Creature Feature: Egyptian Fruit Bat.

 At Brookfield Zoo, there used to be a cage of free-flight fruit bats. Ah, memories, sure, people got urinated on, but it was an amazing experience. Still, we never got good shots like in this video. My admiration of that camera work and that bat knows no bounds.

Bart up there is an Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus). It has a very wide range, spanning from Africa to Pakistan and India. As the name would imply, it eats fruit - insect-damaged fruit at that. This is pretty average as far as fruit bats go. In fact, it's small by fruit bat standards. That just makes it, well...adorable.

Egyptian fruit bats are among the very few megabats to use echolocation. Bats 101: echolocation is a means of using sound like sight. The best way I have seen it described would be like a blindfolded human bouncing a tennis ball against a wall to "see" exactly how far away said wall is; it is a difficult thing for humans to imagine. We utilize a similar method in the form of sonar. It looks like these bats can probably see and smell fairly well, too. They also communicate vocally amongst themselves, meaning that a roosting colony can get very chatty indeed.

Anyone who loves bats can tell you how ecologically-important they are. For fruit bats, that significance is on par with hummingbirds and bees: they're pollinators and seed dispersers. In the case of Egyptian fruit bats, they help keep the baobab population up. The trees are more endangered than the actual bats. They still do not deserve to be poisoned on sight; we just happen to have coinciding tastes in food. 

Egyptian fruit bats can be found in the exotic pet trade and are considered one of the easier bats to keep. They breed readily in captivity, but you need at least ten to constitute a colony, as well as space enough for a walk-in cage. They are not recommended for your average person. There is absolutely no need to buy an import if you really want one; in fact, wild fruit bats may carry a disease similar to Ebola, so best avoid imports entirely.  Better still, however, buy a bat house for your backyard. Enjoy some wild bats before attempting to keep them.

Wild Fest 2013 Coverage!

Today was the 2013 Wild Fest! I had no idea how to get there or how big it would be. It turned out to be relatively easy to find and a small exhibit that fit into a Sunday afternoon nicely. A lot of wildlife centers in IL were present. So, without further ado...pictures!

SOAR (Save Our American Raptors) had a booth at the show. FYI, "raptors" here means "Birds of prey" - let's not go Jurassic Park here. They had a lot of owls, a peregrine falcon (the fastest animal in the world) and a bald eagle. While we were not allowed to touch the raptors, they were still awesome to see. How often do you get up-close and personal with a bald eagle, after all?

Animals for Awareness had a lot. Parrots, hedgehogs, and an albino male boa were pretty much par for the course. What I did not expect was the kinkajou - a smallish Central and South American mammal related to raccoons. She was very active, so unfortunately, my pictures sucked. Fret not; I will call them about volunteering opportunities.



Incredible Bats was just that: A bunch of awesome fruit bats that people could see right in front of them. Both species (Egyptian and Straw-Colored) were from Africa, which is usually not praised fro its fruit bats. Alas, bats are nocturnal, and these guys were not very interested in the fruit we offered them.

Jim Nesci is something of a legend among reptile people. He uses exotic reptiles for a lot of educational shows and appears regularly at ReptileFest and NARBC. We just missed his big display involving an albino Burmese python. BUBBA was there, too; check out the little girl getting a ride on an alligator's back!

Finally, Big Run Wolf Ranch made it to this awesome exhibition. Neither Shanoa nor Zeus wanted to show up; instead of the standard gray wolf, we got to see Canuck (sp?), a British Columbian wolf. These wolves are actually the ranch owner's favorite, sparting dark coats, brilliant yellow-green eyes, and a white mark on the chest. It's a shame I couldn't figure out how to get my camera to shoot right. Kirby II was there as well.

This was a pretty awesome event, if small. With only so much space to work with and so much time, it's pretty easy to see everything in an hour. Stick around for a show; you won't regret it.

Creature Feature: Spotted Bat.

Is it me, or is the wonderful group of Chiroptera horribly underrepresented? If there is a bat in a movie, chances are it is one of the following: 1. a fruit bat, 2. a vampire bat, 3. a random microbat that we're supposed to believe is a vampire bat. There are so many other neat bats out there. Why no love? It's the rabies thing, isn't it? C'mon, you can be honest, here.

The spotted bat (Euderma maculatum) is one of the bats that should get more attention. It is a microbat, meaning that it uses echolocation to hunt for insects. These bats are native to the American southwest.  They aren't too big, they don't drink blood, and they won't get in your hair. They're just cute fluffballs with a trippy pattern that eat mosquitoes for fun and nutrients.

I know you're all tired of me saying this, but...look at it. It's fluffy with three white spots on a black coat. It has amazingly large ears - the largest, proportionately, of any bat. We like big ears on kittens, so why not bats? This is probably as colorful and cute as bats get.

The exact abundance of spotted bats is unknown. When it was first discovered in 1865, only 35 specimens had been catalogued. It was thought to be endangered. DDT supposedly added another nail in the bat's coffin. Now, we think that the bat is far more abundant than previously supposed.

This is a bat that should be a cute cartoon character. I'm not ashamed at all to have a plushie of it. Bats can be cute flying fluffballs (see Woobat) or just nasty rodents with wings. Remember, any bat that gets in your hair got there by accident- they aren't all rabid, malicious bloodsuckers.

P.S.- if you ever happen to be in Rome at night, look near the lamps. It's quite fun to "batwatch" there. No spotted bats, but still.

Bio-Art: Cool Things on eBay.

I have a little philosophy regarding any form of art involving animals or their parts: If it isn't real, don't buy it. While I am not an advocate of animal cruelty, a lot of meaning is lost if something like, say, a shark tooth necklace doesn't even have real shark teeth. It's not like shark teeth are hard to find. It's not like real dead bugs or fish are hard to find, either. Luckily, China does a lot of cool things with dead animals, even if some of them are rather morbid.

 OK, so this one isn't a real centipede. Shoot me. Still, I did not know centipedes were in vogue right now. This would be awesome to see with a real bug. Cut up a centipede into,  say, 5 pieces, enclose them all in lucite, and mount them on a leather band like that. That would be hardcore.

Wolf's teeth pendants have also been popping up a lot.I'm not sure how 'traditional' or 'Tibetan' these are, but if they're made of real wolf's teeth, people are sure to snap them up for so many reasons. Don't get sobby on me, wolfaboos; grey wolves are plentiful in most of the world. Besides, I'm sure werewolf fanatics won't use these to attempt sympathetic magic with the wolves...right?

Yes, that is exactly what it looks like: A paperweight with a real dead bat in it. I'd buy it in a heartbeat if they managed to stuff a painted bat in there (Kerivoula picta), but otherwise, no sell. Still a pretty cool paperweight for the inner goth that resides in every cube dweller's soul. Look up Gaofudev if curious.

This has to be one of the weirdest things I've ever seen on eBay, and I've seen a lot of weird things on eBay. Again, that's exactly what it looks like: a paperweight with a cow plop in it. I'm all for bringing some of the country into the city, but that's pushing it. I'm having trouble rationalizing the existence of this. Comment below if you have any good ideas as to why this might have come into being.

Finally, if wearing tribal lizard bracelets or live snakes wasn't edgy enough...how about turtle bling? No? Whaddya mean, "turtles aren't deadly enough?" That's still a fully-preserved baby turtle (red-eared slider) in there.  Surely that counts for something. (This also comes in glow in the dark, by the way.)

Still haven't found that green rose chafer block clock. I'm sure the aquarium mouse I wanted to put up here will resurface as well (ha ha). Next week will get a little more artistic than a lucite paperweight with cow dung in it, I promise.

Creature Feature: Proboscis Bat.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. Joy; this blog would have absolutely nothing to do with such a 'holiday' except maybe putting up a few interesting, rarely-seen swine. So, without further ado, here is something completely unrelated to football: A bat.



The proboscis bat (Rhynchonycteris naso) is native to Central and South America. It eats insects like most microbats. It is, however, eaten by the spider Argiope savignyi, so pick who you would root for in a fight wisely. They are usually seen near water in large groups.



Proboscis bats are so named for their long noses. Strange faces are not unknown in the bat world, but these mostly involve huge ears for better sonar reception. It's rare to have a bat with a face that looks like a tapir. I have not seen any information on why (the better to smell you with, my dear mosquito?) but if any bat-lovers can provide, I will gladly update this entry.

As if the nose was not enough, proboscis bats also have strange, wavy stripes down their backs. These stripes serve no known purpose other than to make too-curious bat enthusiasts scratch their heads. They could be for mating, but those stripes might not show up on sonar. Camouflage is the most likely possibility, seeing as they would make the little bat look a tiny bit more like a scrap of bark. Weirdly, these bats can be seen clinging to rocks in perfect single file- your mileage may vary on whether or not this disrupts their camouflage.

When night falls, the colony of proboscis bats flies up from that strange position and over a body of water. They feed at the same spot every night; it is always around water and Rainforest travelers should thank these bats; they're helping to keep the mosquitoes at bay. 

Creature Feature: Vampire Bats.

Twilight has ruined vampires forever. Sparkling is no excuse to stay out of the sunlight; hell, it would work wonders in a musical. At least nobody has ruined the uniqueness and gothic coolness of vampire bats.

Real vampire bats range from Mexico to Chile - they are not native to Transylvania at all. There are three different species of vampire bat, each being different enough to warrant its own genus (Desmoda, Diamus, and Diphylla - the authoress of Pet Shop of Horrors would have a field day). They are among the few hematophagous vertebrates (sharing the spot with a few fish such as lampreys) and the only blood-drinking mammals. 

The blood-drinking lifestyle probably evolved only once in bats. Despite being different species, all three types of vampire bat have similar adaptations for drinking the warm blood of mammals and birds. They utilize echolocation and heat pits similar to those found in pit vipers to locate the nearest source of food. You read that right: These bats have an adaptation best-known in snakes.



Vampire bats do not suck blood. They make cuts with their razor-sharp front teeth and lap up the leaking fluid like little kitty cats. A single vampire bat can weigh twice its usual after drinking its fill, and will often return to the same animal when allowed.

Vampire bat saliva contains draculin (yes, that's what it's called), a substance that prevents the blood from clotting while they feed. It is potent enough to be the preferred anticoagulant for heart attack and stroke patients. A lot of people overlook the necessity of an anticoagulant when designing vampires, chupacabras, or anything else that feeds on blood. The world must be full of hemophiliacs to them.



Blood-drinking aside, vampire bats are still cool. They are one of the few bats that can reliably 'walk' on their wings; these bats can walk on their thumbs, jump and hop using all four limbs. Vampire bats are also the most sociable of bats, known to adopt orphan babies and regurgitate a little bit of blood for hungry flockmates. Awww!