Lucas—a four-month-old endangered Rodrigues fruit bat that was hand raised at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s Ione and Paul Harter Animal Care Center after the death of his mother—has just started to use his wings on a couple of practice flights, although they are more like flutters right now. Details: http://bit.ly/LucasZn517 (source)
@why-animals-do-the-thing do you know if this bat is comfortable swimming or has someone just dropped it in water and it’s trying to get out?
I haven’t been able to find the source on this specific video, but it does appear from a couple searches that bats of different species do seem to be able to swim. This is a flying fox (a type of bat), and I did find this:
“Although there is little scientific data on the subject, observations by naturalists in the field seem to support the fact that some bats swim in stressful situations but that it is not normally part of their ordinary behavior patterns. For example, flying foxes, often island inhabitants, may have to fly long distances to obtain food. A forced landing or a foray over water to collect fruit which has dropped and floated there may necessitate an unexpected swim. Photographs of the flying fox, Pteropus giganteus, show the animal actually swimming, using its wings and feet to reach land rather than floating or paddling. (Source)”
Apparently most cases where bats are observed swimming by people is when they try to drink from swimming pools and fall in – another good reason to keep them covered when not in use.
is a unique species of bat found only in western mexico. This species gets its name not from its diet but the fact that the bat acts as a pollinator of the banana plant as it feeds on its flowers. The banana bat can feed on flowers due to its hummingbird-esque long snout and freakishly long tongue which is two thirds of the bats body length. These bats are usually seen roosting in small groups in trees and rocky overhangs.
in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A.,
Kawahara and Barber describe sonar-jamming signals in a charismatic
group of moths called hawkmoths (in the order Lepidoptera, family
Sphingidae). Using behavioral methods, they showed that hawkmoths
produce sound by rubbing specialized scales on their genitalia across a
filelike structure on their abdomens, in a process called stridulation. (See videos
here.)
But there are apparently other ways to thwart bat attacks as well. A group led by the same research team
studied
a second charismatic group of moths, the Saturnidae, or silkmoths
(including the well-known luna moth, as shown above). As far as we know
these large moths do not hear or produce sound, but many sport long,
flowing hindwing tails that flutter in the breeze as they fly. The
fluttering tails are irresistible to echolocating bats, diverting their
attack away from the moth’s vulnerable body and toward the expendable
tails…
This little guy was released after being successfully treated for White-Nose Syndrome. It’s a great day for conservation!
10 years ago, a fungus was introduced in the United States that quickly decimated populations of bats in American and Canada.
The culprit? Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), which causes White-Nose Syndrome in bats.
But now, for the first time, scientists have successfully treated bats infected with White-Nose Syndrome.
On May 19, 2015, scientists and conservationists gathered outside the historic Mark Twain Cave Complex in Hannibal, Missouri, to release back into the wild some of the first bats successfully treated for deadly White-Nose Syndrome.
The 75 bats released in May were part of the first field trials of a novel way to protect bats from this syndrome.
PiraticOctopus 