Here’s a fascinating fact: 70% of all the world’s fruit is pollinated solely by bats. Isn’t that amazing?
I took these pictures on safari in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda.
Egyptian fruit bats are known for roosting in very large colonies. There were thousands of bats in this cave.
Egyptian fruit bats are unique in using echo location, which means they use the only form of echo bat location that is audible to the human ear. As we walked through the forest to the cave, I remember suddenly hearing the bats as we approached. The noise inside the cave was deafening. Of course, had I been blogging at the time, I would have taken video to share with you.
Females typically give birth to only a single baby each year, and offspring usually stay in the same colony with their parents their entire lives. Can you see the baby with its momma in this picture?
Egyptian fruit bats have a wingspan that averages two feet and a body length of around six inches. I found their faces to be incredibly dog-like. I’ve been told their fur is very soft, and their wings feel like pantyhose.
I’m missing and longing for Africa these days. ♥
June 24, 2010 at 3:41 am
We have quite the Mexican freetail bat population in Austin. They even have their own statue.
I didn’t realize you’d been to Africa – did you live there?
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June 25, 2010 at 6:46 am
Winter,
Didn’t live there, but have visited a lot. 🙂
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June 24, 2010 at 4:23 am
Dog-like. Yes. Little terrier or chihuahua faces. Cute little faces!
I’m not sure if I see the baby or not. I had to turn the picture upside down and enlarge, enlarge, and I’m not sure. If I do see it, Mama’s cuddling the baby under her wing in a very warmly maternal way.
I like bats.
Very cool pictures; make me think of Escher drawings.
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June 25, 2010 at 6:48 am
June,
I think you saw it. Yes, Mama’s cuddling the baby under her wing.
Ok, I’ll admit it… I just learned something new. Escher drawings; very, very cool.
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June 24, 2010 at 4:57 am
Very interesting. Wow, a 2-foot long wingspan. I had no idea. And learning about the baby bats was fascinating.
I have to admit, they DO have cute faces.
Do they ever bite people or animals?
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June 25, 2010 at 6:57 am
C,
Bats normally bite only in self-defense. They pose little threat to people who don’t try to handle them.
Regarding animals, I think you might be thinking of vampire bats?
I pulled this information from Bat Conservation of Wisconsin:
Vampire bats do not actually suck blood. They lap it up like a dog drinking water from a bowl. To begin feeding, the bat first must prick the animal with its two large front teeth, often in the foot or leg of a sleeping mammal or bird. An anticoagulant in the vampire’s saliva causes the blood to flow without clotting, allowing the bat to lick up its nutritious, protein-filled diet. Vampires take only 2 tablespoons of blood while the host animal continues to sleep. There are just three species of vampire bats in the world and they all live in Latin America. They are very gentle creatures and will adopt orphans and regurgitate and share food for a member of the colony who could not find a meal the night before. The anticoagulant from these bats’ saliva has been synthesized and is now used in medication for human heart patients, showing that even vampire bats can be helpful to humans. However, when these bats feed on livestock, they can spread diseases and must be controlled.
Fascinating!
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June 24, 2010 at 5:23 am
Those are fabulous pictures! I love the closer and closer effect. Thanks, and I enjoy your posts every day.
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June 24, 2010 at 5:45 am
Ok, so this is one thing we do not have in common.
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June 24, 2010 at 6:33 am
Bats are awesome. We like to watch them here in the evening swooping high above us in the backyard as they search for bugs.
Di
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June 25, 2010 at 6:58 am
Di,
Did you know that many small insectivorous bats can eat up to 2,000 mosquito-sized insects in one night?
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June 24, 2010 at 6:50 am
Absolutley, NO WAY, would I have gone into a cave KNOWING it was infested w/bats!!! I’d have prbly p’d my pants when I heard the noise…Call me chicken, I don’t care.
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June 25, 2010 at 6:59 am
Nancy,
It’s okay. We wouldn’t have made you. 😉
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June 24, 2010 at 7:08 am
Okay, first thing I notice is that they have no reflection from their eyes from the flash in your camera. Maybe it has to do with the fact that they are nighttime creatures?
I love bats! I would have loved to been along on your cave trip!
I noticed you have another reader from Austin (Winter). We have the largest population of Mexican Freetail bats in the US, living right under the Congress Ave. bridge. All females. Their flight out every night is so large, that it shows up on doppler radar.
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June 24, 2010 at 7:20 am
I’m with the other chickens here…those pictures even freaked me out a little…I’ve seen too many episodes of Scooby Doo with screeching vampire bats! 🙂
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June 24, 2010 at 7:21 am
The visit to the bat cave with Justina was the most fantastic part of our trip to Africa other than the walks with chimpanzees and gorillas during the same trip. I was so awed by the baby bats cradled in their mothers’ arms, so tiny (smaller than my thumb.) If I could, I would return to Africa for another visit, no doubt!
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June 24, 2010 at 7:49 am
I adore bats. They have such great faces, especially these fruit bats, which I have never seen.
Oh, the cuteness of the ears!!
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June 24, 2010 at 9:06 am
Beautiful!
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June 24, 2010 at 9:13 am
These are awesome! I have never been to Africa but I plan to go one day (I am waiting for teletransportation to be invented) as I am drawn to it… this cradle of humanity.
A bat found a way to our kitchen decades ago and it kept flying up and down, all around and I didn’t dare moving (I was an even bigger wuss then than I am now:-))). I politely asked that if he was Batman and so he understood what I was saying, I would really appreciate it if he left the same way he got in.. an he did!!! The question remains…
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June 24, 2010 at 9:29 am
I love bats. I think they’re adorable. What a great experience that must have been for you. I’ve never been to Africa. It’s on my list. After Albuquerque. *grin*
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June 24, 2010 at 9:31 am
I love bats, too. Here in the midwest they eat mesquitos and other bugs — they’re very beneficial neighbors. Wouldn’t want to have one on me, but I appreciate them from a distance. 🙂
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June 24, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Those are some truly amazing critters and the pics are just outstanding. I can only imagine what the experience was like to enter that cave and hear that sound. We happened to be in Austin one night (we live in North Texas) and stayed at a hotel not too far from the famous Congress Ave. bridge and went down there, but never did see any bats leave. Anyway, thanks for sharing!
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June 25, 2010 at 7:03 am
Ken and Mary,
Ok, now that three people have commented on the Congress Ave. bridge in Austin, I’m intrigued!
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June 24, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Just amazing photos! I confess that I fear so much bats and I would never enter in a cave with a lot of bats all around…
I admire your courage!
Love seeing bats only on Discovery Channel.
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June 24, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Can I get high resolution copies of several of these pictures to use for our public education?
Thank you.
Ken
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June 25, 2010 at 7:04 am
Ken,
Let me work on finding them… I hope I have them. I’ll let you know either way.
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June 24, 2010 at 7:34 pm
I am missing and longing for bats. They are gone….
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June 24, 2010 at 7:35 pm
I think bats are really cool…..however, I would not want to be that close to that many!
They have the Vampire Bats in Australia and they hang out in the trees at the local parks! Pretty freaky but they are not nearly as many in number as in these pics.
How way cool you went to Africa and on safari it sounds like! One of my dreams!!!
thanks for sharing these cool animals at a very safe distance 🙂
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June 24, 2010 at 9:54 pm
Yikes, but very cool.
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June 24, 2010 at 10:25 pm
oh world would be a miserable place without bats. can you imagine all the bugs? not to mention the pollination that they perform.
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June 25, 2010 at 7:06 am
chook,
I know, right?! 🙂
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June 24, 2010 at 11:28 pm
And when you are half-asleep in your sister’s loft bedroom in her ancient remodeled farmhouse, and you hear flapflapflapflap [pause] flapflapflapflap [pause] but there is nothing there when you run to turn on the lights…
Then you return to half-asleep with naught but a thin sheet over you as it is sultry midsummer, and you hear flapflapflapflap [pause] flapflapflapflap [pause] flapflapflapflap–
PLOP
And you feel *something* has landed smack between your legs quite near a place you wouldn’t want it to be…
And you slowly pull the sheet taut, carefully slide out from under it, flip on the light, and find…
A BAT
Stunned, unmoving–let’s just say I did not bother to find out if his or her fur was soft as a kitten with wings like pantyhose! (It was released to the outdoors for those who were wondering.) Nor did I sleep in that room the remainder of my stay.
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June 25, 2010 at 7:07 am
Jeanne,
Well told! 😀
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June 25, 2010 at 8:51 am
They are so cute!
That first pic — I looked at it and tried to figure out what I was seeing…. Bark on a tree???
Then I looked at the words………
🙂
I haven’t seen any bats around here, this year. Sometimes in past years I have seen them in the evening. I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled…..
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