Our Blog

Information, musings, and news about Bats

Habitat, habitat, have to have a habitat

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I have some very good news for this week’s blog! Back in October of 2018, The Tropical Audubon Society and the North American Butterfly Association’s Miami Blue Chapter filed for protection of the Florida Bonneted Bat. Three days ago, on February 12, the US Fish […]

What the guano knows

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! There is a secluded cave in the forests of northwestern Jamaica that holds information of how the environment has changed since the early Bronze Age. Bat guano may not seem important; however, it holds details of what the bats were eating along with what their […]

Flying through hoops!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I found an interesting article about helping bats that are hibernating in caves. Torpor, a state of lowered body temperature and much slower metabolism, is very important for cave hibernating bats. This torpor is often interrupted by people who are happy to explore underground, which […]

Check out those cephalium!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I am excited because I have a four-day weekend! Yay! I was doing some research and found something interesting. Most of the plants that nectar-drinking bats eat from have evolved to reflect ultrasonic waves. This makes it easier for the bats to find them when […]

Say, can you spare a quarter?

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. Mine was great because it snowed! Ok, so it only snowed about an inch, but it gave us a day off of school. I am very happy because I just learned that a new US quarter for 2020 will feature a picture of bats! It […]

To Australia, with love

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week, Happy New Year, and Happy New Decade! Much of Australia is currently on fire. So far tens of thousands have had to evacuate, hundreds of millions of animals have died, at least 15 people have died, and the State of New South Wales declared a […]

What’s stinky, heavy, covered in spikes, pollinated by bats, and worth $15 billion* a year???

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I had a wonderful first week of winter break. No big snows yet, but the car has frozen shut a few times! I hope everyone has been enjoying their holidays! I found an article about how bats are still being overlooked despite how helpful they […]

Fungus in the canyon?

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I had a wonderful week full of holiday parties and cookies! Sadly though, I have some potentially unfortunate news. It appears that the Grand Canyon National Park has begun increasing surveillance for White Nose Syndrome. This doesn’t mean that the fungus has been detected yet, […]

Skulls R cool!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I read a very interesting article about a study dedicated to finding what types of evolutionary forces help shape animals. A group of biologists at the University of Washington researched the diversity of bat skulls. The researchers used scans of skulls of over 200 bat […]

Fight the Fungus!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I am very excited for Thanksgiving break! I get almost a whole week off school! Then it’s only three more weeks until Winter Vacation! I have some interesting news to share with you all today. White Nose Syndrome has had a devastating impact on bat […]

When your microbiome’s close to home…

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! Recently, scientists started looking into the microbiome of bats and realized that they are very different from those of other mammals. In humans, our microbiome, specifically the gut bacteria, helps keep us healthy. The microbes help digest our food and help with a range of […]

Freetails in Fiji

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! Mine was wonderful because I had Monday and Tuesday off of school because of Teacher Work Days! That means I had a four-day weekend to sleep late! I found an interesting article about bats in Fiji and how people are working to help them. There […]