I would like to dedicate this blog to the memory of Professor Stephen Hawking. Stephen Hawking was an English theoretical physicist who passed away earlier this week at the age of 76. Professor Hawking was a completely amazing person who was diagnosed with ALS when he was 21 and was given only two years to live. Despite his illness, he continued to live a full life and made countless contributions to science. He once said, “However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.” I think that’s a good rule to live by. Professor Hawking was an inspiration to many people and he will be greatly missed. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. Since today is St. Patrick’s Day, I thought it would be nice to learn about an Irish bat. I found an adorable bat called the Daubenton’s bat! It has red-brown fur, with a cute pinkish face. Not only do these bats live in Ireland, they also live in England, Wales, Northern Scotland, and the Isle of Man. They like living in tunnels, bridges, caves, and old stone buildings with good hiding places. They will even roost under rocks on the cave floors and tunnel floors. Since they blend into the color of the rocks, they are nearly impossible to find. In the summer, Daubenton’s bats roost in humid, underground places that are usually close to a body of water. To get their dinner, these bats fly a few centimeters about the water’s surface and catch caddisflies, mayflies, and midges. They will even plunge their feet into the water to get a tasty meal from below the water’s surface. The population of this species has been affected by damage and […]
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. I was sad on Thursday because it had snowed the night before, and I STILL HAD SCHOOL!!! There was at least half a millimeter of snow on the cars when I woke up in the morning. The sidewalks were damp. It was obvious to all Fairfax County Public School students that there should at least be a delay. I mean, they’ve cancelled school for less in the past. But, nothing! I had to go to school on time! The injustice of it all was overwhelming! Ok, I feel better now… I have some good news in the world of bats! Scientists might be on the verge of a breakthrough in eradicating White Nose Syndrome! As many of you know, the fungus most likely began in Eurasia, and the bats over there seem to be immune to it. The bats here in North America, however, are not. Little Brown bat populations have dropped 90 percent since White Nose Syndrome first appeared in New York. And, Tricolored and Northern-long Eared bat populations have dropped 97 percent. White Nose Syndrome even snuck its way west of the Rockies. There has been no news of any hope for a cure except for relying on time and evolution, until now. Hundreds of researchers have been trying for years to find a way to stop, or at least slow down, this deadly disease, with no luck. New research is beginning to show some hope of a solution. A study led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been looking into the genomics of the fungus that causes White Nose Syndrome. They have discovered that this fungus is missing an enzyme that allows it to repair its DNA after it’s been exposed to UV light. They are […]
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I have been enjoying the Olympics again this week. It has been fun to watch the ice skating, ice dancing, and skiing. Just like bats, I think there are some sports that aren’t getting nearly enough attention. For example, curling…what exactly is it? Since the Olympics are almost over, I’m starting to look forward to the 2020 Summer Olympics. They will be held in Tokyo, Japan. Japan has many different species of bats. They have both insectivore bats and fruit bats. The frosted myotis bat is a vesper bat that only lives in Japan. From its description, I think it must be an adorable little bat, but unfortunately, I was unable to find a picture of the little guy. Its back fur is brown with frosted tips and its stomach is a little lighter. It has velvety soft fur. The frosted myotis is very similar to the Yanbaru whiskered bat and the Burmese whiskered bat. It wasn’t discovered until 1969. This little bat likes to roost in tree hollows and is found in the mountain forests of lower elevations. Since it only lives on the islands of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, this bat isn’t very common. It is listed as endangered. If you would like to read more about this little bat, you can find some information here. Another bat found in Japan is the Bonin flying fox. Other names for this bat are the Bonin fruit bat and the Ogasawara giant bat. This beautiful bat lives in the subtropical forests of the islands of Chichijima, Hahajima, North Iwo Jima, and South Iwo Jima. Its fur is mostly black and brown and it has some silver-tipped hairs mixed in. The hair around its head, neck, and shoulders is frizzy. They […]
Today’s blog is dedicated to the people of Parkland, FL. I hope the injured recover quickly and the people who lost loved ones find peace. Please know that my thoughts are with you. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I have been enjoying the Olympics. I’ve watched it every day since the Games started last week. So far, Norway has won the most medals with a total of 19. In honor of the Norwegians performing so well, I thought I would research a bat that lives there. I found a very adorable bat called the Nathusius pipistrelle. The Nathusius pipistrelle bat is very similar to the common Pipistrelle, but it has a different echolocation call. Both calls can be picked up by bat detectors, so you can easily tell them apart. The Nathusius pipistrelle has pretty reddish-brown fur on its back and stomach, and darker brown fur on its face and tail. This bat lives throughout Western Europe from the Ural Mountains to Turkey and, of course, Norway. He likes to migrate from the Northern and Eastern areas or Europe to the Southern and Western areas of Europe in the winter time. Just like the bats I’m used to seeing here in Virginia, the Nathusius pipistrelle likes to eat insects. They roost in hollow trees and old houses with small crevasses for them to hide in. One interesting fact about this bat is that it was chosen to be the first “Bat Species of the Year” by Batlife Europe in 2015. This distinction helped the Nathusius pipistrelle gain attention throughout 30 countries in Europe who promoted conservation issues and public awareness of this adorable little bat. If you want to read more about this bat, you can find information here and here.
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I am excited that I can watch the Olympics again! It’s always fun to see all the athletes doing amazing things. I also like seeing everyone getting along so nicely. It’s nice to see that athletes from countries that don’t always like each other are able to put their differences aside and participate in the Olympic Games peacefully. I am especially excited to see North Korea and South Korea participating together as one great team. In honor of the fact that the Olympics are being held in Pyeongchang, South Korea I decided to write about a Korean bat. There are several different species of bats that live in Korea, but sadly, it’s very hard to find information on them. I did find some information on an adorable little bat called the Northern bat. This little bat has short round ears that kind of remind me of a mouse. They have blackish-brown fur, with dark brown or goldish fur on the tip of its head and back. This cute little critter lives all throughout Eurasia, from Scandinavia to Northern Italy, and Eastern England to Northern Japan. It is mainly found in the northern part of the continent. Many people think that these bats live in one place year-round, but they really are just slow migrators and like moving over a period of years. These little bats eat insects and especially love eating Ghost moths. One interesting fact that I learned was that in high altitude areas of Eurasia, the female Northern bats actually fly during the daytime! They do this because of the short nights, but the best hunting is after dusk and before dawn. If you would like to read more about these cute little bats, you can find information […]
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! It was an eventful one. The week began with sad news out of Afghanistan. This week’s blog is dedicated to the people of Afghanistan. I hope the injured recover quickly and the people who lost loved ones find peace. My thoughts are with you. We finished off the week with a little groundhog telling us that we were going to have six more weeks of winter. First, I would like to express my sympathies to all the little groundhogs who were woken up from their comfy slumber to predict the weather. Second, I would like to request that Mother Nature listen to the little critter and give us some snow. We really haven’t had a good snow this year and I would like to build a snowman. And now for the bat news! I found a very interesting article about how some bats migrated into South America and Mesoamerica. Usually plants and animals migrate from the continents to islands, and apparently moving from islands to continents is practically unheard of. This is because there are fewer competitors for food and fewer predators on islands. Scientists studying fossil records of Short-faced bats of South America discovered that these bats most likely originally came from the Caribbean islands! From there, they colonized Mesoamerica and South America, where the species now happily lives. Since this is very unusual, scientists wanted to know why. They came up with two explanations. First, the Short-faced bat has a powerful bite. This might have helped them eat foods that other bats couldn’t. This allowed them to have a wider variety of foods that they could eat. Secondly, these bats had amazing wings! Their wings were semi-transparent, which enabled them to see their predators while they hid in […]
Hello everyone! I hope you all had a good week. I had a great one. The reason it was so awesome was because I had a “snow day” on Monday. That’s right, they cancelled school for the day because there was a possibility of freezing rain! I got to sleep in and watch TV. ? And do you know what makes that snow day even better? Thanks to that day, I will not need to go to school for an entire 5 day week at all in January!!! That’s right. There are “teacher work days” scheduled for the end of the month. Personally, I believe I could get used to this sort of thing. And now for the bat news…It is not good news. If fact, it is very sad news. As you all know, Australia is experiencing summer while we are experiencing winter. On the 7th, a very bad heatwave hit south eastern Australia. This is causing a lot of the flying-foxes to die of extreme heat exposure. The temperatures in Australia have hit record highs of 42-43 degrees C. For those of us in the US, that translates to 107-109 degrees F. In Sydney, the temperature got as high as 45 degrees C (113 degrees F). The poor bats can’t handle that kind of heat combined with the high humidity. As soon as they noticed the bats dying, volunteers began monitoring the bat colonies in Campbelltown, Parramatta Park, Yarramuni, South Creek, and Emu Plains. Bats were dying by the hundreds and volunteers raced to help those who could be saved. Volunteers rushed more than 40 young flying-foxes into critical care. Sadly, they were unable to save them all. Another day, volunteers braved the heat to save hundreds of little pups who have been rehydrated and reunited with their […]
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week and a very Merry Christmas! I had an awesome Christmas and I got some really cool presents. I even got a brand new Save Lucy t-shirt! Since this will be my last blog post of the year, I thought it would be nice to look back at everything that happened in 2017. I know a lot of bad things happened in 2017. White Nose Syndrome continued to spread, sadly with no end in sight. There were hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires. More than half of Puerto Rico is still without power. Honestly, it’s been a rough year for a lot of people and a lot of critters. That said, some good things happened too. So, let’s focus on the good… On January 24, Fiona the Hippo was born at the Cincinnati Zoo. She soon became an international internet sensation bringing joy to millions of people around the world. She is absolutely adorable! A 12 year old Romanian boy risked his life to save the life of a toddler who had become trapped in a pipe. There was a total solar eclipse seen throughout North America on August 21. There won’t be another seen on the continent until 2024. And in bat news, a new bat was discovered roosting in East Devon. The grey long-eared bat is rare to the UK. There are only about 3,000 of them, so this discovery was great news! More good news came out of Europe in 2017. Thanks to Europe’s strict laws protecting bats, it was found that European bats are making a comeback. Many bat populations on the continent have increased by 43% since 1993. And last but not least, Northern Long-Eared bats were found on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts and coastal South Carolina. […]
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. I am excited because it is almost Christmas!!! I love Christmas! I have been eating so many Christmas cookies that we need to make more to give to our neighbors! I learned an interesting Christmas fact the other day. In Australia, Santa’s sleigh isn’t pulled by reindeer. It’s pulled by kangaroos! I think it’s totally awesome of the kangaroos to give the reindeer a break for a little while. I’m sure that after flying around so much of the world, they are tired and appreciate the help of those kangaroos. Since the kangaroos are so helpful, I thought I’d look up some bats from Australia. You know I just love the little bat burritos down in Australia, but I found another adorable bat to talk about this week. It’s called the Chocolate Wattled Bat. It has chocolate brown fur on its back, and light brown fur on its stomach. It has a lobe on its lower lip that looks a little like a wattle. This bat also has the most adorable little nose. Its nose looks a lot like a pug dog’s nose! I have a pug dog, so I really like this bat’s nose. ? Chocolate Wattled bats eat a lot of insects. They really like chewing on moths. These cute little creatures live in the southern parts of Australia and in Tasmania. They are very common in Victoria, Australia. They live in forests, woodlands, and in farm areas. These bats also like to roost in tree hollows and in buildings. Their colonies are made up of 10 to 20 bats. If you would like to learn more about these adorable little Australian bats, you can find information here. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. I’m excited because it is almost Winter Break. There is only one more week before I get a two-week vacation. I can’t wait! A lot has been going on in the news this week. One thing makes me sad. There are a lot of wildfires in California again. I would like to dedicate this week’s blog to all the people and animals affected by these fires. I researched some bats from California and found a really cute one – the pocketed free-tailed bat! This adorable little bat lives in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and in Mexico. They look similar to the Brazilian free-tailed bat, but they have one major difference. These little guys have built in pockets! How cool is that? They have a fold of skin that stretches from the middle of the femur to the middle of the tibia. This fold makes a little pocket on the underside near their knee. The pocketed free-tailed bat eats insects. They like to roost in caves, crevices, mines, tunnels, and man-made structures. Unlike the Brazilian free-tailed bat, the pocket free-tailed bats don’t live in large colonies. Their colonies are usually fewer than 100 bats. If you would like to read more about the pocketed free-tailed bat, you can find information here. I would like to wish everyone who celebrates Hanukah a very happy holiday!