Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! Since Shark Week is starting Sunday, instead of the wonderful Bat Week, I thought that I should have this week’s blog also be slightly sharky. Even though they aren’t bats, sharks are very important to us and do need help. Since Shark Week does raise awareness about how important they are, I decided that this year, I won’t be quite so hard on them. After all, they can’t help it that they aren’t lovely little bats. I did a little bit of research and discovered that there is a beach in South Africa called Gansbaai. This beautiful beach has been nicknamed Shark Ally because there are so many sharks in the water there. In honor of the sharks that swim around that beach, I decided to write this blog about a bat from South Africa. I found an adorable fruit bat called the Straw-colored Fruit bat. The Straw-colored Fruit bat, like its name suggests, has straw colored fur. They also have olive or brown fur mixed in with the straw colored fur. They have big eyes, big ears, and pointy heads that help them reach fruit. These bats, along with other fruit bats, have cheek pouches. They use the cheek pouches to stash fruit in. They like to do this, then fly away with their yummy fruit. They do this so that other bats can’t get to their tasty meal. Straw-colored fruit bats eat a lot of fruit, their favorites seem to be mangoes, dates, figs, baobab flowers (which bats are drawn to because they are very stinky), passion fruit, and avocados. Apparently, these bats are very vocal eaters, and like to scream about their food finds to their friends. They smack their lips while they eat, which I find […]
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week and that you enjoyed your 4th of July celebrations. I heard about a soccer team that has been stuck in a cave in Thailand. A lot of people are working very hard to get them out of the cave safely. It must be a very difficult job. I thought it would be nice to learn about a bat from Thailand. I found an adorable bat called the Greater False Vampire bat. They live throughout South Asia, including Thailand. They roost in places that a lot of other bat species also roost in such as caves, hollow trees, and old buildings. These very cute bats have big ears and an incredibly handsome nose-leaf that covers most of their face. The Greater False Vampire bat has blue-grey fur covering most of their body, and a brown-grey stomach. These bats are carnivores who like to eat many yummy things including fish and larger insects that smaller bats aren’t big enough to eat. Unlike other carnivorous bats, these bats will sometimes sit and wait for their prey to come by. Once they catch their tasty morsel, they fly to a nice safe place to eat it. If you want to read more about the Greater False Vampire bat, you can read about them here. I would like to wish all the rescuers in Thailand the best of luck. I hope everyone gets out of the cave safely soon.
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I am enjoying my summer vacation. I have been sleeping late and relaxing. I’m sure you all remember the hurricanes that hit the Caribbean last year. Hurricanes Irma and Maria did a lot of damage. It has been easy to forget about the hurricanes in the 9 months that have passed, but people living there have been unable to forget. Over 14,000 people in Puerto Rico are still without power. People are still rebuilding their homes. Not only has been difficult for people living there, but it has also been difficult for the animals. Luckily, they are starting to recover. I have some good news about the bats in the US Virgin Islands. Some bat species recovered from the hurricanes relatively quickly. The Pallas Mastiff Bat is one of those species. They feed mainly on insects, so they were able to continue to find food. Fruit bats were not so lucky. The hurricanes took down the trees on the islands destroying the food source for the fruit bats. Renanta Platenberg, a researcher at the University of the Virgin Islands has been studying the bats on the islands for many years. After the hurricanes hit, she and her team went out in search of bats to see how they were doing. It was months before they were able to find any bats. Instead, they saw birds dying of hunger. Then they found out that bats were dying on St. Croix. The hurricanes had destroyed the food source for the three fruit bat species on the island. Ms. Platenberg came up with what I believe was an ingenious way to help the bats. She went on social media and asked people to put bananas and other fruit out for the bats. Thanks […]
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. The world got some sad news Thursday when we learned of the passing of Koko the Gorilla. Koko was an amazing gorilla who had learned to communicate in American Sign Language. She was able to tell the world how she was feeling and what she was thinking in ways that humans didn’t realize animals would be able to. She was a great ambassador of the animal kingdom and will be greatly missed. I would like to express my sympathy to her caretakers and friends, especially Ms. Penny Patterson, who was Koko’s friend, teacher, and caretaker throughout Koko’s life. And I would like to dedicate this week’s blog to the memory of Koko. Since Koko lived in California, I thought it would be nice to learn about a California bat this week. Yuma myotis is just one of the adorable little critters that I read about. Not only does the Yuma myotis live in California, but it also lives in other parts of Western North America from British Columbia all the way down to Central Mexico. They live as far east as Oklahoma. They are covered by short brown fur and have little white tuffs on their stomachs. They always roost near a body of water, and like to rest in caves, attics, mines, and underneath bridges. They live in forests and desert areas with access to rivers, streams, ponds, or lakes. Like most other North American bats, these adorable animals like to munch on insects. Their favorites are moths, midges, caddisflies, craneflies, and beetles. If you would like to read more about the Yuma Myotis, you can find information here.
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I am very excited because yesterday was the last day of school! I am finally free! Free to sleep late and relax! While I was looking for batty news, I came across an article about a small Dutch town that is helping bats. Zuidhoek-Nieuwkoop is becoming a very eco-friendly town in the Netherlands. It is called home by a variety of rare and vulnerable plants and animals. Most importantly, they are home to a few bat species, including some in need of help. As we all know, bats, and other nocturnal animals, don’t like bright lights. Bright streetlights hurt their eyes and cause all kinds of problems for them. Zuidhoek-Nieuwkoop has found a pretty cool solution to the problem. Red lights! Signify is an organization that has taken regular streetlights and changed them so that they emit a red color that uses a wavelength that doesn’t hurt the bats’ eyes, so they are able to fly around and do all their batty things. Not only does this light help nocturnal animals, it also helps the environment. The new lights save energy, which helps reduce the town’s carbon footprint. The streetlights have LED lights that are hooked up to a remote that can change the brightness of the light if needed. I’d like to thank the people of Zuidhoek-Nieuwkoop for helping bats and other nocturnal animals. I’d also like to thank them for everything else they do to help the environment. Back in 2011, this town built 89 new sustainable houses that are better for the environment. These new streetlights couple perfectly with them in helping the animals and plants living, and thriving, around them. If you want to read the article you can find it here. I hope everyone has […]
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I had an eventful one. My sister graduated from high school on Thursday! In honor of her graduating, I thought I would write about one of her favorite bats. She loves the little Bumble-Bee Bat. The Bumble-Bee Bat is not only one of the cutest animals I have ever seen, it is also the smallest mammal known to man. This makes it the smallest bat species. The official name of the Bumble-Bee Bat is the Kittie’s Hog-Nosed Bat, but since it’s only an inch long, people nicknamed it the Bumble-Bee Bat. This bat has red or gray fur, big ears, a cute tail, extra webbing between its hind legs, and true to its name, a cute hog-ish nose. The extra webbing between their legs helps them move around while they are flying. The Bumble-Bee Bat lives along the Southeast part of Burma, the western areas of Thailand, and the Sai Yok National Park in Thailand. They roost along the forest areas and the limestone caves by rivers. Their diet consists of insects that live near the water. They eat a lot of flies and also eat spiders. Unlike a lot of other bat species, these bats don’t live in large colonies. Their colonies usually only have between 100 and 500 members, sometimes even less. Some colonies only have 10 bats as members. If you’d like to read more about these adorable bats, you can find information here.
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. I am looking forward to a nice three-day weekend. I plan on sleeping late each of those three days. And I am very happy about it. I found out that today is “World Dracula Day”. World Dracula Day celebrates the anniversary of the first publication of Bram Stoker’s book Dracula. The book was first published 121 years ago. In honor of World Dracula Day, I thought we should learn about vampire bats. Even before Europeans came to the Americas, they had stories about vampires. The early vampires were monsters, but not really bats. The association with bats came with Stoker’s book. After the publication of the book, these cute little bats got their name. The book didn’t really help their reputation, so in an attempt to improve their image, let’s learn the truth about these little critters. First, there are three kinds of vampire bats. They all live in Central and South America, not Transylvania. And all they eat is blood. They don’t eat any other food or even drink water. Because of their diet, vampire bat guano has a very strong smell. This makes it easy to find their roosts. Vampire bats don’t really want to drink human blood. They usually feed off livestock animals and birds. Since these bats are small, they only consume about a tablespoon of blood. That means that the animal they use for their meal might not even realize they have been bitten. One interesting characteristic of vampire bats is that their nose is able to sense heat, which helps them find blood vessels. Another interesting characteristic is that vampire bats can run. Their ancestors lost the ability to run when they developed the ability to fly. But these bats re-evolved to be able […]
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I did because yesterday was King’s Day in the Netherlands. Since I am part Dutch, I celebrated the day with some Dutch pancakes and a yummy Dutch cake. King’s Day is the birthday of the Dutch King. So, I would like to wish His Majesty, King Willem-Alexander a very happy birthday. I hope everyone in the Netherlands and Dutch people all over the world had a fantastic holiday. Since it was the King’s birthday yesterday, I thought that I would write about a bat from the Netherlands. I found an adorable bat called the Pond Bat. They are so cute! They have ash-grey or chestnut-brown fur on their backs, and their stomachs are covered with greyish fur. They live all over Europe and part of Asia. Pond bats roost in hollows in trees, caves, and comfy human house roofs and church towers. As their name suggests, they like living near water. They dive toward the water and catch gnats, midges, and caddis flies…I think the Bat Scouts could have a new Bat Scout cookie, because…eww! Like many other bats, these adorable critters are in danger. Many of their nursery sites have been lost in the western part of their range. They are doing a little better in the eastern part of their range, but they are still near threatened there. If you would like to read more about Pond Bats, you can find information here.
Today’s blog is dedicated to the people of Saskatchewan, Canada. I was very sad to hear about the terrible accident last weekend. I know this is a very difficult time for the people of Saskatchewan and for many people throughout Canada. Please know that my thoughts are with you. I hope you all had a good week! I am happy to report that I get to enjoy a long weekend! Friday was the end of the 3rd quarter at school, so we had an early release and we get to stay home Monday! Isn’t that amazing? I plan on sleeping late and going shopping. This week, I researched bats of Saskatchewan. They have 8 species of bats there. Many of the bats they have there are the same species that we have here in Virginia. There is one special little bat that they have that is no longer found here in Fairfax, Virginia. That’s right! The people of Saskatchewan are lucky enough to still have little brown bats. They have little Lucys flying in the night sky! Sadly, all of our little brown bats have passed away due to White Nose Syndrome. I was happy to discover the little brown bats who call Saskatchewan home are doing well. For those of us who have never been lucky enough to see a little brown bat flying around, they are adorable. They have yellowy-brown to light brown fur and are smaller than big brown bats. If these bats are able to avoid WNS, they can live up to 33 years. That makes them one of the longest lived mammals for their size. If you want to learn more about little brown bats, you can find information on the Save Lucy Website: http://virginiabats.org. And now, I am happy to announce that this Tuesday, […]