Hi everyone! I hope you had a good week! I had a pretty good one because I have been looking forward to going camping. That’s right! I am going camping tonight! And then tomorrow, I am going caving. I’ve never been caving, so I hope it’s a lot of fun. This week has been a hard one for a lot of people around the world. People in Puerto Rico are still without power. There were several major earthquakes around the world. Some really bad ones were in Chile and at the border between Iran and Iraq. In addition to all that, there has been a political crisis in Zimbabwe. My thoughts are with everyone affected by these difficult situations. My family has recently become friends with some people in Zimbabwe. We have heard from one friend who said that people in his area are doing well, but we haven’t heard from our friend in Harare. We are worried about her and hope everyone there is ok. In her honor, I thought it would be nice to research bats from Zimbabwe. They have a lot of really cute ones. I decided the cutest one is the Sundevall’s Roundleaf Bat. I think this little bat looks like a little piggy. They have long gray or bright orange fur with brown wings. They also have big round ears and a horseshoe-shaped nose that reminds me of my pug. These bats are common throughout much of Africa. Their diet consists of mostly moths, but they also eat beetles, flies, and other insects. The Sundevall’s Roundleaf Bat likes to roost in caves, tree hollows, mines, and attics. Some of their cave roosts are really big. One cave in Gabon has 500,000 of these bats. If you would like to read more about these adorable […]
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I had a pretty good one because last weekend was a four-day weekend! That’s right, I had Monday and Tuesday off of school. That means that not only did I have a four-day weekend, but I only had a three-day school week! Personally, I am of the opinion that I should have had Veteran’s Day off as well, but I suppose the people in charge thought students needed more than a two-day school week…I do not understand why! I do hope that all the veterans out there (and all the lucky people who got to stay home and not go to school) enjoyed their special day. I recently heard about a place called Batman. Batman is, of course, my favorite superhero. So, when I heard that there was a place called Batman, I began investigating. Apparently, this place has been in southeastern Turkey all along, and I didn’t know about it! Southeastern Turkey sounds like the perfect place for a vacation. It has mountains, wildflowers, and waterfalls. It also has caves and some of the world’s oldest archaeological sites. The town of Batman is the area’s third largest city. Until 1957, the town was called Iluh. In the 1940’s oil was found in the area and the town grew. Shortly after that is when it was renamed Batman after the Batman River nearby. This wonderful place also has some amazing bats living there. It was hard for me to pick a favorite, but if I had to pick, I think I’d pick the Bechstein’s bat because of its adorable big ears. This lovely little creature has nice fluffy, reddish-brown fur and its face is really cute and pink. The Bechstein’s bat eats insects and lives in tree holes. If you’d […]
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I had a lot of fun at the Botanic Gardens last weekend. It was so much fun talking to everyone about bats. A lot of people came by and the bats loved all the attention they were getting. They also liked all the juicy mealworms that they got to eat. A few days ago, Save Lucy shared an article. I thought it was really interesting. The article was about how bat pups pick up bat dialects. A team of scientists wanted to know if bats could pick up other bats’ dialects when introduced to them. They raised 14 little bat pups with their mothers. The bats were all from different colonies. The scientists played three subsets of recordings of natural bat sounds. This continued until the pups were adults. Since the pups were raised with their mothers, they learned to speak like she did, but with the introduction of other bat dialects via the speakers, they also learned how to speak in the dialect the speaker was playing. Isn’t that cool? Until this study, scientists thought humans were the only ones who could pick up different dialects. People have different accents and dialects depending on where they are from. Over time, people learn how to copy others’ accents or to drop their own accents in order to communicate. If you would like to read the article, you can find it here. And now for a public service announcement or two… Daylight Savings time ends tomorrow. Don’t forget to set your clocks back an hour. Also, Election Day is Tuesday. Don’t forget to vote. The little bats are counting on their human friends to do all the voting for them. Sadly, bats aren’t allowed to vote. I hope you all have […]
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. I would like to dedicate this week’s blog to the people affected by the fires in Northern California. I hope that weather brings you some rain soon and the fires can be brought under control. My thoughts are with you all. I am studying poetry in my English class. One of my assignments was to research a famous poet and then to write an original poem using that poet’s style. I researched William Blake, so I decided to try and copy the style he used in his poem “The Tyger”. I wrote about the misunderstood and underappreciated bat that people often call “ugly”. It was difficult to write because, well, bats are adorable! I needed inspiration and as you all know, little bats are very poetic. So, with their inspiration, but definitely not their talent, I managed to write a poem that I would like to share with you all now. I hope you like it. The Bat Big Brown Bat flying light In the skies of the night You’re called ugly by those who see What is outside, not within thee Catching bugs only you can hear How do you see them from so far, not near? With echolocation – a spectacular sense From which a bug has little defense Big Brown Bat in the night Aiding farmers in your flight A life of service. Don’t you see? Helping humans just like me But your appearance causes prejudice Sadly, they don’t see your selflessness Instead they see a hideous troll Missing that deep in your eyes is a loving soul Your purpose in life is actually simple To stray from it would be quite sinful Please save us from the plight Of the unfortunate mosquito bite Big Brown Bat […]
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a high school student, bat advocate, and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. She now enjoys watching the bats fly over her home on summer evenings. Rachael has been writing the Baturday News for over three years. Hi everyone! Happy Bat Appreciation Month! I hope you all had a good week! People who were in Las Vegas last weekend had a very bad week. I would like to dedicate this week’s blog to everyone affected by what happened there. My thoughts are with you, your families, and your friends. This week, we will learn about a bat that lives in the Las Vegas area. The California leaf-nosed bat is adorable! It has huge ears, which makes its hearing spectacular. It can even hear the footsteps of a cricket! This is very useful for them because they love to eat crickets. They also eat grasshoppers, katydids, June beetles, diving beetles, and some moths. They have a cute leaf shaped nose that points up. This is where they get the name “leaf-nosed”. They have gray to dark brown fur. These bats have short wings, which makes it hard for them to fly long distances. They don’t migrate, but they don’t hibernate either. They do like to roost in caves and mines. Another interesting fact about the California leaf-nosed bat is that they are unable to crawl on their thumbs like other bats. If you would like to read more about the California leaf-nosed bat, you can read about them here. I would like to wish everyone in the path of Tropical Storm (soon to be hurricane) Nate the best of luck! The storm […]
Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a high school student, bat advocate, and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. She now enjoys watching the bats fly over her home on summer evenings. Rachael has been writing the Baturday News for over three years. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. I have been sick! Just in case you guys are curious, pneumonia stinks! I would not recommend it. In fact, if there is a way you can avoid it, I would highly recommend that you do so. I am happy to say that the antibiotics are working and I am starting to feel a little better now. It has been another difficult week for Puerto Rico and Mexico. Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Maria. Power is out to the entire island, only about a fourth of the people have water, and a dam is in “imminent danger of failing.” While Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands were dealing with the hurricane, Mexico was hit with another major earthquake. Hundreds of people were killed. My thoughts are with the people of Puerto Rico and Mexico. With all the bad news, I thought everyone could use some good batty news. I have some great news for the Indiana bats living in Illinois. An old silica mine that was owned by the mining company Unimin has been given to the Organization for Bat Conservation. More than 45,000 endangered Indiana bats now have a nice comfy home. Apparently, bat populations living in silica mines haven’t been affected by White Nose Syndrome as much as bats living in other caves. So, the Executive Director of the Organization for […]