Joe and Jody, for their Masters Program, are studying bats....like in "bats in your belfrey"! I called them Bat-man and Bat-woman, quite appropriate, I figured. They came into the office to speak to some of our knowledgeable folks at the Forest Centre and my co-worker and I got to see this beautiful creature up close and personal. Joe used a glove to hold him, for obvious reasons. He was an older bat, they could tell, because his teeth were pretty worn down. We have a dozen species of bats in Saskatchewan, second highest amount over any other place. Incredible. I do think bats have been given a bad rap. This little guy was an older male. They captured him and put a micro-chip under his skin on his belly. Cool. They brought a "bat buster" with them....pics up a bats sonar, so they know where they are. If you don't like bats, look away. Here are some pictures of....uhhhhhh......Joe said they would name him some time this week. They give them names alphabetically, like the hurricanes.
Here we go:
Cute!
Bat wing....beautiful!!!
Ya, he'd bite alright...I would bite too being caught in
a head-lock by a big yellow glove!
A micro-chipped belly.
No darn wonder they hear so well and
can fly at lightening speed in the dark!
Co-worker Twila with Joe and Jody, scientists.
The sonar machine. Pretty cool.
Have a lovely sleep now....:-)
3 comments:
Pretty cool.
They would be less intimidating if their teeth were not so large and ferocious for their size - and if they were not carriers for rabies!
I finally showed these pictures to the kids. Madeline's been learning about bats in school and so she named all the parts of the wing on your picture. I think I'm too young to have my child know what a "wing membrane" is! Our friend Darren who visited a few weeks ago was studying bats for his Masters when we were in university together. We showed him the picture that Madeline drew of a dragon which she created. It said, "This bat is blind and uses ecolocation to find its food". What a girl!
Yes, Dixie! Only Madeline!:)
I don't believe they are the biggest carriers of rabies but perhaps because there are so many of them, it appears that they are. Quite the amazing creatures, to be sure! It's their ears that intrigue me the most...so intricate and LARGE!!!
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