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Post by jonsdigs on Dec 13, 2006 23:56:52 GMT -5
Mammals may have flown before birdsMammals may have flown before birds according to a fossil discovery by scientists working in China.
mongabay.com December 13, 2006 An artist's rendering of the first flying mammal. Chuang Zhao and Lida Xing.Working in the Inner Mongolian region of China, a team of Chinese and American scientists discovered a 125 million year fossil that provides evidence that mammals were capable of gliding flight some 70 million years earlier than previously believed. An artist's rendering of the first flying mammal. Chuang Zhao and Lida Xing. The squirrel-like animal had a fur-covered skin membrane that stretched between the creature's fore and hind limbs, much like the gliding membrance of present-day flying squirrels. The researchers believe the animal likely fed on insects. Dr Jin Meng, of the the paper's authors and a palaeontologist at the American Museum of Natural History, said that the creature the creature may have lived 130 and 165 million years ago. For comparison, the earliest known flying bird, Archaeopteryx, dates from 150 million years ago. Flying bats first appear on the record some 51 million years ago. The species, named Volaticotherium antiquus, is described in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature. Article
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Post by jonsdigs on Dec 13, 2006 17:07:32 GMT -5
Bats speak up to avoid a jam00:01 13 December 2006 NewScientist.com news service Roxanne Khamsi Brazilian free-tailed bats have to carefully avoid using the same echolocation calls as their neighbours (Image: Erin Gillam) Bats can locate their prey using echolocation without confusion even when immersed in a thick swarm of many hundreds of other bats, and now researchers have discovered the secret. The winged mammals raise the pitch of their echolocation calls to make them stand out against "jamming signals". The finding helps explain how hundreds of bats can hunt in the same area without getting confused by others' calls, and could perhaps inform the design of better radar systems for aircraft. Bats use the echo pattern of their voice to locate insects and other prey – so confusing echoes can cost them dinner. A new study reveals that the flying mammals use a wide range of pitches and simply raise the pitch of their echolocation calls to stand out against other bat calls at the same frequency. Erin Gillam of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, US, and colleagues conducted experiments on Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) in the wild. The bat caveThe team positioned itself at a site near a bat cave where the animals typically forage one at a time. When a bat came to the site, scientists recorded its sounds while simultaneously playing pre-recorded echolocation calls at various pitches through a portable speaker. In this soundfile (wav format), listen to the different echolocation noises used by the bats, including the search phase, approach phase and “feeding buzz” made when the animal gets very close to an insect. The sound has been manipulated by a computer into a frequency range audible by humans. An analysis of the recordings made at the site revealed that bats did not change their calls when these differed in pitch from the pre-recorded ones by at least 3 kilohertz. But when the difference was less than 3 kHz, the animals raised the pitch of their calls above those from the speakers to achieve this difference in just one-fifth of a second (200 milliseconds). For example, if a foraging bat’s initial calls registered at 26 kHz and it encountered a 24 kHz playback, it would shift its pitch up to 27 kHz. Brazilian free-tailed bats have a frequency range of 20 to 40 kilohertz. Fighter jetsSurprisingly, even bats that used calls below the playback’s frequency shifted their frequencies upwards. Gillam does not know why the bats would shift their voices up and not down. But she stresses that the study is an important demonstration of the bats’ ability to avoid potentially interfering noises. "This is the first time that people have tested experimental jamming signals on mammals," she explains. Gillam says that a better understanding of how bats shift their pitch so swiftly to avoid jamming signals could help engineers design better radar systems for fighter jets. While such jets are highly sophisticated, they lack the capacity to dart amongst 100 other planes that are moving at the same speed in a small airspace. "Bats can perform such complicated tasks, and seem to move amongst large numbers of bats with relatively few or no collisions," Gillam says. "If developers of radar and sonar can gain any information as to how bats process their echolocation signals and achieve these highly complex manoeuvres, it would be highly beneficial." Journal reference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B (DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2006.0047) ArticleSee Also Bats use sonar to talk to each other
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Post by jonsdigs on Dec 9, 2006 1:30:04 GMT -5
Pittsfield police believe bats are finally gone from headquartersThe Boston Globe December 8, 2006 PITTSFIELD, N.H. --Police in Pittsfield believe they finally have been able to get rid of some unwanted intruders. Bats have plagued the police station for at least two decades, since the building was a school. The police have tried to shoo them away with brooms, a net and blankets. But last year, they called for backup. Bat control experts kept the bats away for awhile, but they returned this fall. The bat men came back, too, sealing cracks and building doors that allowed bats out, but not back in. They believe the pests are gone for good. Article
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Post by jonsdigs on Dec 11, 2006 12:07:02 GMT -5
Scientists: Magnetic fields can fool bats - but not for longThe Phladelphia Enquirer Mon, Dec. 11, 2006 Sandy Bauers Bats are well-known for one method of short-distance navigation: the spooky "echolocation" that involves bouncing sound waves off objects - objects like your head if you're nearby - so they can avoid flying into them. Now an international team reports that bats use the Earth's magnetic field to find their way over longer distances. Last spring, researchers caught 15 big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) in a New Jersey barn and glued on teensy radio transmitters, each half the size of a dime - no problem for big browns, which weigh about half an ounce and can reach 40 m.p.h. on 13-inch wingspans. For 90 minutes before dusk, when bats get up and go, the team exposed them to altered magnetic fields. Then the scientists released the flying mammals about 12 miles north, and leapt into cars and even a small plane to follow the transmitters' beep-beep-beep. The bats were disoriented. According to Richard Holland, a Princeton University post-doc and lead author of a brief paper in the current issue of Nature, the bats started flying along the lines of the artificial magnetic field. But as the night wore on, some reoriented themselves - how, no one is sure yet - and made it back to their barn. The rest arrived within a few days, suggesting they too were able to recalibrate theirinternal compasses. Although billions of birds, bats and insects migrate thousands of miles each year, not much is known about the methods they use to find their way, says Holland, who also is affiliated with England's University of Leeds. Ever-smaller transmitters are starting to get answers. Learning how the creatures navigate might help researchers learn more about the spread of diseases they carry. Alas, it also presents a dizzying array of opportunities for the Joker. He's buying all the magnets in Gotham City. Article
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Post by jonsdigs on Dec 8, 2006 0:27:08 GMT -5
Built in compass helps bats find their way homeBig brown bats use magnetic field to navigate long distance. December 6, 2006 Narelle Towie Bats have a novel device for guiding them home on starless nights. In addition to their well-known sensory talents, it seems that big brown bats can tune into the Earth's magnetic field, using it as a compass to guide them to roost. This ability comes in handy on long-distance flights, where their usual mode of navigation — bouncing sounds waves off objects using ultrasound — doesn't do much good. Richard Holland from Princeton University, New Jersey, and colleagues looked at 15 North American big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus), which travel up to 100 kilometres to find hibernation sites for the winter. To first test the animals' natural navigational abilities, they attached small radio transmitters to the bats and transported them 20 kilometres from their roost. One by one they let them go, and tracked them from a small aircraft. All of them headed directly back to their roost. How did they do this? Researchers have previously suggested that bats might use the direction of the sunset to set their compass. Others have found traces of magnetic materials within bats, suggesting that they might use the planet's magnetic fields to find north. To tease these effects apart in a single experiment, the researchers put the bats inside a helmet that generates a strong magnetic field offset from the planet's true north. They let the bats watch sunset while sitting in this artificial magnetic field for about an hour and a half. "We then took them to the same release site," says Holland. And they all took off in the wrong direction. "It was a neat trick." Animal magnetism"This seems to be convincing experimental proof that they do have a magnetic sense," says Gareth Jones, a biologist at the University of Bristol, UK. The disorientated bats did eventually make it home, sometimes correcting their path within just a few hours. "That could be because of the short exposure of the rotated magnetic field," says Jones — perhaps they could correct their compass once back in the correct field. Or perhaps they switched to another method of navigation. "What this is we are just not sure. Perhaps they hit an area that is familiar to them," Holland suggests. Many organisms, from the birds to the bees, are attuned to the world's magnetic pull. How they do it remains a bit of a mystery. Ants are thought to use tiny particles of magnetic iron minerals located throughout their bodies. When the magnetic iron reacts with the dense iron core of the earth it enables the ants body to act the same way a needle in a compass does (see 'Migratory magnetism'). Migratory birds use magnetic material along with several other environmental cues — including the sun, stars, visual references and maybe even the polarisation of light — to navigate. Full Article
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Post by jonsdigs on Dec 7, 2006 19:08:47 GMT -5
Photo in the News: Bat Has Longest Tongue of Any MammalNational Geographic News December 6, 2006—It's enough to give Gene Simmons (inset) appendage envy. Despite a '70s rock rumor, the Kiss bassist did not have his tongue surgically replaced with a cow's. But could Anoura fistulata tempt him to go batty? A. fistulata (shown lapping sugar water from a tube) has the longest tongue, relative to body length, of any mammal—and now scientists think they know why. "This bat was just discovered last year, and now we've observed a very unique relationship with a local flower," said Nathan Muchhala, a University of Miami Ph.D. student whose team's findings are to be published tomorrow in the journal Nature. Found in an Andean cloud forest in Ecuador, A. fistulata (aka the tube-lipped nectar bat) evolved mutually with an extremely long, bell-shaped flower, the team says. In fact, armed with a tongue that retracts into the bat's rib cage, A. fistulata is now the only animal that can pollinate the flower. —Ted Chamberlain
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Post by jonsdigs on Dec 14, 2006 11:35:37 GMT -5
Bat won't bite into Christmas tree salesThe Lompoc Record December 13, 2006 By Randi Block/Staff Writer Mike McAndrew/Staff A Holloway Christmas Tree Farm employee brings out more trees Sunday for customers to buy. Despite rainy weather and the report of a bat coming out of a tree and biting a customer, people bought trees as fast as Holloway employees could cut them down. It takes much more than a bat sighting to deter people from stopping at the Holloway Christmas Tree Farm in Nipomo. Despite stormy weather and the recent wildlife encounter, sales were strong over the weekend, as the South Oakglen Avenue farm stayed full with Central Coast residents eager to pick out their holiday trees. Last week, the Holloways' farm made local and national news when Arroyo Grande resident Sheila Kearns discovered a small bat that had hidden in the branches and made it into her home. While stringing lights on the branches, Kearns felt a prick on her wrist that turned out to be a bite from her unwelcome guest. San Luis Obispo County Animal Control removed the bat and tested it for rabies, which came back negative. Kearns' story received attention from media outlets across the country, and she said she spent two days fielding calls, including some from representatives of “Saturday Night Live” and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” “I am very surprised by this reaction, and it really shows to me how small our world is and how quickly a story spreads across the world,” Kearns said. Although she was asked to participate on both of those shows, Kearns said she declined the offers because of how worried the Holloways were about their farm and negative publicity. When the story first broke, Carl Holloway expressed concerns that the story would damage his family business and reduce sales significantly. On Sunday, he estimated he lost thousands of dollars in the first few days following the incident, but a farm employee said Monday that he was declining any additional interviews on the topic. Dozens of people were not deterred by the bat story and flocked to the farm over the weekend, keeping the Holloways busy over the two days. Some people even said they chose the Holloway farm because of what happened. Vincent Garcia of Santa Maria bought his tree Sunday afternoon and said he bought it after “shaking it real good” to make sure there weren't any stowaways. In the 40 years Holloway's family has owned the farm, they have sold approximately 400,000 trees and only one other has made it to a customer's home with a bat. The animals occur naturally in the area and kill insects on the plants, Holloway said. Photographer Mike McAndrew contributed to this story. Randi Block can be reached at 347-4580 or rblock@lompocrecord.com. Article
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Post by jonsdigs on Dec 5, 2006 19:23:20 GMT -5
Woman Finds Bat in Christmas TreeDec 5, 7:42 AM EST NIPOMO, Calif. (AP) -- Sheila Kearns had a Christmas tree delivered to her home on Sunday. She says she thought she'd been pricked by pine needles when she reached into the tree while decorating it. But the next morning, she found a bat hanging upside down in her home. It turns out that the Christmas tree farm Kearns bought from keeps bats around for pest control and that one unwittingly hitched a ride to her home. Animal control officials picked up the bat, which tested negative for rabies. Kearns got a tetanus shot and some antibiotics, but says she's not fazed. She says she'll keep buying her trees from the same farm. Information from: KKFX-TV Santa Maria/Michael Edgecomb Article
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Post by jonsdigs on Nov 28, 2006 19:36:28 GMT -5
California Theater must be cleaned up before renovationBy Laurie Phillips CONTRA COSTA TIMES Lead, mold, asbestos and contamination from bats living in the California Theater must be properly handled before renovation of the Pittsburg landmark can proceed, the City Council decided Monday. To do that, the council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, approved spending up to $1 million with the Restoration Clean Up Company Inc. of Pittsburg. The extent of the work that must be done -- and the total cost to do it -- cannot be determined until the company begins working, but redevelopment director Randy Starbuck said he expects the cost to approach $1 million. "This is an absolutely critical step in this whole progress," Starbuck said Monday. The discovery of the contaminants and a colony of several hundred bats inside the theater has delayed work on the building by at least six months. City officials and residents hope the California Theater can again be the regional attraction it was after it opened in 1920. It closed in 1954, was bought by the city in 1970 and has been in disrepair since 1991, when the roof was discovered to be leaking. The city in April approved spending about $422,000 for Architectural Resources Group of San Francisco to prepare designs, plans and specifications related to the first phase of preservation work, but the company cannot enter the theater until the environmental concerns have been addressed. Not including the contract approved this week, the city has spent almost $20,000 this year on two more contracts to assess and clean up contaminants found in the theater. The money for all three contracts comes from $2.5 million budgeted by the Redevelopment Agency for initial work on the theater. Dominion Environmental LLC of Petaluma was paid $5,700 to evaluate the theater for mold, asbestos and lead. The company found all three, plus bat manure and urine -- contamination added by the flying mammals discovered there. Animal Damage Management Inc. of Morgan Hill, hired in September, received about $14,000 to get rid of the bats and remove animal waste. The company disposed of carcasses and waste and installed a one-way door that prevents bats from re-entering the building after they leave it to feed. Article
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Post by jonsdigs on Nov 28, 2006 18:14:59 GMT -5
Bat Facial Wrinkles Found to Add to Sonar AbilitiesFox News Tuesday, November 28, 2006 By Charles Q. Choi Rolf Müller, Shandong University A wrinkle-faced bat, Centurio senex, native to Latin America. The strangely intricate wrinkles and grooves around the nostrils of many bats apparently could help them "see" in the dark by focusing their sonar, scientists in China have found. The discovery could help scientists improve sonar and radio technology, the researchers said. Bats are famous for their ability to "see" in the dark by listening to the echoes of their ultrasonic calls. This is known as echolocation, or "biosonar." While most bats emit sonar from their mouths, roughly 300 species fire it from their noses. These bats often have bizarrely elaborate, intricately shaped flaps dubbed "noseleaves" around their nostrils that are adorned with grooves and spikes. 100-year-old riddleScientists have long speculated these noseleaves might help shape bat sonar, but nobody knew for certain, explained biologist-turned-computational physicist Rolf Müller at Shandong University in Jinan, China. He and doctoral student Qiao Zhuang have now discovered precisely how one kind of bat facial feature improves biosonar, solving "a 100-year-old riddle," Müller told LiveScience. The researchers employed X-ray scans to generate three-dimensional computer models of the noseleaves of the rufous horseshoe bat, native to southern Asia. Müller and Zhuang then simulated how ultrasound pulses the bats emit interact with the noseleaves. The bats send ultrasonic pulses that start at about 60 kilohertz in frequency, quickly rise to a constant frequency of roughly 80 kilohertz, and then fall back to 60 kilohertz at the end. Computer simulations revealed horizontal furrows along the top of the noseleaves behaved as cavities that resonate strongly with certain frequencies of sound, just as blowing into "a set of clarinets" can produce deep, resonant tones, Müller said. Sound advantageAs a result, the grooves cause the different frequencies of sound to focus different ways. The lower frequency 60-kilohertz sound gets spread vertically, while the 80-kilohertz frequency continues to be focused ahead. The noseleaves essentially help the bats make the most of the ultrasound they emit, Müller explained. "For the bat, sound energy is like money to us — we usually only have a limited amount of it and we must make a choice on how to distribute it," he said. The furrows the researchers investigated help shape how the lower frequency sound "illuminates" the environment, while the other frequencies remain untouched and are thus able to scan the world in different ways. The complexity the noseleaves add to the bat's ultrasound beams could help "in performing difficult sonar tasks like navigating in complex environments such as dense forests or doing several things at once, such as looking for prey and avoiding obstacles," Müller speculated. More to studyFacial grooves and flaps are even found on bats without noseleaves. Their findings suggested "all facial structures seen in bats are now candidates for acoustic 'beam-shaping devices,'" Müller said. Likewise, "the outer ears of most bats also have intriguing shape features," Müller said. "These features could act in similar ways as the noseleaves." The goal of this research is to not only better understand how bat echolocation works, but to apply the principles to improving antenna technology for use in sonar, scanners and wireless communication, Müller said. Müller and Zhuang reported their findings in the Nov. 24 issue of the journal Physical Review Letters. Article
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Post by jonsdigs on Nov 25, 2006 20:08:00 GMT -5
Clergy Suffer Bat Damages in ChurchChristian Today by Gretta Curtis Posted: Saturday, November 25, 2006, 7:57 (GMT) Clergy are suffering stress because of the damage bats are causing in their churches, an MP claims. Norfolk MP Christopher Fraser told the House of Commons that a campaign has started in his constituency to exempt churches from laws protecting bats. Urging the government to support the campaigners, Mr Fraser said: "The campaign aims to highlight the impact of bats on the fabric and artefacts in churches. "Activists seek support for measures to protect the churches from the ravages of the bats. Many vicars and church wardens have told him they are not willing or able to cope with the mess they create in their historic buildings, he added. "I hope that time will be made available by the Leader of the House to discuss this issue as it is causing stress, anger and frustration among clergy and custodians of churches across England." Article
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Post by jonsdigs on Nov 23, 2006 23:24:36 GMT -5
Windfarm bid goes inBy Helen Rossiter THE company which lost a controversial battle to create the South West's biggest wind farm in West Somerset has withdrawn a planning appeal to make way for a fresh application. Your Energy, acting for West Hinkley Windfarm, has submitted revised plans for a nine-turbine scheme on the same site, west of Hinkley Point nuclear power station. The original application, for 12 turbines, was thrown out this week by the West Somerset Council planners last October. continued... Planners and local objectors feared the wind farm would threaten a nearby bat population and compromise safety on land around the power station, both issues which Your Energy says have now been resolved. The move to withdraw the appeal follows a decision by the Planning Inspectorate not to postpone the appeal date, scheduled for January 2007. Richard Mardon, managing director of Your Energy, said: "We have decided to withdraw the appeal against the 12 turbine scheme in order to give our resubmitted application a chance to go through the correct process locally. "The scheme was refused on two issues - bats and nuclear safety - but we believe we have now solved those issues and hope to get a local decision early in the New Year." Full Article
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Post by jonsdigs on Nov 20, 2006 9:40:16 GMT -5
Pupils explore the environmentMonday, November 20, 2006 By CHRIS HAMEL Springfield (MA) Republican chamel@repub.com STURBRIDGE - As bats flew out of the old graphite mine at Tantiusques Reservation at sunset last Wednesday, Lenore M. Anderson gave the equivalent of a "duck and cover" command to a group of Ware Middle School pupils. Anderson, of Hatfield, who is project coordinator for the outdoor education company Adventure In Adventure Out of Amherst, told the children to shut off their tiny headband flashlights and squat to the ground, so the bats could make a clear flight into the surrounding woods. To the casual observer, the incident might have seemed fraught with risk. But the 12 children and the company's three adult supervisors seemed unfazed, as if it were just another day in nature's midst for those involved in the after-school program, "Outdoor Adventure. The extracurricular program is one of many being offered to Ware pupils under a grant from the 21st Century After School Program. In the 10-week course, middle-schoolers are learning firsthand about plants, animals and natural habitats. But they also are experiencing outdoor recreation and personal growth. Full Article
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Post by jonsdigs on Nov 17, 2006 22:48:33 GMT -5
Expert wants homes to be havens for batsCumbrian News and Star Published on 17/11/2006 By Ross Brewster A LAKE District bat expert has warned that people adapting existing buildings need to think about the bats which may be living there. With a rapid decline in bat populations, all Britain’s native 16 species and their roosts are legally protected. Eight varieties can be found in Cumbria and they depend on buildings to house them. “Most bats use a variety of roosts over the year, carefully selecting different sites according to the season,” said Lake District National Park Authority ecologist Judy Clavey. Anyone adapting existing structures needs to consider the possibility that bats may be using their building. In some cases a survey may be required and roost areas protected or replaced while the bats are elsewhere. Various parts of buildings are used – from cavity walls to ridge beams or inside stone walls. Keeping these features available is vital, said Ms Clavey. Pipistrelles, found in the Lake District, weigh the same as a 10p coin, but eat as many as 3,000 insects a night. n Check out bat files on www.lake district.gov.uk\batroosts Article
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Post by jonsdigs on Nov 15, 2006 23:33:28 GMT -5
Bats -- lots of 'em -- buzz eatery patronsPALM BAY, Fla., Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Thousands of bats roosting in a Palm Bay, Fla., restaurant's attic are buzzing and terrorizing the eatery's patrons. The bats "scare the customers basically and ... create quite a mess," John Maltese, the restaurant's owner, told WKMG-TV, Orlando, Fla. A wildlife specialist called to help control the infestation has plugged a space in the building's roof where the bats are thought to be entering. The specialist and his team installed a one-way netting system that will let the bats exit the building, but not re-enter. ArticleAlso: ArticleMore w/comments: Article
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Post by jonsdigs on Nov 13, 2006 17:35:26 GMT -5
Bats make rare stopThe Seattle Times Monday, November 13, 2006 By The Associated Press MEDFORD, Ore. — Halloween may be over, but Medford can't seem to get rid of its bats. A colony of bats rare to the Pacific Northwest has taken up a squatters' existence in east Medford, hopscotching among the city's taller buildings while trying to stay one step ahead of pest-control operators. Already in the past month, more than 1,000 of the bats have been evicted from the rafters of a bank and a medical center, where they used a 1-inch hole in a roof. The bats' latest residence was at the AmeriTitle building, where they started their work at dusk, about the time employees filed out. One by one, the bats poked their tiny heads out of a crack in an eave, then free-fell 10 feet before beating their wings and heading into the east Medford sky for a night of bug-slurping as Brazilian free-tail bats are known to do. "It's actually a pretty amazing sight," AmeriTitle branch general manager Ralph Green said, sidestepping the bat guano on the sidewalk. "But they're mischievous little guys." But the little guys were blocked from the AmeriTitle rafters by one-way doors and bat-proof flashing. Don't worry. They've found digs by sunup before. "Just like that, they showed up, and you can't just tell them to go somewhere," said Karen Bartalini, director of general services at the medical center that once housed the bats. "Lucky us." After a $2,000 bill to exterminators for evicting the colony there, the bats went to the tall AmeriTitle building across the road. "We figured they looked across the street and said, 'Nice condo,' " Green said. "And here they came." A Grants Pass pest-control firm began more eviction proceedings last week by installing one-way doors that were to allow the bats to escape the AmeriTitle rafters on Monday night but curb their re-entry by morning. The firm, called Bugs Inc., will seal even the tiniest of entry points in the eave, then finish the week by cleaning the millions of sprinkled pieces of guano in the building's attic and walls. Brazilian free-tail bats are also called Mexican free-tail bats and are known by scientists as Tadarida brasiliensis. Their name stems from the thick, freely protruding tail. Their bodies are barely the size of a thumb. High, fast fliers with long, narrow wings, free-tail bats will migrate 500 miles or more between the southern United States and the tropic The very northern tip of their known range is the southwestern corner of Oregon. Article
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Post by jonsdigs on Nov 2, 2006 8:09:35 GMT -5
Poo will help bats find new homeCBBC Newsround Last Updated: Wednesday November 01 2006 19:27 GMT The smell of their own poo is being used to attract bats to a new home. Burnley Council came up with the brainwave because a leisure centre often used by the creatures is being pulled down. The bats aren't living there at the moment, but they will need somewhere to bring up their babies in the spring. So the council is storing bat poo from the old nest and taking it to a new one in the hope that the creatures will follow their noses. Click here for our bat quiz The Thompson Centre has been a favourite hiding place for the bats for some time. It's being demolished in the New Year and council officials have found a nearby building that will make a new home for them. "When the time comes for the bats to return, we can put the droppings in the new roost and the returning bats will pick up the scent," said a council spokesman. articleI wonder if this would work for bat houses?
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Post by jonsdigs on Oct 31, 2006 19:47:35 GMT -5
PINNACLES NATIONAL MONUMENTThe perfect week for a visit to nature's creepiestSan Francisco Chronicle Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, October 31, 2006 (10-31) 04:00 PST Pinnacles National Monument, San Benito County -- Bats, which get a real bum rap on Halloween and have a pretty tough time of it the rest of the year, are fighting back this week at the Pinnacles. It's still tough to be a bat. You have to catch a few thousand mosquitoes every night using only your ears, then sleep upside down while hanging from the ceiling. But things are looking up at the Pinnacles these days. Bat fans for miles around are rushing down to the park's famous bat cave because, for a few precious days a year, the cave is open to the public and now is the time. Time, like a bat, flies. Just don't wear your good pants. "Bats are pretty incredible,'' said park ranger Brant Porter, leading the evening bat hike through Bear Gulch Cave. "This is really special. You're lucky. You should feel very privileged.'' With a buildup like that, a bat fan doesn't mind ripping his pants on the rocks and bumping his head on the low overhangs, which is what happens to visitors during the one week or so each year when the entire cave is open to the public. Most of the year, the upper half of the cave is closed to ensure the privacy of a small but determined colony of rare Townsend's big-eared bats, which has doubled in size to about 400 bats since the park began keeping people out of the cave a decade ago. But for a couple of weeks a year, the bats leave the cave and then the humans can come in with their bright flashlights and their noisy chatter and their crinkly candy wrappers and all the other things that bats, in their ignorance, haven't learned to appreciate. Nobody knows where the bats hang during those precious weeks, besides upside down. The other evening, the sunset bat hike was fully subscribed. There was a waiting list. The bat cave, even without bats, was the toughest ticket in town. What happens on a bat cave hike is that a couple of dozen people tie flashlights to their foreheads and crawl on their hands and knees through the soggy cave in the pitch dark, bumping the aforementioned body parts. All the while, the ranger keeps reminding hikers how lucky they are. "This is a fantastic place to be a bat,'' Porter said, while the visitors paused in the middle of the cave to ponder just how fantastic it was, and to rub their bumped heads. Bear Gulch is a talus cave, which means that it is formed by giant wedged-together rocks that look like they could come crashing down on visitors at any moment, another plus for the Halloween season. The Townsend bat, said Porter, isn't endangered but is rare enough in California to be a "species of special concern.'' At every rest stop, Porter took the opportunity to counter the Halloween, Hollywood and Gotham City bat myths, which were almost too overwhelming for one ranger in a Smokey Bear hat to deal with. Bats, he said, are mammals, like their human visitors. They are just trying to bring their kids up in a scary world full of great horned owls while making sure none of them drops from the cave ceiling into the guano pit, from which no bat ever returns. Bats eat mosquitoes, which is good. Bats are kind of cute, which is good. Bats are the only mammals that can fly, and bats do not attack people and drink their blood, which is something that Hollywood popularized to sell tickets to mediocre movies and other events that are not nearly as well attended as bat hikes. The path through the bat cave is marked with white arrows. Porter, winding his way through the maze, said the bats have a very sensible arrangement at Bear Gulch Cave. Only females and babies are allowed inside, and the males have to live in a cave of their own somewhere else. Countless ages ago, the females figured out that they need the males for only one thing, and not too often at that. A bat cave, even without bats, is worth a look. The place is naturally spooky, without any special effects or B-movie dialogue. The place speaks to the wonders of geology and fresh flashlight batteries and, on this particular night, drew bat cave fans from as far away as North Carolina. "It's dark and scary, and I bumped my head,'' said Ed Hansen, who had journeyed from Los Angeles with his 14-year-old daughter, Megan, when he heard the bat cave was open. "But it's worth it. You have to do things like this.'' At the far end of the cave, the group emerged at spectacular Bear Gulch Reservoir at sunset, just in time to see other species of park bats swoop down for an evening drink and some tasty mosquitoes. Bats and mosquitoes have been getting together at sunset for millions of years, and bats must eat their entire body weight in mosquitoes every night or perish from hunger. "It's hard work to be a bat,'' Porter said, and he led the group down the hill, through the magnificent Pinnacles rock formations, beneath the stars and back to what passes for civilization among a species that has a lot to learn from the creatures of the night. Bear Gulch Cave at the Pinnacles The cave where Townsend's big-eared bats hang out will be open through Wednesday. Here's an annual schedule:* October The entire cave is open for at least a week, usually the last week of the month. Nov. 1 - end of February The lower half of the cave may be open. March The lower half of the cave may be open for the full month. The entire cave is open for at least a week, usually the last week of the month. April 1 - mid-May The lower half of the cave may be open. Mid-July - Sept. 30 The lower half of the cave may be open. * Dates may change if the colony of bats changes its breeding patterns or shows signs of disturbance. Source: National Park Service The Chronicle If you go Bear Gulch Cave is fully open only until Wednesday. It's about a 2-mile round-trip walk from the Bear Gulch Visitor Center, which is accessible only from the east entrance of the Pinnacles National Monument, south of Hollister via Highway 25 in San Benito County. Admission to Pinnacles National Monument is $5 per car; admission to the visitor center and cave is free. Cave visitors should bring flashlights and sturdy shoes. For information, call (831) 389-4485 or visit www.nps.gov/pinn. articleE-mail Steve Rubenstein at srubenstein@sfchronicle.com.
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Post by jonsdigs on Oct 30, 2006 20:16:57 GMT -5
Going batty over batsThe Home Forum-Kidspace from the October 31, 2006 edition THEY'RE NOT SO SCARY: Animal rescuer Ashleigh Johnson examines an injured fruit bat at the Tolga Bat Hospital in Atherton, Australia. ROB GRIFFITH/AP As I walked up to part of the Africa exhibit at the Oregon Zoo, in Portland, a pair of big brown eyes gazed curiously into mine. They were looking at me upside down; the sleek-furred creature with a foxlike face was hanging by its back feet. It was one of the world's most abundant mammals: bats. The exhibit contained numerous tree branches, and green mesh spanned its ceiling. Three species of fruit bats hung from the branches and the mesh: a straw-colored bat, an Egyptian bat, and an endangered Rodrigues bat. "They look just like animals," a woman said as she watched the bats, too. Many of them walked upside down on all fours - on the green mesh. When asked what she thought the bats were, she admitted, "I know they're animals. They just seem so strange." Bats are the world's only mammals that are capable of true flight. A membrane of skin covers their long front arm and four finger bones, which form the structure of the wing. The membrane is attached to the sides of their bodies and then connects to their back legs. The remaining digit on their front legs is a thumb. Most often when the bats landed after flying, they grabbed a branch or the mesh with their thumbs, and then quickly swung to their back feet. "There'd better not be vampire bats in here," a girl said as she entered the exhibit with her friends. She didn't need to worry. Only African bats were on display; vampire bats don't live in Africa. There aren't any vampire bats in North America, either, which is home to more than 40 species of bats. African bats eat either fruit or insects, but North American bats feed almost exclusively on insects. There are two exceptions: the Jamaican fruit bat, which lives in the Florida Keys, and nectar-feeding bats, which live in the Southwest. Vampire bats - which make small bites in the feet or ears of animals such as chickens, cows, and pigs, and then lick up the drops of blood - live only in the warm climates of Central and South America. Many of the straw-colored and Egyptian bats at the zoo hung together in groups. In the wild, many straw-colored bats live in big colonies of up to a million bats. Some North American bat species also live in extremely large groups, such as Mexican free-tailed bats. Travelers to Texas can see more than a million Mexican free-tailed bats roosting under the Congress Avenue bridge in Austin. And about 20 million of them live in Bracken Cave, near San Antonio. It's surprising how noisy bats can be. Some of the bats at the zoo squawked and showed their teeth to push other bats away. Other bats seemed friendly with one another, and groomed other bats or themselves using their red tongues to lick their fur clean. Like cats, bats are clean animals. To learn more about bats, I talked with Barbara French at Bat Conservation International (BCI), which helps educate people about bats. Even though there are more than 1,100 species of bats in the world - one out of every four mammal species is a bat - many of them are endangered. AIRBORNE: A flying fox soars through the air at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia, where many bats roost in the park's trees. Some flying foxes have wingspans of up to six feet. MARK BAKER/AP/FILE Deforestation (the clearing of trees from forest land) has hurt bat populations. Bats also have been affected by people who don't realize that they are gentle creatures with a necessary role in our environment. "Bats help to control insect pests,"Ms. French said. In fact, a little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) - the most common bat species in North America - can eat as many as 600 mosquitoes in an hour. They use echolocation - high-pitched sounds like sonar - to find the bugs. Some studies show that the Mexican free-tailed bats that live in Texas's Bracken Cave may eat as much as 200 tons of insects per night. Their bug-eating saves money, according to some environmentalists. It would cost many millions of dollars in pesticides to kill the number of insects that the bats eat. And bats are better for the environment. "Bats also help to disperse seeds and pollinate plants," Frenchsaid. In many parts of the world, plants from which we get fibers and food are pollinated by bats. Bat droppings (called guano) make excellent fertilizer for crops. A sign at the zoo told visitors that bats are so important to the ecosystem that without them, the rain forests of the world might become extinct. Many people think of bats only at this time of year. It's not certain how they became associated with Halloween, but it may be because they are only active at night. During the day, they go into a "daily torpor" during which their body processes slow down to conserve energy. Frenchmentioned that bats sometimes roost in crypts in cemeteries, which might be another reason they became linked with the scary holiday. What can kids do to help save the world's bats? "Educate other kids!" she said. Bats can only keep doing their important work if they are left alone by people who have learned to appreciate these unique creatures. Facts about bats • Scientists divide bats (order: Chiroptera) into micro-bats (microchiroptera) and megabats (mega- chiroptera). Most microbats have big ears and hunt insects. Most megabats have big eyes and eat fruit. • Bats are not "flying mice." They are not rodents. • Some species of bats live up to 30 years. • The biggest bat is the flying fox, which has a wingspan of up to six feet. • The smallest bat is the size of a bumblebee and weighs about as much as a penny. • In Chinese folklore, bats symbolize good fortune. • Many bats hibernate in fall. Others migrate to warmer climates. • Bats see and hear quite well; the saying "blind as a bat" isn't true. • Many species of bats do not live in caves. Instead, they roost in trees, mines, and various types of buildings. To learn more about bats, visit Bat Conservation International's website, www.batcon.org. article
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Post by jonsdigs on Oct 21, 2006 0:35:57 GMT -5
Bats to be evicted from San Antonio River Walk12:09 PM CDT on Friday, October 20, 2006 Associated Press SAN ANTONIO A colony of Mexican free-tailed bats that lives under a bridge spanning the San Antonio River will have to find a new home next year after the city seals off its roosting spot this winter. City officials cite the river's water quality and the nuisance created by bat guano and urine on the city's treasured River Walk as their motives for evicting the bats. "It's a very strong odor," said Lincoln St. George, downtown river operations superintendent for the Parks and Recreation Department. "My crews go over and deodorize every morning. They collect the guano and throw it in the flower beds." Nobody has a good count of how many bats live under the Houston Street bridge, which is about 100 feet long. St. George said the bats nestle into piping under the bridge. "They get up in the crevices," he said. "The specialists from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department came down and they couldn't even determine how many numbers that we've got." Ron Smudy, assistant director of operations for the city parks department, said the state wildlife officials gave tips for getting rid of the bats, which migrate to Mexico for winter. "When they leave, we close up all the orifices and crevices in the bridge and then when they come back next year, they obviously look for some alternate location," he said. Local officials also say bat droppings add to high bacteria levels in the river, which is undergoing a state-mandated cleanup. San Antonio's bat eviction stands in contrast to Austin, where a colony of 1.5 million Mexican free-tail bats roosting under the much-larger Congress Avenue bridge is touted as a tourist draw. Barbara French, biologist and science officer for Bat Conservation International in Austin, said studies have shown that the Austin bats have not made a significant difference in the water quality of Town Lake below them. However, she said the state parks department is "very familiar with the appropriate procedures" for removing bats, and she acknowledged that bats may be less welcome in the River Walk's tourism environment of dining and strolling. She said the bats should be able to find another home when they return. "What this particular colony will do when they return depends on how large the colony is and what roosts are available for bats in the vicinity," she said. "We do have caves in Central Texas -- that's one advantage. If there isn't sufficient area for the entire colony to roost together, they may have to divide up and go to different roosts." Article: www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/102006kvuesariverwalkbatsNEW-cb.58e95f16.html
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Post by jonsdigs on Oct 12, 2006 16:41:21 GMT -5
Rise in rabies among bats prompts public health alert Posted by The Oregonian Newsroom October 12, 2006 10:03 State officials issued a public health warning this morning in response to a high number of bats testing positive for rabies this year. Twenty-one bats and two foxes have tested positive for the disease, compared with nine bats last year and seven in the previous year. A public health veterinarian urged Oregonians to protect themselves and their pets against rabies. Dr. Emilio DeBess gives this advice: "Never handle bats and make sure your cats and dogs are up to date on their rabies vaccines," he said. Rabies is an infectious viral disease that affects the nervous system and is caused by exposure to a rabid animal. Exposure is usually through a bite but can also occur through scratches and saliva contact with broken skin. It is almost always fatal once symptoms begin. Bats play an important role in the ecosystem, especially in controlling insects and aiding agriculture, DeBess said, but a small percentage can carry rabies. "Bats suffering from rabies will normally bite in self-defense," said DeBess. "However, they pose little danger to people who do not handle them. If you find a bat during daylight hours, it is most likely unhealthy and should be avoided." DeBess said vaccinating pets against rabies protects them and provides a buffer zone between humans and rabid wild animals. www.blogs.oregonlive.com/oregonian/newsupdates/default.asp?item=220103
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Post by jonsdigs on Oct 8, 2006 20:12:07 GMT -5
Hummingbird feeders hijacked by piggy batsBy Dan Sorenson arizona daily star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.08.2006 If you've been hearing a sucking sound from the border, it might be the guzzling gang of bats that's been slurping Southern Arizona's hummingbird feeders dry all summer and is now beating wing for its winter digs in Mexico. Bat experts have known for years that nectar-feeding bats sometimes drop by hummingbird feeders for a nightcap. But Karen Krebbs, a conservation biologist at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, says staffers got many more public reports of binge drinking by bats this year than usual. Bats fly up to the feeder and stall, shoot their tongues up to six times a second into the feeder as they begin to fall, then flap their wings.photo courtesy of tim axelrod Typically, she says, people noticed that their hummingbird feeders were being drained more quickly than usual. And then they noticed that it happened overnight. Krebbs and other local bat experts are at a loss to explain the apparent increase in bat attendance at local hummingbird feeders this year. It is thought Arizona's two species of nectar-feeding bats — the Mexican long-tongued bat and the endangered lesser long-nosed bat — have been crashing hummingbird feeders for at least 50 years. Bill Peachey, who has studied both bats and the saguaro stand near Colossal Cave Mountain Park, says the practice of putting out hummingbird feeders probably dates to just after World War II. Eating from a hummingbird feeder hanging in a backyard is something that bats learned. "That's not natural. Most nectar bats don't feed on red flowers," says Peachey. It wouldn't be the last time the bats surprised those who study their behavior. Peachey says the nectar-feeding bats follow the agave and saguaro bloom as it spreads from lower desert into the higher elevations around Tucson. But it was, Peachey says, a bad year for agave, and there were a lot of bats around. Full Story: www.azstarnet.com/metro/150134
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