Ten Things I Like About... Podcast

Screamers

Summary: What’s all that racket? Could it be a Screamer? Join Kiersten to find out.
Show Notes: 
Screamers: https://animaldiversity.org
Music written and performed by Katherine Camp
 
For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean
 
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
 
Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
My name is Kiersten and I have a Master’s Degree in Animal Behavior and did my thesis on the breeding behavior of the Tri-colored bat. I was a zookeeper for many years and have worked with all sorts of animals from Aba Aba fish to tigers to ravens to domesticated dogs and so many more in between. Many of those years were spent in education programs and the most important lesson I learned was that the more information someone has about a particular animal the less they fear them. The less they fear them the more they crave information about them and before you know it you’ve become an advocate for that misunderstood animal.
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
This is episode one of the new series on Screamers. The first thing I like about Screamers is that they are birds.
Yes, that’s right screamers are birds. Screamers are not people who run around screaming, I mean technically yes, but that is a subject for a different podcast all together, not Ten Things I Like About… I can’t believe I have created over 100 episodes and this is the first time I‘ve talked about a bird. It is a great bird to start with, though. We’ll have lots of twists and turns with this little known but seriously interesting bird.
First, we’ll start at the beginning. What is a screamer? We have established that it is a bird but there many, many birds out there so I’ll narrow it down for you. Here comes the taxonomy: (For those of you just joining this podcast, taxonomy is the method that scientists use to classify and differentiate between species of living organisms. It consists of various group names to help make sure we’re all taking about the same animal, plant, or invertebrate.)
The taxonomy of screamers is a follows: 
Kingdom: Animalia ( they are animals)
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata (they have an internal skeleton)
Class: Aves (birds)
Order: Anseriformes (this order includes the screamers as well as ducks, geese, and swans)
Family: Anhimidae
Species: There are three species of screamer. The Horned Screamer, Anhima cornuta, the Southern Screamer, Chauna torquata, and the Northern Screamer, Chauna chavaria. 
All three species of screamers look similar. They are a large birds at 27 to 36 in or 71 to 92 cm, weighing about 3100 grams, with a wingspan of 5.5 feet or  1.7 meters. That is a decently big bird. They are classified with other waterfowl, ducks, geese, and swans, so you may be imagining a goose-like bird, but here is one of our first twists. 
Screamers look more like a turkey than a goose. They have a large body with a short neck and tiny head, especially compared to their body. They have a hooked beak, more like a bird of prey than a duck. Their legs are thick and stocky, and they have very little webbing between their toes. Doesn’t sound much like a duck at all!
So why are ducks and screamers classified in the same order? Genetic testing and cladistics science shows them as close relatives to ducks, geese, and swans, so they share an order but are in separate families. 
Screamers are found in wetland areas of South America such as swamps, marshes, lagoons, and lakes, as well as open savannas and meadows, and in the floodplains of moist tropical forests. They are most often found around water and they can swim, but they do not spend as much time in the water as ducks and geese.
Another strange twist with screamers is the long spurs they have on their wings. Yes, long spurs on their wings. There  are two large, curved spurs attached to the elbow on each wing of the screamer. The larger one is at the joint and a smaller one is just beneath that. They look like terrible claws they use to rip open prey animals or fight off predators, but they tend to use them only during intraspecies dominance fights at breeding season. 
This segues us into twist number three, screamers are herbivores. They have short, hooked beaks like raptors and scary spurs on their wings like a predator, but they eat leaves, stems, flowers, and roots of aquatic vegetation. They may throw in a few seeds, insects, and arthropods, but no carnivorous hunting. This is not what you expect when you look at a picture of this bird.
I have saved the most interesting tidbit for last. Why are they called screamers? Well, for once the name of an animal is actually perfect because screamers scream. They make a call that sounds a bit like a trumpet gone bad and they make it often. So, screamers are called screamers because they scream. 
In the upcoming episodes we will dive into the topic of screamers in more detail. I hope that this overview of our next unknown animal has gotten you excited about this new series because my first favorite thing about Screamers is that they are birds.
If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change. 
Join me next we for another exciting episode about  screamers.  
    
(Piano Music plays) 
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Bats: Conservation

Summary: Bat conservation is the subject of the final episode of the series on bats. Join Kiersten as she talks about what is going on to help bats. 
 
For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean
 
Show Notes:
Books: “Bats in Question: A Smithsonian Answer Book,” by Don E. Wilson
“America’s Neighborhood Bats,” by Merlin Tuttle
“The Bats of Europe and north America,” by Wilfried Schooner and Eckard Grimmberger
“Bats: A World of Science and Mystery,” by M. Brock Fenton and Nancy B. Simmons
“The Secret Lives of Bats,” by Merlin Tuttle
Websites: Merlin Tuttle Bat Conservation: https://merlintuttle.org
Bat Conservation International: https://www.batcon.org
EUROBATS: https://unric.org
BatLife Europe: https://www.batlife-europe.info
Podcasts:
BatChat from Bat Conservation Trust in the UK
Music written and performed by Katherine Camp
 
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
Sadly, this is the last episode of bats. I’ve had a ton of fun writing and recording these episodes. One of my favorite things to talk about is bats and I absolutely love educating people about bats. The tenth thing I like about bats is the conservation plans that we have developed to help them survive everything the world throws at them.
All bats around the world are under threat. Some are classified as endangered and most populations are in decline. But there are people out there, like myself and you, fabulous listeners, that are trying to make the future of bats bright.
Some of the things bats are fighting against include habitat destruction. Forested habitats across the globe are being cut down for human use. Building houses, strip malls, converting forest to grazing land, and mining caves for minerals are all devastating threats to bat populations. Shifting temperatures is also something impacting bats. The timing of the emergence of insects with the timing of the emergence of insectivorous bats from hibernation needs to be spot on, but with the altered temperatures around the world, that timing has shifted. Insects are emerging earlier because of warming winters and the bats are missing the window. This can negatively impact bats that migrate long distances to return to nursery sites where they raise their pups. Even nectar eating bats are impacted by the warmer temperatures because plants are blooming earlier and earlier. Those that follow the blooming flowers are getting caught in end of winter freezes that they are not physiologically equipped to deal sometimes resulting in death.
Disease is another threat to bats. Currently in the United States insectivorous cave dwelling bats are combating a disease called White-nose syndrome. This disease is caused by a fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans or Pd, that loves cool, damp places. Sound like a bat hibernaculum? Exactly. The spores of the fungus get on the face of hibernating bats and digs into the skin there. It blooms into a white fluffy structure, hence the name white-nose syndrome. The fungus itself does not kill the bats, but it irritates the bats rousing hem from sleep too often during their hibernation causing dehydration resulting in death. 
We now know that this fungus came from Europe on the shoes of some spelunkers. Equipment was not cleaned properly before entering a cave here in the United States, so the spores were spread. It first appeared in caves in New York State and has now spread across all of the Eastern US and is making its way across the Midwest. It can survive in any cave that stays cooler all year round. When this arrived in 2006 it hit three species the hardest, the Little Brown Bat, Northern Long-eared Bat, and Tri-colored Bat. Their populations declined 90%. This is one of the reasons I chose the topic of my Master’s thesis.
There is very little we can do to help bats combat this disease, but there is some hope that they can survive this on their own. Bat populations in Britain and surrounding countries have been in decline for much longer than those in the United States. When White-nose syndrome was traced back to the spelunkers that had just returned from a European caving trip, scientists on both continents began to collaborate and share notes. In an effort to find a cure for W hite-nose syndrome, they discovered that the bats in England have antibodies in their system that targets Pd. The bats living in Europe today survived a previous infection of this fungus. Their populations were drastically cut, but they pulled through. Recent studies have shown that some bats in the US infected by this fungus are beginning to survive hibernation and are showing antibodies for Pd.
One type of bat has actually increased in population due to human activities and that is the Vampire bats. Because more livestock has been  introduced to South America due to increased human populations and the desire for more beef, vampire bats, especially Desmodus rotundus, the Common Vampire Bat’s populations have increased. This is the species of bat that relies on mammal blood. Yeah bats! That’s what I have to say and I’m sure you agree, but their numbers have exceeded an healthy ecosystem population. So, once again human activity has put a bat species at risk. Vampire bats have become a nuisance and are spreading diseases more readily between people and cattle. 
So extermination became the way to handle the problem, but the manner in which people where killing the vampire bats was also killing every other species of bats. It was a free for all, kill all the bats you see. Merlin Tuttle has been studying bats for over sixty years and he has been touting good PR for bats since he’s been able to take pictures of them. So he decided to jump into the trouble with vampire bats. His love of bats drove him to find a way to save all the species. To do that he knew he’d have to win over the people who lived with the vampire bats. He and a local scientist and conservationist developed away to help control the vampire bat population without impacting the other species of bats that live in the region. It’s working, people feel empowered by their options and now understand that not all bats are vampire bats. Some bats need to be protected. As hard as it is for me to support anything that kills any species of bat, I admire Merlin Tuttle’s path to conservation. Win friends, not battles. 
Both human sprawl and disease are devastating to bats, but one of the biggest threats to bats is fear. Those of you that have listened to this whole series and those of you that listened to this series because you have an interest in bats, know that fear of bats is real. I certainly understand it. These are nocturnal animals that swoop out of the dark and can frighten you. Myths abound about their behaviors and many of these myths are untrue. False information can lead to fear and fear leads to very bad things for bats. 
How can we help bats? The first thing that you can do today, is spread the truth about bats. Tell everyone you know and those you’re standing in line with at the grocery store the truth about bats. Dispelling fear goes a long way to protecting current and future bat populations. Use the information you’ve learned in the series to change people’s minds about these small creatures. 
You can also join organizations such as Merlin Tuttle Bat Conservation, or Bat Conservation International, both of these organizations are based in the United States but have programs that help bat conservation around the world. EUROBATS and BatLife Europe are two organizations that strive to protect bats and conserve vital habitat for bats in Europe. A bit of online sleuthing will help you find a bat conservation organization near you. I will also post some of my favorite books about bats, podcasts, and websites in this episodes show notes.
I can’t say how much fun this series was for me to write and post. I’m so happy you all joined me for Bats. They are such misunderstood animals and they deserve all the good PR we can give them. My tenth favorite thing about bats is all the conservation efforts we have developed to protect these amazing animals.
If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change. 
 
Join me in two weeks for the beginning of a new series about Screamers. 
 
(Piano Music plays) 
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Bats: Cool Bat Facts

Summary: Join Kiersten as she lays out some of the coolest facts about bats!
 
For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean
 
Show Notes: 
https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work?united-states/arizona/stories-in-arizona/top-10-bat-facts/
https://www.doi.gov/blog/13-facts-about-bats
https://batcon.org
Bat honking link: http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/136292
Music written and performed by Katherine Camp
 
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
This is the ninth episode of Bats and if I haven’t convinced you that they are some of the most amazing creatures on the planet yet, this episode will surely do that. The ninth thing I like about bats is all the cool facts about them. 
Some cool bat facts have been sprinkled throughout the other episodes but it never hurts to talk about fun facts again! 
Such as…There are 1400 bat species. That’s one thousand four hundred species of bat. They make up 1/5 of all mammals. And they range in size from one of the smallest mammals on the planet, the Bumblebee Bat that weighs only as much as a US penny, to the Flying Foxes that can have a wingspan of six feet! That’s three cool facts in one go. It’s always a party when you’re talking about bats.
Bats are found on ever single continent including most islands, expect Antarctica. That’s pretty cool. Very few animals, outside of humans, are found on so many bodies of land. Remarkably, bats have been around in Europe, North America, South America, India, and Australia for millions of years. Bats show up in the fossil record dating back to the Early Eocene which is roughly 47.5 to 55 million years ago. That’s well before humans existed.
And…when we study these fossils, they show that bats have changed very little in structure from that time. When animals change very little from the time of their appearance in the fossil record  to today that means they are pretty close to evolutionarily perfect. I think that’s very cool. 
We also know from studying these fossils that bats have been using echolocation from the beginning. Bats have the most well developed echolocation system of any animal, that we are currently aware, of course. Which is a cool fact in and of itself, but it takes it to a whole other level knowing they have been echolocating for millions of years.
Bats are the only mammal capable of true flight. Yes, we have flying squirrels but they can only glide. Bats flap their wings to propel them through the air. Similarly to birds, bats can create sustained flight.
While we are discussing flight, the Mexican free-tailed Bat is the fastest bat in flight. They are able to reach speeds of 100 mph. That’s fast!
Speaking of Mexican Free-tailed Bats, the colony that lives in Bracken Cave in Texas has approximately 15 million individuals making it the largest known bat colony on Earth, as well as the largest concentration of mammals on Earth. The cool facts never end with bats!
Let’s talk life expectancy. Typically the smaller an animal the shorter the life span. For example, if you have a pet mouse or rat, they typically live a year to two years, where as your dog or cat can live 10 to 15 years. It’s just physics, but bats break this rule. Most of them are fairly small and on average they can live 20 years. Some species, such as the Little Brown Bat, can live 30 years. The oldest bat, a Brandt’s Bat which is an insectivorous bat, was discovered in 2006 flying wild in Siberia and it was 41 years old! 
We know the age because this bat was tagged and had a record of lifespan recorded by scientists. That is cool!
Some male bats got milk! The male Dyak’s Fruit Bat is able to feed their young from their own mammary glands. It is currently the only known example of natural paternal lactation. Scientists don’t know why. What’s also interesting in this species is that the dads actually have a role in raising their young. That is not common throughout bat species. Dyak’s Fruit Bat is found on the Sunda Shelf of Southeast Asia.
All bats have belly buttons! Since they are mammals, they are born live and are connected to mom through an umbilical cord during gestation. Just like us, actually just like almost all mammals. Not all mammals will retain a belly button after the umbilical cord falls off, bats do. Just like humans. That’s cool!
Female bats can get pregnant whenever they want! Some species of female bats are capable of retaining sperm in their reproductive tract until conditions are right to get pregnant. Mating will occur in fall and the female can retain the sperm in their system, delaying fertilization until spring when resources are high and success is better supported.
One of the scarier things about bats is that they seem to appear out of nowhere! When they fly at night using their echolocation to hunt, they do not make sounds that the human ear can hear. It’s not scary when you understand it though. But some bats make noises that we CAN hear, some bats even honk. Yep! Male Hammer-headed Fruit Bats honk to attract females during breeding season. I will leave a link in the show notes that lead you to a recording of honking bats!
Bat noses can help them see! We know that bats use ultrasonic sound that they emit to hunt and navigate. This is echolocation. Some species of bats have wrinkled skin and flaps of skin called noseleaves on their face and nose that help them use their echolocation calls in various ways allowing them to multitask. They can hunt and avoid crashing into each other at the same time!
Most fruit bats have long extended hooks on their wings, also called thumbs, that they use to hold on to branches and fruits, but not all fruit bats have well developed thumbs. Spix’s Disk-winged Bat developed suction cups to help them cling to and climb smooth surfaces such as leaves. Take that Spider-Man! The disks are on the wings and ankles and look just like a traditional suction cup. The bats use muscles within the disks to alter the shape of the disks creating suction or release. Spix’s Disk-winged Bat is found from southern Mexico to northern Brazil. This adaptation has evolved separately in two different species because there is an Old World Sucker-footed Bat that also has these suction cups, but is not related to the Spix’s. How fascinating!
These cool bat facts are just a sample of all the fascinating things we know about bats. I am sure we will discover so much more as we continue to study bats. My ninth favorite thing about bats is all the cool facts about them!
If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change. 
 
Join me next week for another episode about bats!
 
(Piano Music plays) 
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Bats: Bats and People

Summary: How do bats help people? So many ways! Join Kiersten as she tells us why we should be thanking bats.
 
For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean
 
Show Notes: 
Merlin Tuttle Bat Conservation: https://www.merlintuttle.org
“Bats in Question: A Smithsonian Answer Book,” by Don E. Wilson
Music written and performed by Katherine Camp

Bats: Myths Part 2

For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean
 
Show Notes:
Music written and performed by Katherine Camp
 
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
There are so many myths about bats that I HAD to do a second episode. The seventh thing I like about bats is continuing to myth bust.
In the last episode we covered why bats fly around our heads: not because they want to get into our hair. We talked about diseases: bats do carry disease but the odds of contracting a disease from them is slight and completely avoidable. And we talked about all bats wanting to suck are blood: completely false only one species of bat, out of all 1400 species, even drinks mammalian blood. Most of these involved Microchiroptera so let’s talk about some myths that include Megachiroptera, as well as our little ones.
We’ve all heard, if not used, the saying “Blind as a bat.”, but bats are not blind. All species of bats can see. Some can see better than others but they all have functioning eyes, as far as we know based on the species studied as of the beginning of 2025. Microchiroptera typically have tiny eyes, which may have influenced the old saying, and they do not rely heavily on sight to maneuver their way through the world. But they do use their eyes.
Megachiroptera, our amazing fruit bats, have larger eyes and rely on their sight more than microbats. Most, if not all, Megabats do not use echolocation to find food and fly. Their chosen food item is not flitting around trying to make themselves a hard target. Fruit is pretty sedentary, just growing and hanging out on a branch, so Megachiroptera use their vision to find food. Their eyes are much more advanced then bats that rely on echolocation to find their prey. Some nectar eating bats also have larger, higher functioning eyes that can help them find flowers in bloom.
So our first myth busted in this episode is that bats are blind. This is completely false, bats are not blind. Maybe we should rephrase and say “Blind as a Cave Fish?”
Myth number two: Bats are filthy vermin. This one is also false. Bats keep themselves very clean. They are a lot like cats in that they groom themselves fastidiously. They must keep their wings clean to be able to fly. If there is too much gunk built up on that thin skin, they can’t fly right. 
When I was studying the Tri-colored Bat in Georgia during winter hibernation, I actually caught a few bats grooming themselves in the hibernaculum. I also did an internship with the Lubee Foundation in Florida that houses the largest colony of fruit bats in the United States. These bats spent the majority of their day grooming themselves and each other.
Constant grooming also keeps them clean of parasites such as mites and ticks. A build up of these bloodsuckers can drain a bat to the point where they are too weak to hunt for food. Helping keep your neighbor free of these little pests also helps keep you free of these little pests, especially when you live in a colony.
So, myth number two busted. Bats are not dirty vermin, they are very clean animals.
Our third myth involves only fruit eating bats. Many people think that bats devastate fruit crops and should be exterminated to preserve farm grown produce. This is false. Bats actually help keep farmed groves healthy and productive.
Fruit bats do eat fruit, of course, but they target overripe fruit. They favor the fruits that have passed that perfect ripeness and are on the edge of rotting. This is not the fruit that we want to eat and not the fruit that farmers harvest. When farmers let bats do their thing, it helps keep the groves healthy by ridding the trees of fruits that attract insects and rodents that can decimate a crop. If you keep bats from doing their jobs, then you get these pests.
We actually have bats to thank for some of the fruits that we love to eat. Banana, mango, and avocado plants are all pollinated by nectar eating bats. 300 species of fruiting plants rely on bats to either pollinate them or spread their seeds. When fruit bats eat the overripe fruit they often swallow the seeds. The seeds pass through their digestive track and are deposited, with a little fecal fertilizer, far from the parent plant where they will grow into another plant.  
Those of you out there that like tequila, have another reason to thank bats. Agave plants that are used to create tequila are only pollinated by nectar eating bats like the Lesser Long-nosed Bat. 
The last myth is one that I talked about in the very first episode of this series. Bats are flying rodents. False! Bats are not rats with wings and the taxonomic classification that I discuss in that first episode proves that. Bats and rats are included in the same Class Mammalia but they diverge, which means they separate, at Order. Rats are classified in Order Rodentia, bats are in Order Chiroptera. 
All rodents are in a separate order from bats and as scientific processes for collecting data have advanced over the years, each test, including DNA, reinforces the fact that bats and rats are not related outside of them both being vertebrate mammals. 
This is a wide spread myth from all over the world and can be seen in some of the names used for bats on other languages other than English, for example. Letushiya meesh is the Russian name for bats which translates to “flying mouse”. But, listeners, you now know the truth about whether bats are rodents. They are not rats, mice, or any other kind of rodent.
Well that covers most of the common myths about bats and as you can hear these animals are very misunderstood. That’s why myth busting is my seventh favorite thing about bats.
If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change. 
 
Join me next week for another episode about bats!
 
(Piano Music plays) 
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Bats: Myths

Summary: Bats what to fly into your hair and suck your blood! False! In this episode Kiersten talks about some of the most common myths about bats and uncovers the truth.
 
For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean
 
Show Notes:
Music written and performed by Katherine Camp
 
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
We are just halfway through bats, listeners, and am am super excited for this episode. One of my favorite things when I teach about bats is myth busting. So, the sixth thing I like about bats is breaking down and wiping away the myths that make us fear them. 
As humans we are often afraid of the dark and we are definitely afraid of things we do not understand. This is a double whammy against bats. They come out at night, fly around where we can’t see them, and make strange squeaky noises we don’t understand. Misunderstanding leads to myths, myths lead to fear, and fear leads to bad news for bats.
In this episode we’re going to take a look at some of the most common myths about bats and determine what’s true and what’s not. 
One of the oldest myths about bats is that they want to fly into your hair.  I understand where this one came from, but it one hundred percent false. Bats do not want to be in your hair. This originated from campers misinterpreting bats swooping around their heads as they were enjoying the outdoors at night. Okay, if they don’t want to get into my hair, what are they doing swooping around my head?
If you are outdoors, there are others creatures that are attracted to us such as mosquitos. If you are sitting by a fire, other species of insects are attracted to the heat and light. I think you see where I am going with this, the bats are swooping down to catch the insects that are hovering around our heads. Anyone who has ever been bitten by a mosquito, you are probably thankful for this behavior. One less mosquito…am I right?
I have actually used this behavior to advantage when I took a mammalogy class and we went out the study bats in the wild. If you stand on a well used trail with your headlight pointing straight forward and stay still, insects will begin to fly through your light. The bats won’t be far behind. You can see them swooping through the light to catch the insects and it is so cool!
This brings me to the second half of this myth. Bats only end up hitting your head when you panic and throw up an arm up and they are unable to avoid the sudden movement. They are never aiming to land in your hair. 
Why did the bat that got trapped in my house swoop at me? There wasn’t a swarm of insects in my living room! First, bats never want to be in your living space, but sometimes they get lost or they’ve been roosting in your cabin when you haven’t been using it and you coming in for a weekend disturbs them. They just want to get out and away from you and back to a quiet roosting spot. What happens when they swoop toward you in the middle of the room is that as they are flying around looking for a place to hide or an exit and as they approach the walls they have to slow down to turn around. When they slow down they lose elevation and swoop toward the floor in the middle of the room where you’re standing flipping out. 
Don’t panic. Just relax. Open a door if you can to offer an exit. If the bat lands on the wall and settles down, you can carefully place a box over the bat and use a piece of cardboard and slowly slip it under the box from the bottom up to catch the bat inside the box. Holding both pieces together, take the box outside away from the building and release the bat.
Okay now that we know that bats don’t want to tangle up in our hair, let’s talk about diseases. Can bats make us sick? Do bats get sick? Yes and yes, but that’s not the end of the answer. Just like any other mammal, bats can get sick and can transmit diseases to other mammals. 
Histoplasmosis is a disease caused by a fungus called Histoplasma capsulatum. Humans can become sick if they breath in the spores of the fungus. Histoplasmosis is often associated with bats and birds, but neither one of them is responsible for the illness. The fungus loves to grow on fertile poop. They especially love places with lots of poop. Colonial bats that are roosting together in building or caves create a lot of poop. Bats are typically very loyal to roosting sites and will use them continuously for an entire season, so that create a bunch of poop. The fungus will grow on the poop piles and when another mammal, such as a human, comes across the fungus laden poop they may breath in the spores and get sick. Not the bats, or birds, fault.
Now let’s talk rabies. Almost all mammals can become infected by and transmit rabies. Bats have long been saddled with the misconception that they carry rabies and transmit it willynilly. Bats can contract rabies, just like almost any other mammal, and they can transmit it to another mammal, but they cannot carry it throughout their entire lives. Rabies is fatal. It is a virus that replicates and finds new hosts. That is it’s only goal, survival. When the mammal that it is in begins to die, it wants a new host. No mammal can host it for more than 14 days without perishing. 
Protecting yourself from both of these diseases is easy. Don’t enter a cave or building that you know is a roost for a large colony of bats. If you must, or they have taken up residence in your attic, wear a respirator and contact professionals that can relocate the colony so the roost can be cleaned and sanitized. When it comes to rabies, don’t handle any wildlife, including bats. When animals are suffering from the end stages of rabies, the virus causes the infected mammal to behave unusually in hopes of encountering a new possible host. 
If you see a bat on the ground, or active during the day, don’t pick them up. Call for assistance and follow their instructions to protect yourself and the bat. You can place a cardboard box over the bat to keep it and others safe until someone can assist you.
The last big myth of this episode is that all bats want to suck my blood! This is defiantly false. There is only one species of bat that wants to suck a mammals blood. The Common Vampire Bat, Desmodus rotundus, is a blood drinker. Two other species of bats are also blood drinkers but they specialize on birds. These bats are fall ound only in Central and South America. There are no reports of these bats being found anywhere else. 
Common Vampire Bats typically feed on cattle and goats but they can feed from humans, as well. Just like any animal that has found a consistent food source, they will revisit that food source night after night. They never take enough blood to suck an animal dry because these bats weigh only ounces. They take enough to survive and that is all. 
My pattern remains the same and I have gone over time again. This episode discussed myths primarily about Microchiroptera but there are myths out there about Megachioptera as well and we will delve into those in the next episode.
Thank you for joining me for my sixth favorite thing about bats, myth busting.
If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change. 
 
Join me next week for another episode about bats!
 
(Piano Music plays) 
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Bats: Migration

Summary: To migrate or not to migrate? How do bats deal with cooling temperatures? Join Kiersten as she travels through bat migration.
 
For my hearing impaired listeners, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean
 
Show Notes: 
“America’s Neighborhood Bats,” by Merlin Tuttle
“The Bats of Europe and north America,” by Wilfried Schooner and Eckard Grimmberger
“Flying-Foxes - The bush refugees” by Martin Pueschel
Backyard Bats Project: https://www.azgfd.com/wildlife-conservation/living-with-wildlife/backyard-bats-project/ 
Music written and performed by Katherine Camp
Bats: Migration
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
The fifth thing I like about bats is migration. Yes! Bats do migrate, well some bats migrate. Have you ever wondered why you see bats in the spring and summer and not in the winter? Many microbats either migrate or hibernate, while megabats may migrate from area to area following the fruiting and flowering seasons.
In this episode we will investigate the ways bats cope with colder weather in temperate regions or the non-fruiting season is tropical areas.
Let’s start with a quick definition of migration. Migration is a mass movement of living creatures from one area to another. It is often seen seasonally and can be influenced by available resources. Birds will migrate north in spring following available food resources and seeking optimum breeding grounds. They will migrate south again for the winter as the northern regions cool down diminishing food resources. Male tarantulas will migrate much shorter distances in fall searching for female mates. Bats that rely on insects can either migrate from northern regions to southern regions where the insects are still active in, or hibernate in place during the colder months of the year.
The insectivorous bat species of North America choose one of these two options. The Mexican Free-tailed bat, one of the most plentiful species in southern United States, also known as the Brazilian Free-tailed Bat, is a migrator. They will spend the warmer parts of the year in the United States traveling as far north as Northern California all the way across the country to South Carolina. Here they hunt insects at night and roost in caves or bridge overpasses during the day. They travel and roost in huge colonies and some roosts can number in the millions. It’s quite a sight to see them exit their roosts come sundown. If you are ever in an area where you can do this, do it. It is something you don’t want to miss in your lifetime.
Come colder temps in late fall when insect activity begins to slow, Mexican Free-tailed bats begin to depart. They are heading to Central and South America, following warmer temperatures. They will find caves and other enclosed spaces to spend their days until spring and summer roll around again when they will head north .
The Big Brown Bat, another insectivorous species found in North America, is a permanent resident where it is found. And they are found all over North America from Mexico to the northern border of some Canadian provinces. They are much more tolerant of colder temperatures and will hibernate as opposed to migrate. As insect activity wanes they will search for secure hibernating structures. We call these hibernaculums, and Big Brown Bats are not terribly picky. When I was researching my thesis, I found Big Brown Bats in the cave where I filmed the Tri-colored Bats. They were much closer to the entrance of the cave where temperatures were colder and less humid than the interior where the Tri-coloreds where found.
Big Browns will hibernate in groups, small or large, or as individuals in caves, abandoned or little used buildings, attics, walls, even under tree bark. They are generalists that are quite adaptable to their environment, which is why they are one of the most widespread bats in North America.
Not all migrators are insectivorous bats. The Lesser Long-nosed Bat migrates from southern Mexico to the Southwestern states of the US. They are nectar eaters and they follow the blooming flowers. They don’t come up too far into the United States but they love the flowering cactus and agave plants of the lower desert regions. They come up just after the rainy season in spring that jumpstarts the blooming season in the desert. There is actually a Community Science Project called Backyard Bats that is ongoing in Arizona with the Arizona Game and Fish Department. This project asks you to monitor your hummingbird feeders overnight to determine if nectar is going down during the night. If it is you may have visiting bats! For those of you in Arizona, I will leave a link in the show notes so you can participate in this project.
European bats have similar choices when dealing with changing temperatures. The Lesser Horseshoe Bat found in Europe is a permanent resident where they are found. They utilize hibernaculums in the winter and separate roosts in the warmer months. So, we could consider them short distance migrators. They travel only about 5 to 10 kilometers or 3 to 6 miles between the different sites. They are active during peak insect activity.
The Greater Mouse-eared Bat, an insectivorous bat found in Central Europe, is classified as a partial migrant. Partial migrants fly over 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, from winter to spring roosts. 
What about fruit-eating bats that don’t have to worry about changing seasonal temperatures? They migrate. They don’t migrate as far as some of our insectivorous friends in North America, but they still travel following food. They are a bit more like permanent residents because they stay in the same region, but they travel around that region following the blooms and fruits in trees. Most will roost together so you can see large groups of bats flying through the sky searching for ripening fruits. This movement is impacted by available food and also by the rainy season.
To migrate or not to migrate? Another amazing adaptation that makes bats even more fascinating.
Thanks for traveling with me through this episode because my fifth favorite thing about bats is migration.
  If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change. 
 
Join me next week for another episode about bats!
 
(Piano Music plays) 
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Bats: Reproduction

Summary: How do bats make more baby bats? Let us count the ways! Join Kiersten as she discusses the various reproductive techniques bats use to make more bats.
 
For my hearing impaired listeners, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean
 
Show Notes:
“Bats in Question: A Smithsonian Answer Book,” by Don E. Wilson
Music written and performed by Katherine Camp
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
I apologize for missing last week, listeners. The holidays snuck up on me and I just didn’t have time to write, record, edit, and post before Christmas was upon me. Let’s get back to bats!
The fourth thing I like about bats is making more bats! Chiroptera reproduction is interesting and diverse. Microbats and Megabats are mammals, so they give live birth and nurse their young with milk, but we’re going to take a closer look at the reproductive cycle of some of the specific species of bats in this episode. 
As my loyal listeners know, I earned my Master’s of Science in Animal Behavior by studying the breeding behavior of the Tri-colored Bat, Perimyotis subflavus. I chose to study the breeding behavior of this particular bat because they are heavily impacted by White-nose Syndrome, a disease that impacts the hibernation behaviors of bats that overwinter in caves that remain around 55 degrees or cooler throughout the year. Many of the caves on the East coast of the United States fit this bill. I will be talking more about this problem in a future episode. The reason I wanted to study the breeding behavior is because we did not have a record of how these bats reproduced. If their numbers fell so low that we needed to intervene to help save the species from extinction, it was essential that we knew how they reproduced so we could offer everything they needed in a captive setting.
So, off I went with my husband in tow to sit for hours at a time in a dark cold cave at 2am to record the behavior of hibernating Tri-colored Bats. What did I learn? We discovered that in this cave, the Tri-colored Bat males will seek out females during their hibernation periods and mate with them. Yes, that’s right these little boogers mate with the females while they are sleeping! We were shocked! But it is the optimal time to mate with females without having to expend excessive amounts of time and energy vying for their attention. 
I agree that it sounds terrible. Not very nice at all. No consent from the females, but it works for this species of bat. The males and females go their separate ways as soon as the winter season passes so the males have no chance to breed later in the year. The female’s body stores the sperm until it is needed. When the time is right, the sperm will fertilize the egg and she will become pregnant. 
Many species that hibernate in caves breed during the fall season as males and females are swarming into the caves. For these species there are two paths to fertilization. One I just talked about, where the female stores the sperm in her reproductive tract until spring. Another path is immediate fertilization. Long-fingered bats from the Old World practice this method. The females and males breed in fall and fertilization happens immediately, but development of the fetus is slowed during hibernation so that the female will be ready to give birth come spring. 
For species that have a long distance migration, such at the Brazilian Free-tailed Bat, breeding occurs most often in the early spring as they are entering their summer roosts. The physical stress placed upon them by a migration from Central America to the Southern United States may prevent them from breeding until they reach their destinations.
Tropical species of bats that are not impacted by temperate weather changes have a greater variety of reproductive patterns. Insectivorous species that rely on invertebrates for food are constrained by the wet and dry seasons and typically have one offspring a year during the height of insect season. 
Species of neotropical fruit-eating bats will often have two reproductive cycles a year. Bats in family Phyllostomidae will breed early in the year, a few months later the young are born, then the females will enter a postpartum estrus and become pregnant again. This allows them to have more young during the flowering and fruiting season of the year before the rainy season begins. The Jamaican Fruit Bat has a slight alternation in that they will breed early in the year and birth young a few months later as we just discussed, but their second cycle will have a lengthened fetal development, so that they are pregnant during the rainy season and birth their second young when the dry season occurs again.
Now, attracting mates is something that many species of bats have to concern themselves with, and they have so many ways to do it!
The Gambian Epauletted Fruit Bat has whit tufts of fur on it’s shoulders that are used to attract a female. With this and an attractive scent release by glands, they attract a female for mating. This is an active form of mating where the female chooses her mate. 
African Hammer-headed Fruit Bats form leks during breeding season. Leks are display grounds where males gather to perform to attract and win a mate. These particularly bat males will call loudly to get a female’s attention as she passes and hopefully win her favor. 
Courtship displays can include wing-flapping, vocalizations, and mutual grooming. Sac-winged bat species will hover in front of a female while opening a glandular sac that is located in front of each wing. We presume that he is wafting a pheromone at her to win her attention. 
In some flying fox colonies where males and females roost together throughout the year, males do very little to attract a female’s attention for mating and often mates with her even when she doesn’t appear to agree. 
When young are born, females will give birth in a roost site. Sometimes that is in a nursery, like the Mexican Free-tailed bats, where many mothers are giving birth in the same place. Sometimes that is in a smaller colony with males and female together such as many flying fox species. And sometimes that is alone, like the red bat species of North America, that are solitary roosters. 
Young are born hairless and helpless. Their eyes are closed and they cannot fly. They will drink milk produced by their mother. During birth, some mothers will hang upside down and the young will instinctively grasp onto the mothers fur, while some Megachiroptera will use their thumb-like hooks to hold onto a branch creating a four pointed position that helps them catch their young as they are born. 
There is evidence that fruit bats that live in the same colonies throughout the year will have helpers at birth. Older females will come to the aid of new mothers, physically helping them birth their young and guiding the pup into their arms, while younger females will roost nearby watching. This has been seen in captive colonies many times, with one or two reports from wild colonies. But, boy oh boy, what an amazing behavior! There is still so much we have to learn about bat social behavior.
Young are born feet first so they can help pull themselves out of the birth canal. Bat young typically weigh up to 40 percent of the mother’s own body weight. That’s like a 115 pound woman, or approximately 40 kilos giving birth to a 40 pound baby, or a 20 kilo baby. Holy smokes! 
Bats that roost in large nursery colonies will leave the young behind, gathered tightly together to conserve body heat, when they hunt and return to nurse the young through the daytime. They find their young without fail every time they come back to the colony.
When young are first born, or in solitary nesting species, mothers will keep the babies on them as they search for food. They will cling to the armpit area holding on with the well developed thumb hooks with their mouths latched onto a nipple. Can you imagine flying around at night looking for insects with a baby attached to you that weights almost half your own body weight?!
Most species of bats will birth only a single pup, yes bat babies are called pups, at a time. A handful of species will birth twins, such as the Hoary Bat and the Red Bat, and will have one pup attached to each nipple. Most bats have only two nipples so producing more than that can be problematic. Not to mention how big each baby is!
The bats in the Lasiurus Genus can have two, three, four, or five pups at a time. They have four nipples so larger litters are doable. 
Bat pups grow quickly and are typically flying on their own at about about thirty days or so. Once they can fly, they are on their own. Or so we think. We are still studying this and some research shows that young my rely on their mothers for a longer period of time. They may learn much more from their mothers than we know. There is no current evidence that males have any role in raising the young past fertilization.
Well, I’ve done it again listeners, I have gone over time. I think you can expect that with every episode in this series about bats. If you can’t tell, I do like them a lot. Thanks for joining me for my fourth favorite thing about these amazing mammals, their reproduction.
If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change. 
 
Join me next week for another episode about bats!
 
(Piano Music plays) 
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Bats: Microchiroptera

Summary: Now that we've talked about Megachiroptera, let's talk about Microchiroptera! Join Kiersten as she talks about the smallest bats.
 
For my hearing impaired followers, a transcript follows the show notes on Podbean.
 
Show Notes:
“Bats in Question: A Smithsonian Answer Book,” by Don E. Wilson
Music written and performed by Katherine Camp
 
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
 
Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
The third thing I like about bats is Microchiroptera. To be honest I like everything about bats, but I have set a precedent and must follow the pattern of previous series, so third thing it is!
Last episode we talked about the larger bats called Megachiroptera that are found only in the Old World of Asia, Africa, Australia, and some Pacific Islands, so this episode we will talk about the Microchiroptera or smaller bats. These bats are not confined to a specific region in the world. They are found on every continent on the globe except Antarctica, and let’s face it, there is not a lot that wants to leave there full time. 
As a quick refresher, bats are all classified under Class Mammalia, Order Chiroptera, Mega and Micro are separated into suborders, so they are related in the fact that they are all bats, but there are enough differences in physical anatomy, behaviors, and genetics to be separated at a suborder level. Megachiroptera have only one Family Pterpodidae, but Microchiroptera has many families. Currently the classification of bats is still undergoing a bit of a shake up, as all classification is continually evolving, but we recognize 17 families of Microchiroptera with over 900 different species. 
As an example of the ever changing classification system, before I began my graduate work with the Tricolored Bat, it was classified as a pipistrelle with the scientific name of Pipistrellus subflavus, but when I was writing my thesis the scientific name had been changed to Perimyotis subflavus. Their genus had been changed based on research at the time. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed because it’s just more fun to say pipistrelles than perimyotis, but whatcha gonna do?
Okay, I’m going to follow the same pattern I did with the Megachiroptera episode, so these two suborders will be easy for you to compare should you wish to do so. 
Where are Microchiroptera found? They are found on every continent in the world which means they are found in the New and Old world. So those of us that live in the Americas get to pleasure of living with these little darlings. Now, this does not mean that all families of Microchiroptera are found on every continent. There are three families that are shared by both hemispheres Emballonuridae, Molossidae, and Vepertilionidae, but different species of these families will be found on different continents.
What kind of habitats are Microchiroptera found in? They can be found in almost any type of habitat. They are most common in forested area and deserts areas around the world, but some species can be found in grasslands and savannas. They can be found at sea-level and at elevations of 5000 meters above sea-level. They will be found in areas of high rainfall, and areas with scare rainfall. Microchiroptera are extremely diverse mammals. 
What do our smaller bats eat? The majority of micro bats are insectivorous, which means they eat insects. There are many ways that they catch insects but most of them catch insects on the wing. This is where echolocation comes in. If you are hunting something that is constantly moving and you are also constantly moving, how to you find what you’re looking for? Echolocation. Bats create sound with their larynx, much like the rest of mammals do, including humans, that they send out through their mouth. When they are hunting or navigating during flight they use a high-frequency, ultrasonic sound that once emitted bounces off of whatever it hits and comes back to the bat. The bats can decipher the frequency and time that these sound waves bounce back to them and they know if it is an insect they want to eat, another bat flying into their path, a stationary tree they must avoid, or anything else in their environment. These decisions are made in seconds! I mean, holy cow!
There are other methods of hunting insects, as well, but echolocation is still used. Some bats are called gleaners which mean they hunt for insects that are more stationary and may even be terrestrial, such as scorpions. These bats are listening for insects that are on low beaches of shrubs or rocks and many of these species are desert or grassland residents. The Pallid Bat that is found in the Southwestern regions of the US is a good example and one of their favorite foods is scorpions.
What else do Microchiroptera eat? We have a wide variety of food for these bats. Some are nectar eaters and hover like nighttime hummingbirds fishing nectar and pollen out of night blooming plants such as Saguaro Cactus and agave plants. Those of you out there that love tequila can thank these guys for your alcoholic beverages. Bats are then that pollinate the agave used to make tequila. Micro bats also eat other mammals. The False Vampire bat hunts small rodents. Some Microchiroptera specialize in amphibians, hunting frogs using their breeding calls. There are also fishing bats. They swoop down and skim the water dragging their large hooked claws just below the surface catching fish that are eating insect larvae. Three species of bats found in South America do eat blood. These are the true vampire bats, two specialize in avian blood, while one focuses on mammalian blood. Some bats eat other bats. As you can see Microchiroptera eat almost everything that the planet has to offer. This is one of my most favorite things about these animals. 
How do Microchiroptera and Megachiroptera differ? All bats have the same basic anatomy. So they all have a head, body, feet, and wings. They have the taut skin that is stretched across the wing bones called the patagium. The one bone in the wing that our smaller bats do not have is the thumb-like hook that protrudes far out on the Megachiroptera wings. Microchiroptera have a small nail that does grows on that small bone, but it does not stick out as far as the Megachiroptera. 
Another difference is in the patagium found between the legs of the smaller bats. Family Pteropodidae, our Mega bats, do not typically have a patagium between the legs, where are most micro bats will have some sort of patagium there. They can differ in style. Some will have a long tail that sticks out past the patagium, while others will have tails that end at the same length as the patagium. This skin can be used for quick changes in flight, that’s helpful when you’re chasing a small flying insect that can switch direction on a dime, and can be used as a scoop to grab an insect like a net and toss it to your mouth. I mean, how useful is that!
What time are Microchiroptera active? As far as we know, all micro bats are nocturnal. We are still discovering new species and animals are constantly evolving new behaviors to best survive in an ever changing world, but current knowledge stats that microbats are nocturnal. They are only out and about at night. Depending on species, that can be just before dusk and last only half an our, or come out after midnight and hunt until dawn. 
They can be found in large colonies such as Brazilian Free-tailed bats that will roost in groups that can number in the millions, or they may roost with a few other individuals such as tent-making bats in South America, or as solitary loners like the Red bats of North America. Each species has evolved this behavior to optimize their chances at survival. Males and females may not always be found together either. Unlike Flying Foxes that tend to stay together though the year, micro bat sexes may live separate lives during different portions of the year. For example the Tri-colored Bat that I studied, roost together in their hibernaculum in the winter, makes it easier to breed, we’ll talk more about that in our Reproduction episode, but they separate in the warmer months of the years with the females roosting together in nursery colonies while the males roost with each other elsewhere.
The smallest microchiroptera, and possibly the smallest mammal on earth, is the Bumblebee Bat, also known as Kitti’s Hog-nosed bat. This little guy weighs in a just 2 grams and 29-33 mm in length. That’s similar in size to a large bumblebee, hence their common name. They are found in western Thailand and southeast Burma. They are cave dwellers and can be found in colonies numbering 100 individuals. We believe that Bumblebees Bats are gleaners, based on the contents found in their stomach which consists of spiders and other insects. Their wings are also shaped to produce a hovering motion.
One of the largest Microchiroptera is the Ghost Bat of Australia. They have a head and body length of 10 - 13 cm and a forearm length of 10 -11cm. They weigh in at 130g to 170g which is about 65 Bumblebee bats. The Ghost Bat is a carnivorous bat that hunts large insects, frogs, birds, lizards, and small mammals. They generally roost in caves, old mines, or deep cracks in rocks. They are found all over Australia but mainly in the northern regions.
Once again, I could go on and on about these amazing animals, but I will end this episode here. This has been a pretty decent summary of my third favorite thing about bats, Microchiroptera. 
If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change. 
Join me next week for another exciting episode about bats.  
    
(Piano Music plays) 
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Bats: Megachiroptera

Summary: Join Kiersten as she talk about the largest bats in the world, the Megachiroptera. Don’t worry it’s not scary at all!
 
For my hearing impaired listeners, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean
 
Show Notes:
https://www.ecologyasia.com
https://batcon.org
“Bats in Question: A Smithsonian Answer Book,” by Don E. Wilson
Music written and performed by Katherine Camp
 
Transcript
(Piano music plays)
Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.
(Piano music stops)
 
Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 
This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.
The second thing I like about bats is Megachiroptera. If you remember from the last episode, which I’m sure you do, Megachiroptera refers to the Old World bats found in Asia, Africa, Australia, and some Pacific Islands. These are the larger bat species and in this episode we’re going to take a closer look at them.
You may know Megachiroptera by their more commonly used name, Flying Foxes. They get the name from the fact that their faces look a lot like foxes. You may also hear these bats referred to as the Old World Fruit bats or megabats, There is only one Family under Suborder Megachiroptera and that is Family Pteropodidae. There are approximately 170 species of megabats but keep in mind we are always discovering new species of animals and scientists are always rearranging classifications based on new information. 
Where are Megachiroptera found? They can be found in Asia, Africa, Australia, and on a few islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is often said that they are Old World species only. That refers to the fact that they are not found in the Americas. No Megachiroptera are found in North, Central, or South America. Since I live in North America that make me a little sad because megabats are freaking awesome!
What kinds of habitats are these bats found in? That is often dictated by what they eat and most Megachiroptera are frugivores. So, they will be found where fruits are very plentiful. This places the bats in forested habitats that have large fruit bearing trees for our bigger species and medium size fruits for our smaller species. Forests seems to be the typical choice of most Megachiroptera because it offers the most variable fruit.
So what do they eat? We just answered this question. Most Megachiroptera eat fruit. Fruit makes up the majority of their diet, but an occasional flower or leaf might get thrown in the mix. It’s very interesting to watch fruit bats eat because they don’t actually eat the pulp of the fruit. They bite into the fruit and chew it into a pulpy mess letting the juices of the fruit flow down their throat as the more fibrous portions of the fruit fall out the sides of their mouth.
I did a two-week internship at the Lubee Foundation in Gainesville, FL some time ago and got to see this up close and personal. I was all prepared to watch these bats tear into the pieces of fruit and leave nothing behind, but that is not what happened. We were cleaning chewed up fruits off the floor by the shovelful. It was kinda gross, but it did not take away from the majesty of these animals.
What kind of fruits are we talking about? A lot of the same things that we eat. In the wild they will eat bananas, mango, papaya, figs, various berries, and citrus fruits. In captivity they get a lot of the same fruits with some different kinds of melons thrown in, as well. The fact that these bats eat the same kinds of fruits that we like is what gets them into trouble with fruit growers, but these bats are looking for the overripe fruit and tend to leave the ripe fruit or slightly underripe fruit that growers pick to sell alone. These bats actually do the fruit growers a favor by getting rid of the overripe fruit that attracts destructive insects and the bats help spread seeds to propagate more fruit plants.
Are fruit bats and flying foxes the same kind of bat? Yes and no. The term Flying Foxes typically refers to the Pteropus genus. These bats are the ones that have the long muzzle, the tiny little ears, the round heads, large teeth, and look a lot like foxes. These bats are fruit bats, but there are other species of bats that are also fruit bats but are not Pteropus bats. 
One of the questions people ask about Flying Foxes in particular, is why they have such large, scary teeth? They use those large, scary teeth to rip into the tough skin of the fruit they eat. Hav you ever tried to bite into a mango, or papaya or banana with just your teeth? It’s tough. Since they don’t have opposable thumbs, they use their teeth.
Megachiroptera tend to hang out in large groups and roosts during the day in trees. They will hang from their short back legs using the large curved claws that are used only for roosting. You can see them hanging in the tallest trees like Christmas ornaments. Like their smaller cousins, they do tend to be more active at night, but you can see them flying at dawn and dusk. This makes them a bit more crepuscular than nocturnal, but they can still be moving around at night. 
Unlike their smaller cousins, they don’t seem to use echolocation much, if at all. It does make sense that they might not use this because their prey items are fruit. The fruit typically doesn’t fly around at night trying to avoid being eaten by a bat. Scientists are still trying to determine if some species of Megachiroptera use echolocation, possibly in a different way than insect eating Microchiroptera.
Fruit bats do have better vision than their smaller, insect eating cousins because they rely on that to find their food. Most flying foxes actually have color-vision to help them find their fruit and determine whether it is ripe enough for them to eat. When they get close enough to the chosen item, they will also use their sense of smell to make sure this is just what they want. 
Now both Mega and Micro bats have essentially the same anatomy, with one striking difference. Megachiroptera have a large hook that protrudes from the top of the wing that looks an awful lot like a thumb with a claw at the end. They use this to help grasp fruit and use as a way to grasp onto branches when they need to hold on with their wings for various reasons. 
The largest species of Megachirotera comes from southeastern Asia. It is found only on the islands of the Philippines. The Golden-crowned Flying Fox has a wingspan over five feet long and is the heaviest bat weighing in at 3 pounds. It gets it’s name from the yellow colored fur that adorns it head and is also known as the Golden-capped Fruit Bat. 
The smallest species of megabat is the Spotted-winged Fruit Bat that is found in southern Thailand through Peninsular Malaysia to the Riau Archipelago and parts of Borneo. They weigh in at 15 grams and are only 5-6cm from head to toe. They get their name from the pale spots on the wings, fingers joints, face, and base of the ear. They are fruit eaters and are most often found in lowland primary rainforest or tall secondary forests. As you can see there is quite a wide range of species in the Megachiroptera.
Now I could go on, but I have used up my time. Thanks for joining me for my second favorite thing about bats, the Megachiroptera.  
 
 
 
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Join me next week for another exciting episode about bats.  
    
(Piano Music plays) 
This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.