteps of a beetle from more than six feet away. F...