Ten Things I Like About... Podcast

Screamers: Spurs

Summary: What is it with those spurs? Join Kiersten as she takes a closer look at Screamer spurs.
 
For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean
 
Show Notes: 
“On the Spurs On Birds’ Wings,” by R. L. Rand. The Wilson Bulletin, June 1954, Vol. 66, No. 2.
Birds of the World: https://birdsoftheworld.org
Screamers: https://animaldiversity.org
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.
The fifth episode of Screamers is the beginning of a few focused on anatomy. We will start off with the fifth thing I like about Screamers, their spurs. The spurs on the wings of these birds certainly set them apart from their closest relatives; ducks, geese, and swans. These little anatomical gems have been fascinating ornithologists for years.
I found a paper published in 1954 in the Wilson Bulletin titled “On the Spurs of Birds’ Wings.” The author, A.L. Rand, describes the spurs of all the Screamers in decent detail. Rand used specimens at the Chicago Natural History Museum for his study. What he found, I have to admit, was quite fascinating and for a paper written in 1954, it was fairly easy to read and understand. I’ve read a lot of scientific papers in my day and this one was a delight. 
The close up inspection that Rand gave the three Screamer species revealed some interesting details. Let’s talk about these details. All species of Screamer have two spurs. These spurs are attached to the metacarpals of the wing, as we have established in past episodes. The first spur, the larger one, is located on the process of metacarpal 1. The process on this metacarpal is used for attachment of the extensor muscles. The second spur is on the distal end of metacarpal 2.  
These spurs are described by Rand as follows, “conspicuous, stout, smoothly tapering, sharp spurs with a slight radial curve.” End quote. The spurs are found on both wings, so Screamers have four spurs. The spurs are made up of a horny material on top of a bone center. The horny material is keratin. Upon close inspection, the spurs of the Screamers showed fine lines around the base of the spurs indicating growth in layers. One specimen had three separate bands which may indicate annual growth.
At one time is was thought that the spur could be used to determine age of the bird through an annual molt, but there isn’t any evidence that this holds true.
Next, let’s look at each species spurs a bit closer. The following numbers are based on the specimens that Rand looked at in the Chicago Natural History Museum, but on average they seem to hold up over time.
Anhima cornuta, the Horned Screamer, spur is triangular in cross section. The spur curves toward the body. All the corners are sharp including the tip. The length of the first spur on the male is 58-61mm and the second spur is 15-16mm. Female spurs are smaller with a length of 50-55mm for the first spur and 11-17mm for the second spur.
Chauna torquata, the Southern Screamer, spur is nearly oval in cross section but has a sharp-edged flange near the proximal edge resembling the triangular spur of the Horned Screamer. The length of the male’s first spur is 30-47mm while the second spur is 13-20mm. The female’s first spur is 35-45mm and the second is 15-17mm. 
Chauna chavaria, the Northern Screamer, spur is smoothly oval in cross-section and is sharp only at the tip. The male’s first spur is 28mm and the second super measures 18mm. The female’s first spur is 30mm and the second spur is 18mm. 
Typically the male’s spurs are longer than females, even though this last example shows the opposite, we have to remember that Rand was looking at only a few specimens at one museum for this paper. 
Current research indicates that Screamers develop the outer portion of the spur at one year of age. Fledglings do not have the outer protrusion of the spur. So what do they use this spur for? The fact that they don’t develop them until they are on their own indicates that they use them for protection or defense. Screamers have been seen in the wild using the spurs during ma ting season to win the right to court a female. Couples are also fiercely defensive of their nests and have been seen using the spurs as weapons against intruders, both intraspecies, other Screamers, and interspecies, anything else dumb enough to come near a Screamers nest.
So, how and why did Screamers develop these spurs in the first place. Wing spurs occur in other bird species besides, Screamers. Yep, that’s right, other bird out there have wing spurs. Most of them are smaller birds than Screamers and have only one spur per wing. Well developed wing spurs actually occur in Family Anhimidae: these are our Screamers, in Family Anatidae (ducks and geese): only 2 species out of the 144 species and they have only one spur, Family Jacanidae (jacanas): only 2 out of 7 species and they have only one spur, and Family Charadriidae (plovers): only 10 out of 25 species and they have one spur.  
The spur on most species is an extension of modification of the process of metacarpal 1 with serves as the attachment area for the extensor muscles. If you feel this bone in almost any species of bird you can feel a point or knob, so all species had the potential to develop a spur. It varies depending on the flight needs of different species. So why did some birds develop this spur?
If we look at the species that have spurs in modern times, most of them nest on the ground, and spend a lot of thier lives on the ground in water or on water. To successfully protect your mate and young you may depend on using your wings as weapons to fight off predators. When these species of bird did that, the presence of this modified bone increased their survival rates, so this could be the explanation for the evolution of the spur in these species. The bone was playing double duty, a base for the muscle attachment and a useful weapon. I think this is just another instance of nature making so much sense. Man, nature is wicked cool.
I hope you were surprised by this close up look at Screamer’s spurs because it is my fifth favorite thing 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 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.

Screamers: Social Structure

Summary: Do Screamers hang out with other Screamers? That depend on the specs. Join Kiersten to find out a little about the social structure of each species of Screamer.
 
For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean
 
Show Notes:
“Aspects of the Biology of the Horned Screamer in Southwestern Colombia,” by Luis G. Naranjo. The Wilson Bulletin, Vol. 98, No. 2 (June, 1986, pp. 243-256
“Mortality of four captive-born crested screamer chicks (Chauan torquata)”, by Lana Fox, Alexis Moreno, and Gregory Bradley. Open Veterinary Journal, 2019 Apr 28:;9(2):120-125. Doi:10.4314/ovj.v9i2.5
Screamers: https://animaldiversity.org
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 episode four of screamers and the fourth thing I like about Screamers is their social structure. As we have learned previously, there are three species of screamers. Each species is found in a different range of South America, but they reside in similar habitats and eat similar diets. Their coloration is slightly different which does help in identification once you have those differences memorized. Interestingly these three species that are alike is so many ways have different social structures.
Let’s start off with the Northern Screamer, also known as the Black-necked Screamer, Chauna chavaria, This screamer is found across northern Columbia from the Atrato River and Magdalena River valleys east into the Lake Maracaibo area of Venezuela. They are most often found near water in habitats such as swamps, marshes, lagoons, riverbanks, and seasonally flooded river plains. They are a non-migratory species, so remain in the same area year round.
The social structure of the Northern Screamer seems to revolve around the mated pair. Once a pair bond is established, that couple remains together and defends a territory year around. The pair mates for life or an extended period of time. Since they are a bit anti-social when it comes to entertaining other Northern Screamer neighbors, their social structure is fairly simple. They live in small familial groups consisting of the mated pair and their offspring. 
I found very few research papers doing in-depth studies into this species social structure but based on other species that remain in familial groups, once the offspring are old enough to reproduce they leave the parents’ territory to find their own mate and establish their own territory, or are run off by the parents to find their own mate and establish their own territory. An educated guess dictates that this is the behavior the Northern Screamers follow, as well. To remain genetically diverse and produce healthy offspring, you gotta leave home.
Let’s travel south and visit with the Southern Screamer, also known as the Crested Screamer, Chauna torquata. They are found from the eastern half of Bolivia south into Argentina as far as Buenos Ares Province and east through Paraguay into south western Brazil and Uruguay. 
Southern Screamers prefer tropical and subtropical wetlands including lakes, marshes, and flooded meadows with scattered trees. They are permanent residents wherever they are found.
The social structure of the Southern Screamer varies depending on the season. During breeding season, mated pairs are extremely territorial and will defend their established area fiercelyincluding using the spurs on their wings to fight off intruding screamers or other animals. In the off season, Southern  Screamers are the most gregarious of all the screamer species. They gather together in groups of up to 1500 individuals.
This species seems to have the closest relationship to humans. These large groups are often seen foraging near livestock. This may have something to do with them gathering in larger groups. It may be a safety in numbers situation, or it could simply be an abundance of resources available in their region. Whatever the reason, the Southern Screamer is definitely the most gregarious screamer of all three species.
The third species of screamer is the Horned Screamer, Anhima cornuta. The range of the Horned Screamer is much larger than our other two species and includes the Amazonian regions of Venezuela, to the eastern llanos of Columbia, to eastern Bolivia and south-central Brazil. Habitat frequented by these birds include tropical lowland freshwater areas such as lakes, ponds, rivers, marshes, and swamps.
Just like the other screamer species, Horned Screamers are permanent residents of their ranges and appear to defend territories year round. Mated pairs will bond for life and both parties participate in defending the territory. Some studies indicate that Horned Screamers live in smaller groups for longer periods of time than other species. These groups may not be related because mated males have been seen driving off their male offspring when they tried to court the female mate, which is the juvenile’s mother. 
Mated pairs that remain in the same territory do not nest near each other so as not to encroach on each others resources, but sharing the responsibility of defending a larger territory can be advantageous to their survival. 
I find it so interesting that three species of bird that are so similar in almost all aspects of their lives can have such diverse social structures. This episode is a bit shorter than most but we have a lot more to learn about the social structure of all the Screamer species. I hope someone out there listening to this podcast is inspired to jump into this subject so we can all learn more about the social structure of this species because it’s my fourth favorite thing about screamers.
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 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.

Screamers: Reproduction

Summary: How do Screamers make more Screamers? Join Kiersten to find out about Screamer reproduction. 
 
For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean
 
Show Notes: 
Screamers: https://animaldiversity.org
Ornithology 3rd Edition by Frank B. Gill
The Most Perfect Thing: Inside (and Outside) a Bird’s Egg by Tim Birkhead
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.
Welcome to the third episode of Screamers. The third thing I like about Screamers is how they make new Screamers. Let’s talk about reproduction.
Since this is the first bird we’ve discussed, I’m going to start off with a very basic introduction to bird egg anatomy and overall bird reproduction. Then we’ll look at individual Screamers. 
Basic egg anatomy explains how chicks can actually survive inside what looks like a solid capsule. I know I used to wonder how baby birds could live and grow inside a hard shelled egg. What I’m going to walk you through next is a basic egg anatomy lesson. To learn more in depth, I recommend Tim Birkhead’s book The Most Perfect Thing. He describes the avian egg masterfully and it is an enjoyable read. 
The avian egg consists of three main layers, the hard outer shell, the albumen (egg whites), and the yolk (the yellow center). In a fertilized egg, not the ones we eat for breakfast, the embryo will start off in a pocket in the yolk. As the embryo grows the yolk decreases. There are other layers, capillaries, and veins throughout the the egg connecting the chick to food (the yolk), removing its waste, and exchanging gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide. 
The albumen is the chick’s water supply and consists of water and proteins. It also acts as a shock absorber protecting the embryo from movement aa well as protecting it from drastic temperature changes. Sounds cozy! Sounds like nature at its most amazing. 
The outer shell protects the chick from getting squished when mom and dad incubate, it is permeable to allow exchange of gases. There are teeny-tiny holes that allow oxygen in and carbon dioxide out. That is the key to a chicks survival, a sturdy out protective shell that is flexible enough to let thing in and out. Seriously, bird eggs really are the most perfect thing nature has ever created.
Where do bird eggs come from? Well, from inside the female. It begins in the ovary where a ovum waits to be released into the oviduct. As it travels through this structure, it gathers all the layers it needs around the ovum or fertilized embryo to result in a successfully laid egg. There are ‘pitstops’ along the journey through the oviduct where the egg gathers each layer, approximately three until the eggs arrives at the cloaca ready to be laid. This process can take as little as 24 hours or up to a week. Birds lay only one egg at a time. They can lay one to several eggs in a clutch and this depends on the species of bird and the resources available to them during breeding season. 
Now that we have a very rudimentary understanding of egg production let’s take a trip out to the field and find out how Screamers reproduce.
Horned Screamers, Anhima cornuta, pair for life or at least for several years. The male gets the female’s attention with a variety of courtship behaviors. Now, males will fight each other for the right to court a female and they use the spurs on their wings as weapons. Once the males has won the right to court the female, one courtship behavior consists of head-bobbing. Both partners will participate in this activity. One partner will approach the other and they will both stretch their necks out and bob their heads up and down one to three times. To confirm their pair bond, preening of each other’s head and neck feathers will commence and this behavior will continue throughout the year and throughout their relationship. 
Before copulation, the male walks around the female with his beak pressed down against his inflated crop. His neck is retracted and his dorsal feathers are standing up. After he circles her, he will bow his head 1 to 3 times in front of the female. If she accepts copulation will occur and take only about ten seconds. Seems like a lot of work for just ten seconds but I applaud him for his courteous behavior. 
Horned Screamers breed year round with no clearly defined breeding season that we are aware of at this time. They nest on the ground with both partners helping build the nest. It is typically located in or near marshy vegetation by shallow water. It will be 8 to 10 cm deep and made of reeds and sticks. A female will lay 2 to 8 smooth yellowish-white eggs and both parents will share in the incubation duties.
Females will typically sit on the eggs during the day and males at night. Young are precocial and can walk as soon as they hatch. They will follow their parents fro 60 to 75 days learning what to eat and how to navigate the world.
Southern Screamers, Chauna torquata, also create long term pair bonds. Males will fight each other for the opportunity to attract mates using their wing spurs like the Horned Screamer. Once pair bonds are created, the partners will duet together solidifying their pair bond. They will continue these duets reaffirming their bond throughout their relationship.
Southern Screamers will mate from July to December. They create nests similar to Horned Screamers and both parents share all the parental duties until the chicks are on their own. Chicks are precocial after hatching and are running around following the parents until about 13 weeks. 
Northern Screamers, Chauna chavaria, also maintain long lived pair bonds. During the breeding season males will call loudly to proclaim territory and these territories will be protected against other animals all year long. Males and females will duet together to establish their pair bond. They will also preen each other. During courtship displays, Northern Screamers walk side by side with their heads almost touching their backs. They produce low, coarse sounds as they walk. 
Copulation occurs on the ground. Nests are similar to the other two species of screamer and is often in shallow water or next to the water. Peak egg laying season is October through November but breeding may happen year round. Females will lay 3 to 5 yellow-white eggs with a granulated shell. Both parents incubate the eggs and watch after the young once they hatch. Northern Screamer chicks are also precocial. They spend a lot of time in the water just after hatching to protect the chicks. The chicks will fledge from the protection of their parents at about 14 to 15 weeks. 
Northern Screamers are solitary nesters but will form loose groups outside of breeding season.
Screamers have very similar reproductive behaviors with slight differences that make each species unique. I hope you enjoyed this episode because my third favorite thing about Screamers is how they make baby Screamers.
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.

Screamers: Species

Summary: There are three species of Screamers. Join Kiersten to meet each one of them in more detail.
 
For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean
 
Show Notes: 
Screamers: https://animaldiversity.org
Encyclopedia of Life: https://eol.org
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 second episode of Screamers. I hope you enjoyed the introductory episode about this unknown animal. The second thing I like about Screamers is that there are three species of this bird. Let’s take a closer look at each species.
Last week, I quickly mentioned the three species of screamer and gave an all encompassing description of this group. Today we will look at each species similarities and differences a bit closer.
Let’s start off with the Northern Screamer, Chauna chavaria. The Northern Screamer is 30 to 36 inches or 76 to 91 cm long. They have a stout body with a disproportionately small head. As I said in the first episode, they have little, tiny heads compared to their body. Sexes have the same coloration, so both males and females look alike. Adults have a gray crown that begins at the beak and ends just beneath the eye. Longer dark gray to black feathers stick out behind the head a bit like a short ponytail. White feathers spread from under the chin and sweep across the face just below the line of gray crown feather. The long, gangly neck is covered in shorter black feathers giving the appearance of a shaved neck. Fuller gray fathers cover the rest of the body from the base of the neck to the base of the legs. Bare, red skin covers the eye area from the beak to directly behind the eye. Adult beaks are gray and their legs are orange with hefty, turkey like feet that have slight webbing between the toes. Juveniles are duller in coloration. All three species of screamer have sharp spurs on their wings at the manus, which is the distal portion of their forelimb. 
The Northern Screamer is also known as the Black-necked Screamer. From the description I just provided, I can see why. The northern part of their name comes from there distribution in South America. This screamer is found across northern Columbia from the Atrato River and Magdalena River valleys east into the Lake Maracaibo area of Venezuela. 
They are most often found near water in habitats such as swamps, marshes, lagoons, riverbanks, and seasonally flooded river plains. They are a non-migratory species, so remain in the same area year round. Movement within that region is not uncommon in the search of food and searching for mates and appropriate territories by juveniles and non-breeding adults.
The Northern Screamer eats leaves, stems, and roots of aquatic plants. They usually graze like geese and can sometimes be seen doing this is loose flocks. 
Northern Screamers are listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature. They were last assessed in February of 2023 with a stable population numbering 60,000-100,000 mature individuals. 
Species number two, I am covering the species in random order so no importance is placed on which I speak about first, second, or last, the Southern Screamer, Chauna torquata. 
The Southern Screamer is also 30 to 36 inches or 76 to 91 cm long. They have a stout body with a disproportionately small head. This will be the same for all three species. The coloration differs from the Northern Screamer in slight ways, but once you know what to look for it is quite obvious. The Southern Screamer has a gray face from the crown of the head to an inch below the chin. They have the crest feathers sticking out from the base of the skull just like the Northern Screamer. The coloration on the neck of the Southern Screamer begins with one stripe of white feathers below the gray face and a stripe of black below the white feathers, The white and black feathers ring the neck like a collar. Below the black stripe the rest of the body is covered in gray feathers. The beak is gray and bare, red skin covers a small area on the face from the beak to just behind the eye, similar to the Northern Screamer. Their legs are orange with hefty, turkey like feet with a small potion of webbing between the toes. And, of course, they have the sharp spurs on the manus.
Southern Screamers are also found in South America but south of the Northern Screamer's range, which explains the name. They are found from the eastern half of Bolivia south into Argentina as far as Buenos Ares Province and east through Paraguay into south western Brazil and Uruguay. 
They prefer tropical and subtropical wetlands including lakes, marshes, and flooded meadows with scattered trees. They are permanent residents wherever they are found, but seasonal changes documented in a portion of their range suggests local movement.
They are also herbivores and typically eat leaves, stems, and seeds of aquatic plants. They also graze like geese, but have been seen digging for food. Flocks of up to 100 individuals may forage together in non-breeding seasons.
Southern Screamers are listed as Least Concern by the IUCN. They were last assessed in July of 2024 with a stable population numbering 66,700-667,000 mature individuals. 
The last species of Screamer is the Horned Screamer, Anhima cornuta.
Once again we start off with a large bodied bird 30 to 36 inches or 76 to 91 cm long. They also have the typical small head of other screamers. The coloration differs from the other two. Horned screamer are gray over the majority of their body with white speckles on the crown, throat and wing coverts, those are the feathers on the top of the wing. The belly is white. Their beak is gray and they have the typical thick legs and slightly webbed feet, but their legs are gray not orange. They also have the spurs on the manus. Their is one striking difference between this screamer and its other two cousins and that is the long thin horn-like projection on the top of its head. This is where the name Horned Screamer comes from. 
This “horn” typically measure 5 inches or 15 cm in length and shoots forward in an arch over the front of the head. It is very thin, so don’t think of it like a goat horn, think of it more like a flimsy antenna. It is made of cartilage and we’re not currently sure what its purpose is in the bird’s life.
The range of the Horned Screamer is much larger than our other two species and includes the Amazonian regions of Venezuela, to the eastern llanos of Columbia, to eastern Bolivia and south-central Brazil. 
Habitat frequented by these birds include tropical lowland freshwater areas such as lakes, ponds, rivers, marshes, and swamps. They are also herbivores eating leaves, stems, and seeds of plants. They do like grasses and sedges along water. 
They are permanent residents and groups of 5 to 10 will often live together defending a territory from other screamers. 
Horned Screamers are listed as Least Concern by the IUCN. They were last assessed in July of 2024 with a stable population numbering 16,700 to 66,700 mature individuals. 
That’s it for episode two of Screamers. I hope this deep dive into these three species has been an interesting ten minutes for you because my second favorite thing about Screamers is their three species. 
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.

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.