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A crew working for Istueta Roofing in Miami, Florida tore up an old tile roof. Below it, they found thousands of bats. It’s a good thing that the roofers didn’t try this in Gotham City.
Regular readers might recognize this adorable little guy from Miss C’s post on him from last month, but just in case you don’t recognize him, here’s the original post. Now that you’re familiar with Lil’ Drac, you can watch this update on the cute little bat that stole the world’s heart.
Via Cute Overload
The Spanish art collective Estres would like to remind you that your cuddly neighborhood chiropterans need a place to live, too. So they turned a birdhouse upside down!
Link -via Super Punch
Sir John Frederick William Herschel
The following is an article from Uncle John’s Endlessly Engrossing Bathroom Reader.
No, not the one about the Hollywood studio and all that -the other one.
A WALK ON THE MOON
On August 25, 1835, the first of a series of front-page article was published in the Sun, a two-year-old newspaper in New York City. The subject was Sir John Frederick William Herschel, one of the most respected scientists of his day, especially in the field of astronomy. He’d already identified and named seven moons of Saturn and four of Uranus, and had received numerous awards for his work, including a British knighthood. The information for the article came from the Edinburgh Journal of Science and a Dr. Andrew Grant, who had recently accompanied Dr. Herschel to South Africa, where they were mapping the skies of the Southern Hemisphere. To do the job properly, Herschel had built a massive telescope -the lens was 24 feet in diameter- that operated “on an entirely new principle.” It was all very scientific and complicated.
The first article didn’t reveal much, but over the next six days readers received some amazing news. In the course of his investigations with the new device, Hershel had aimed his new telescope at the moon. The scope was so powerful that looking through it was almost like standing on the lunar surface, enabling Herschel to make an astonishing discovery: The moon was teeming with life. And not just plants -there were animals running all over the place.
EXPERTS AGREE
Extraterrestrial life was a hot topics in the early 1800s. Telescopes were getting larger, and astronomers were discovering more and more stars, moons, planets, comets, nebulae, etc. Along with these discoveries some claims -sometimes from respected astronomers- that it was only a matter of time before life was discovered on other planets. One especially popular book at the time was Christian Philosopher, or the Connexion of Science and Philosophy with Religion, by Scottish scientist and minister Thomas Dick, first published in 1823. In it, Dock estimated (somehow) that there were roughly 21 trillion inhabitants in our solar system -4 million of whom lived on the moon!
MOON BATS
Over the six days, the Sun’s readers learned even more new information about the moon. A few examples: The lunar surface is covered in forests, lakes, rivers, and seas, inhabited by spherical creatures that rolled across the beautiful beaches, blue unicorns that wander the mountains, and two-legged beavers that live in huts and use fire. But there was one even more outlandish claim: There are intelligent humanoids on the moon -about four feet tall, largely covered in hair, with faces that are “a slight improvement upon that of a large orangutan.” And they have wings. They spend their time flying around, eating fruit, bathing, and talking with each other. Herschel gave them the scientific name Vespertilio-homo, or “man-bat,” and said they were actually civilized.
more …
Cave animals just might be some of the strangest animals on Earth. Adapted to living somewhere with little to no light and practically no vegetation, these animals have evolved to survive in extreme environments and the results are often unbelievable.
A troglobite is an animal that exclusively live in caves and has adapted to its dark surroundings. Most troglobites cannot survive outside of the cave environment. Interestingly, while they never leave the cave environments, their lives are dependent on the world outside of the cave. Roots growing from plants above the surface, streams flowing from outside the cave and trogloxenes, and animals that use caves for shelter but travel outside the cave for nourishment are the only things that make life inside of caves possible. Roots allow nutrients to drip into the caves, streams bring in fresh food and dead animals and trogloxenes provide nutrient-rich feces and corpses that feed bacteria, insects and fungi that serve as the base of the cave’s food chain.
Because caves provide such a stable environment, many troglobites have lost the ability to adapt to temperature and humidity changes, which means most of these animals can only live in specific parts of their caves and many of them are endangered because they cannot branch out of their territory. Most troglobites survive in caves with humidity levels between 95 to 100 percent, but those that live in tropical areas deal with higher temperatures that result in more evaporation, thus, lower humidity levels.
There are currently 7,700 known species of trilobites, but because scientists estimate that 90% of caves are still undiscovered due to a lack of visible entrances, many animals living in caves have yet to be discovered. Just recently, scientists discovered 225 new caves and 30 new species in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in California.
Because there are so many cool cave animals, this article is really long, resulting in a two part series. This is part one, so if you’re hunting for part two, you can find it on my blog, Rue The Day.
Images via Arne Hodalic [Wikipedia] and pfulton [Flickr]
While they may not spend their entire lives in caves, bats are one of the most important supporters of cave ecosystems. Their feces, dropped food and dead bodies provide food for insects, bacteria and fungi that support the carnivores in the cave. In some caves, the bat droppings pile up as high as one hundred feet. The guano is incredibly nutritious, making it a good cornerstone of any cave diet. In fact, a quarter-pound of it has more nutrients and protein than a Big Mac.
Bats are the only mammals in the world that can fly, but there are so many types that they actually represent twenty percent of all mammal species. Their ability to fly has enabled them to become some of the most widely distributed mammal groups in the world. They live everywhere on earth except a few isolated islands, the Arctic and the Antarctic.
While the stereotypes says all bats are blind, none are actually blind. Their small, underdeveloped eyes provide enough visual cues to help the bats navigate their routes beyond the area their echolocation can reach. Some species can even see ultraviolet light.
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Just in time for Halloween, adorable bats bundled up with their baby bottles. These little guys have a bad reputation, but how could you imagine anything evil from these beautiful babes?
Link Image Via Ugly Overload
These photos are truly spectacular! Wouldn’t you just fall in love with these beautiful creatures? The pains wildlife photographer Kim Taylor took to get these shots are just as interesting!
Swooping low over a garden pond in Surrey, these are the stunning pictures of bats enjoying an evening drink at their favourite watering hole. They are so detailed you can even see the night creatures slurping from the pool with their little pink tongues.
(image credit: Kim Taylor/Caters News Agency Ltd.)
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by 
A shelter in Australia takes care of the world’s cutest baby fruit bats during tick paralysis season. Link (embedded YouTube video)
I just love the way the announcer says “bebes”!
Bat World has stories of bats in care that are injured, sick, or have been rescued from bad situations. Read about Van Gogh, who is missing an ear; Mr. Kitty, who was brought in by a cat; and Pongo, who became stuck on the wrong side of the ocean. Pictured is Bootsana, a fruit bat rejected by her mother. She loves her pacifier!
For the first 10 weeks of her life Bootsana carried a soft puppy nurser (her pacifier) in her mouth all the time and yelled whenever she dropped it. She continued to yell – almost brat-like – until someone placed it back into her mouth. At around 10 weeks of age she decided banana was better than a nurser, so solid food (which she also yelled for) was slowly introduced. Every day Bootsana was also given flapping exercises, as much as she enjoyed.
You can sponsor the care of these bats through their Adopt-a-Bat program. Link -via Everlasting Blort
