I never thought of this but bats suffer from hawks, too. I watched helplessly as a hawk ate two of my bats-- with ease it caught them and apparently swallowed them whole.
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Dr. Fuller is quoted as saying "So bats will use more energy while they are in torpor as it warms. Climate change will play a role.” Why will they use more energy as the outside mean temperature rises. Shouldn't it be the opposite? I'm not a fan of climate change, but it seems the bats should use less energy to keep warm if the ambient temperature in the cave is warm.
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I, for one, would certainly not want to encounter a colony of western small-footed bats when tip-toeing the 100 yards from the lake to the cabin after a midnight skinny dip this summer....
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@Ed Don't worry- none of them will hit you. Unless you start wildly flailing your arms. They are quite nimble in the air, more so than most birds.
And just think- the walk back to the cabin will be completely mosquito-free!
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Closing the caves, if necessary, is a small price to pay for saving an animal that is so important to the ecosystem. I support an increase in funding to learn about more about the white fungus and develop treatment.
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I'm in favor of doing whatever it takes to save an animal that devours mosquitoes.
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What all the bats, butterflies, sharks and everything else is gone, guess who’s next .......
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The bats that graced our outdoors and fluttered in the air at night eating their fill of mosquitoes and astounding us with their silent acrobatic flight are decreasing quickly. Our honey bees are lessened too. They are both evidence of human interference in our environment.
Of course Mother Nature and science will have the last word. Let’s hope we’ll get a chance to start anew.
Denial will not help.We can’t wait for nature to do its part and rectify the imbalance. But voting out the crooks in our White House might. I surely will hibernate more comfortably here in the cold Northeast. We must do our part. After all we are to blame. OM shanti.
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I scoured the internet today and it is very hard to believe that no one is suggesting bat health is being weakened by pesticide overuse. Insect populations all around the world are collapsing, bee colony collapse disorder is highly likely to be caused by pesticides, and yet we hear nothing. I couldn't even find evidence of any studies. The whole thing stinks when you consider the sheer volume of pesticides being pumped into the ecosystem*, new ones like glyphosate and sulfoximine which remain persistent in the food chain like DDT did in the 60's. What has changed is the huge success of disinformation campaigns that bury the studies we need to hear about.
*Not just commercial farming, take a stroll down the gardening aisle at any Lowe's or Home Depot and see how many non-toxic things you can find for growing plants. It's almost nothing but poisons.
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We have bats who live in our carport every year and have for the past 33 years. We mark the seasons by their migration. Fascinating to watch as they reel through the air at sundown search for insects. The best air show against the evening sky.
A sincere and heartfelt thanks to these scientists for their noble efforts in helping this wonderful branch of the animal kingdom. Our existence would be lesser without them.
Many people seem to fear them. We always attempt to change this as they are easy to live with in the urban setting
Saw my first baby hanging on to mother last year. Beautiful!
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@David g k Pictures! We want pictures!!
I haven't seen a bat around here in 3 or 4 years. And the mosquitoes do seem to have increased.
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Could one say that those bat researchers are scientically oriented master-batters? We in this archipelaco have bats that are massive compared to the little one shown in the article's picture. We caught one, weighed and measured it, and recorded that it weighed 4.58 kgs. and was 34.96 cm. length, 10 cm. circumference, with a 46.40 wing-span. A big fellow. He was released quickly, unharmed. The bats on our archipelaco consume insects, small fish and tiny mammals, and occassionally, one of our resident cats.
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Large bats are called flying foxes because of their foxlike faces. They're fruit/nectar feeders. Very important pollinators. They don't eat meat, so could not have possibly eaten your/any cat. It's misinformation like this that jeopardizes their lives.
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@Msgr. Dzhek Proch and Sestra Kiska While I understand the pun, if anyone is interested, a person who studies bats is called a chiropterologist.
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@Tuttle Thanx! I never knew that.
As an amateur ornithologist and herpetologist, I can now add one more description to my resumé.
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Biological diversity has taken severe turns on our planet. It's a good thing we have science and concerned scientists fighting for our future in all corners. Bats and bees deserve great attention. I am thankful for your work!
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