Batty for Bats!

Happy October everyone! This week: Dunanunanunanuna BAT FACTS! Why do bats hang upside down? How did bats become associated with Dracula? What are some of the craziest bat species in the world? Discover this and more as we answer the age-old question: If Batman was bitten by a radioactive bat, what powers would he have? With special guest Molly Lambert from the Night Call Podcast.

FOOTNOTES:

1. Bats in folklore2. Common vampire bat3. Hairy legged vampire bat4. Trumpet-nosed bat5. Lesser long-nosed bat covered in pollen6. The effects of myth on attitudes towards bats7. Bats and Halloween8. BATS ON A TREADMILL! 9. Madagascar Sucker footed bats10. Bats & Rabies facts11. Flying fox bat12. Bumblebee bat13. Big-eared bat14. Hammer headed bat15. Honduran white bat16. Honduran white bats snuggling17. Wrinkle-faced bat18. Chapin's bat (punk rock bat)19. How to do bat real estate20. DANCING BATS

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Creature feature, a production of I Heart Radio.
Happy October everyone. I'm your ghostly host of Many Parasites,
Katie Golden, and I studied psychology and evolutionary biology, and
I think birds are pretty neat. But today on the show,
we're going in a more mammalian direction when it comes
to flying bats. Den and and and then bat facts.

(00:27):
That's right. Today we're going to take an in depth
look at one of our favorite creepy critters, the bat.
Why do bats hang upside down? How did bats become
associated with Dracula? What are some of the craziest bat
species in the world that you've probably never heard of?
Discover this and more as we answered the angel question,
if batman was bitten by a radioactive bat, what powers

(00:48):
would he have? So right off the bat? Why are
we scared of bats? I'm using we loosely. I certainly
love bats, and I know many of you do as well.
I think the book Stella Luna did a great job
of removing some of the stigma against bats. But still,
bats are creatures of the night and are associated with vampires, Halloween,

(01:10):
haunted mansions, and other spooky stuff. They're often feared as
carriers of rabies, as blood suckers, or as pests who
will nest in your hair if you wear an attractive
up to inside a cake. Today, we're going to explore
some of these myths and show you that you really
shouldn't be afraid of bats well in most cases. Joining
me today to get her blood sucked is bat Lever,

(01:31):
writer and co host of the show night called Molly Lambert. Hello.
Should I say lambat? You can say lambat? Or should
I say Lambert Molly Lambat? Or should I say Lambert?
Thank you so much for having me on today, Katie.
I am so excited to talk about baths. I know
I wrote this special for you because you mentioned you
like bats. I've been talking about baths a lot recently anyway. Uh,

(01:55):
and then when you said it was a good idea
to do it for an October episode, just all came together. Yes,
it certainly did. I'm very excited for this because I
think bats are one of the coolest groups of animals
in the world. And it's also it's it's Halloween times. Yeah,
I think I was like, I would like to know
everything about bats, and you can provide that service. I don't.

(02:15):
There's such a They're so diverse that I'm there's no
way we can cover in like an hour, in a
few minutes, everything about bats, but I'm gonna try. We'll
fly over the surface. So bats have a special place
in folklore as spooky creatures, and it goes just beyond
Halloween and vampires. There are many legends in cultures around

(02:38):
the world and throughout history that feature the bat, and
it's not always negative. So in ancient Egypt, bats were
thought to be defenders against demons. Hanging a bat over
your doorway would stop disease toting demons from entering your home.
In China, the bat is a symbol of happiness and
good fortune. Uh And in Cherokee fables, birds and mammals

(02:58):
were playing a game of ball when a small mouse
like creature tried to join the mammals teams, but it
was mocked and scorned by the larger animals. The birds
took pity on the bat and fashion wings man out
of a hide from a drum so he could join
the birds team, and therefore the bat was created. In
the Creek version of this fable, the birds are the

(03:19):
ones who reject the bat and the mammals give bird
teeth and then that's how the bat happens. And then
in Mayan folklore, the Miyan bat god Cama zalts is
the death bat, which was a god of night, death
and sacrifice. In one legend, he stole the plucked head
off of a Mayan hero and hung the head up
on the god's ball court to play with. So it's

(03:41):
interesting a few of these bats are their origin stories
are in ball games or yeah, and they definitely makes
sense for them to be associated with night because that's
when they come out. I heard the thing about Chinese
uh folklore about bats being good fortune in another documentary
because apparently the word for bat sounds identical to the

(04:03):
word for good fortune. That's right. There's like the five
baths like a homophone. Yeah, and then there's this really
cool pattern motif of bats that is like the good
fortune yeah logo. I love it, like the five bats
of fortune. Yeah. I like when a creature has a
bad reputation and then you can explain why it's not deserved.
They're like a boy They're like a boy band. You

(04:25):
have five bats. You think they're kind of bad boys,
but they're really sweet they're all the cute one, the
bad boy, and the sweet one, the sensitive bat. And
you know, they do sometimes have a more negative connotation
and culture as we know. In the eighteen book Fairy
Legends and Traditions of South Ireland, bats were fabled to

(04:45):
hijack human bodies and take them on joy ride. So
here's a quote from the book. Quote the Fuca, I
think is how it's pronounced. The Fuka would take his
victims on great adventures as far away as the moon.
He compels the man of it has got possession and
who is incapable of making any resistance, to go through
various adventures in a short time. It hurries with him

(05:08):
over precipices, carries him up into the moon and down
to the bottom of the sea. Uh So, basically, the Fuca,
which is like some kind of bat demon, would take
over your body and just right it around town. Sounds fun,
It does sounds fun. I don't know. I feel like
in terms of demonic possession, that's pretty cool. If they
take you to the moon, the bottom of the ocean,

(05:29):
anything where you get to fly, It's like, who's going
to say no to that? Come on, and one of
the big questions that I had, and I think some
of our listeners would have, is how bats got associated
with Dracula and vampires in general. So Steve from Twitter asks,
why did bats get the blood sucking reputation when very

(05:49):
few types of bats drink blood? What about leeches, most mosquitoes, etcetera, um,
And I think that this is bats became a really
prominent and popular culture following Dracula, and then even though
there's only like three species that drink blood, Dracula is
such a phenomenon in terms of a popular book that

(06:12):
when bats entered the public consciousness, the vampire bat, the
blood sucking bat, the connection to Dracula really kind of cemented. So,
according to an article from the Florida Bat Conservation Center
by Elizabeth Miller, vampire folklore predated the discovery of vampire bats,
at least in the case of Spanish explorers. When they invaded,

(06:35):
explored whatever you want to call it, invaded, um anyways,
invaded Central and South America. The Spaniards quote unquote discovered
bats who would lap up blood, and they called them vampires.
Dracula wasn't the first man bat. There was Varney the Vampire,
which was written fifty years before brom Stoker's Dracula, which

(06:56):
featured a bat shaped vampire. Man. You know, here comes
of our Ernie. I guess with a name like that,
it's going to be hard to become the most famous vampire.
Doesn't have this quite ring of Dracula. It sounds like
it sounds like a down home kind of Midwest. Yeah,
it's making me think about Earnest. Yeah, Earnest goes to Transylvania.

(07:17):
Who's Jim Barney is. Yeah, exactly plays Earnest. But also
it has a real twine to it. But I like
the idea of kind of a country vampire vampire. Just
you know, I don't like the vampires always have to
be so aristocratic, right, right, you have a vampire who's like, now, now,
hold on their listen. I'm gonna suck your blood, but

(07:38):
don't take it too personal. Well, there's also a connection
between bats and uh farming. Yeah, yeah, because bats are
often especially vampire bats are often pests when it comes
to cattle. Oh well, I was going to say the opposite,
that they're positive because they eat all the apprently like
corn fields and stuff like that. Yeah, and sucked of wars.

(08:00):
Bats are actually extremely important. Right, it's the vampire bats
that give the insectivore bats the bad reputation. But even
vampire bats, it's not like they drain an animal. They
just like kind of take a little bit, like a mosquito,
a little bit. That Really the only danger from vampire
bats is the potential to spread rabies, which is really overstated.

(08:20):
I've heard it is. Yeah, so we'll get into that
into depth a little bit later. What's interesting is that
misconception you mentioned about vampire bats is really what inspired, uh,
the transformation from Dracula into a bat. So when brom
Stoker was writing Dracula, he read this news story about
um vampire bat, and uh he misunderstood or exaggerated the

(08:45):
details from the story. So in his book he writes, uh, quote,
one of those big bats that they call the vampires
has got at a mare during the night, and there
wasn't enough blood in her to let her stand up. So,
like you mentioned van here about to teeny tiny, they're
little tiny cuties. They can't drain and you like a
mosquito that could drain you is terrifying. That is true that, yeah,

(09:08):
just a huge bloated mosquito I mean, really what you
were saying about leeches. We talked about leeches on Nightcall,
and we recently read a horror story for our book
club with this ginge eedo book. Smashed has a book. Oh.
The first story is about vampire baths and it's really scary.
But it doesn't blame the vampire baths. Yeah, nor should

(09:29):
it um, but leeches, Like it kind of just makes
sense that bats are more photogenic, yeah, perhaps than leeches.
I mean leeches, leaches are scarier because they have their
face like bats are cute. Yeah, and I would say
that just in terms of the awareness. Leeches not as
kind of aware and as smart as a bat, So

(09:50):
I genuinely feel less empathy towards a leech. I don't
hate leeches though, because they aren't necessarily that bad. We
probably don't hate any creature. Well, no, that's not true.
I hate fleas because of what Because like when I
find a flee on my dog and like bring me
to health, right, I feel that way about all insects.
Worm Like, I like them in theory, but then if
they're like in my house, I don't want them to

(10:11):
be there, and I try to get them out. I
actually don't mind insects, Like in my house. It's it's
specific to like if there's a pest that's bothering my dog,
like a tick or flee. I get really angry at
it because I take it personally. Well. I watched like
a local Pennsylvania documentary about baths, and it had this
whole section about like how everybody knows that baths come

(10:34):
to live in your house during the winter, um and
it encouraged people to let the bats stay in your
house because they eat bugs and they don't really hurt you. Yeah,
I mean, in general, they aren't really that harmful. I
would say probably better to try to set up bad
houses outside of the house, just because you know, humans
and bats, it's not it's never a good situation to

(10:57):
either way to kind of try to interfere with them
or have them in the same space shares like a birdhouse.
It's basically like a birdhouse. Yeah, and we actually we're
going to talk a little bit about the houses too.
I think like the fear of bats really comes from
the vampire bat. And you know that's as we stated,
like there's obviously other bats that are not they don't

(11:20):
drink blood. In fact of the species of bats, only
three drink blood. All are native to the America's so
they're all really big. The vampire bat, No, no, they're tiny.
Yeah what am I thinking? Of the fruit the flying
foxes fruit bats tend to be bigger. Yeah. Vampire bats
have really rapid metabolisms because they're so small. Uh, they

(11:43):
need to get a blood meal about every night. Um,
and if they go too long between feedings they'll die.
Kind of like how hummingbirds. They're so small and they
have such a rapid metabolism they need to constantly eat. Um.
Luckily blood is more I guess a little bit more
sustaining nectar, so they only need to feed about once
a night. They do. This is a cute thing, so

(12:05):
they kind of have a social safety net for if
a bat doesn't get a meal. Uh. So, well fed
bats will trade their food with a neighbor for grooming.
So by trade food, I mean regurgitated into their mouth. Yeah,
this comes up in the ginge etostoria. It's adorable though,
because they'll if you, you know, if you're a little

(12:26):
bat and you're like, oh, I'm so hungry, if you
just like groom another bat, the bat will regurgitate blood
into your mouth. It's a beautiful thing. Especially females. When
there's a new mother, they're especially willing to help her out,
which I think is such an interestingly empathetic social relationship.
Um and uh, so let's talk about these three species

(12:51):
of vampire bats. So there's the common vampire bat, which
I think is what people are most familiar with. There's
the white winged vampire bat, which is very similar to
the common vat pire bat. And then there's the hairy
legged vampire bat, which is really interesting, little cutie. So
the common vampire bat is found in Mexico, Central and
South America mostly. Uh, they feed on livestock. They won't.

(13:12):
They don't drain them dry of blood. That's just impossible.
They prefer it. One thing is true, they do prefer
horses to cattle, so at least brom Stoker got that right.
But they will whatever is basically available to them. They're opportunistic. Um.
They're kind of superpowered because they have noses that are
full of little dimples that are that have a protein

(13:35):
that's able us sense heat. So they can literally smell
where the best um vein is to suck blood from.
And so they find these warm spots on the animal
where the blood flow is the greatest, and their saliva
contains an anticoagulant uh, so the blood doesn't clot and
they can lamp it up more easily, so they don't

(13:56):
suck blood. They don't use suction. They make a little
like tiny incision and then lap it up kind of
like a cat, like a kiddy. Yeah, with wings and
tiny um. Their tongue has a groove in it that's
so narrow. The blood travels up the back mouth via
capillary action, so like a little tiny uh. It's how
fluids travel through plants as well, or up a paper towel.

(14:18):
So it's just kind of like soaking up the blood. Um.
And so the white winged vampire bat is essentially the same,
just a little different looking. It's got a more tan
color and its wings are tipped in white. But the
hairy legged vampire bat is pretty amazing. So it's it's
adorable to me. It kind of looks like Stitch from

(14:42):
and Stitch. Can you see that? They're also cute and
they all have such different kinds of faces. I know,
this one looks like it's got a little smile. It's adorable.
It's found in South and Central America, in southern Mexico. UM.
But instead of feeding on cattle, it feeds on birds. Uh.
Mostly it feeds on birds in the wild, but it

(15:02):
also feeds on chickens because there's such an abundance of
chickens that have been domesticated UM, which I think is
kind of funny. It's like, you know, the the Cherokee
and Creek folklore about bats and birds, and like the
ball game. It's like it's like they their rivals with
these birds, and they, you know, have kind of antagonistic

(15:25):
relationship with birds. I think it's funny. They have to
fight for the air exactly for the air space they've
established a no fly zone. What is interesting about this bat. Now,
most vampire bats do not bite humans. They don't um
or they don't they won't feed on humans. They don't
bite them intentionally. The bites would be because they're scared. UM. However,

(15:47):
the hairy legged vampire bat has been recorded with human
blood in its feces uh. And it's thought that because
human farmers may live in close contact with chickens, especially
low income farmers, the bats are are opportunistically feeding on
the humans um, which is actually very interesting because it
shows that these bats can kind of adapt to different

(16:07):
blood types, so from avian blood to mammalian blood. Of course,
they're not gonna drain you dry of blood um. The
only concern is the transmission of rabies, which is always
a concern with any mammalian bite that you get any
wild animal that bites you. But as we'll soon discuss,

(16:29):
bats kind of get a bad rap when it comes
to rabies that's maybe not as deserved. The majority of
bats do not drink blood. So many species of bats
are insectivores, but they're also fishing bats who like swooped
down to the water and like like grab little fish
and you don't, which is it's pretty adorable. It's awesome.

(16:51):
There are fruit bats. There are even bats that will
feed on nectar like hummingbirds. So here's the trumpet nosed bat.
I love it. He's got a really long snout uh
and he held basically just like a hummingbird will feed
on nectar. They're just like little blood hummingbird. That's the
perfect way to think of. Yeah, they're like if a

(17:13):
hummingbird got bitten by a vampire and turn to do
a bat their night night hummingbird night hummingbirds right exactly.
And the lesser long nose bats, which are found in Arizona,
New Mexico and Central America. Uh live in arid regions
and they feed on nectar and in fact, they feed
so much on flowers they will turn yellow after getting

(17:34):
covered in pollen. So they're great pollinators to the bats
are pretty good for the environment. They help keep down
insect populations, they help pollinate fruit and distribute fruit seeds,
they help pollinate flowers. Um. They're They're amazing. They're basically
like birds, Yes, exactly. They There's also so one more

(17:56):
that that I think you'll like is the palid bat,
which is from western Canada to Central Mexico, who is
a desert bat who eats insects off the ground and
also eats scorpions. Um. And it doesn't actually use echolocation
as much as it just listens for insects with its
great hearing. Like how they're all opportunists, like whatever's around

(18:17):
likely adaptable. Yeah, it's uh. They really are like Batman,
where they just have like a utility belt of different traits.
They're cooler than Batman. He does. Bats don't snitch. Yeah, exactly,
these palid bats, do you actually release a foul odor
when they're alarmed like a little skunk. That's cool. Yeah.

(18:40):
So bats do a lot of diverse things that I
think people maybe aren't as aware of, like you may
have heard of like fruit bats, insects eating bats, and
vampire bats. But their range of behaviors is really incredible.
They're in extremely diverse. Are they everywhere in the world? Um? Well, no,
are not, like literally everywhere because like you know, I

(19:03):
don't think they're in uh climates where it's too cold. Um,
there's no Arctic bath. There's no that I'm not. There
are white bats though, so, but they are found in many,
many different areas, So not just in the Americas. They're
found in Europe and Africa and South America. Um. And
we'll actually go through some of the crazier species that

(19:25):
we find all over the world, and just a little
bit is our fear of bats? Natural or learned? Researchers
assessed the attitudes of Slovaki and children towards bats and
found that many of them were fearful. The researchers found
a correlation between children's beliefs and myths about bats and
their fear of them. Unfortunately, another study published in the

(19:48):
Journal of Evolutionary Psychology found that support for conservation of
animals is a bit of a beauty contest. The cute
are the animals, the more likely surveyed people were to
support conservation efforts, whereas quote unquote ugly species such as
garter snakes, cave spiders, and ozark big eared bats were
given the lowest support for environmental protection. Well, that seems

(20:10):
downright unfair to bats. What is this high school? So
let's dispel some of these myths and show you how
beautiful inside and out these creatures are. When we return,
we'll look at the facts behind the bacts, I mean
the bats, the bat facts. Now we're going to talk
about some bat facts. No no, no, no, no, no,
no bat facts. Sometimes human culture intersects with real bad behavior.

(20:34):
Have you ever wondered why bats are so synonymous with Halloween.
It could be the creep factor. They come out at night,
they've vne through soak your blood. Well, only some of
them and only of your cow basically, but there may
be another reason. When Irish immigrants fled the potato famine
came to America, they brought with them the Celtic festival
of sam Haine, in which celebrants would wear costumes to

(20:55):
scare off ghosts. According to bat biologists Nate Fuller, these
emigran who came to the US Northeast would have observed
clouds of bats around October someone migration paths, some gluttonously
chowing down on insects before hibernation. So perhaps they associated
these winged creature with the Halloween celebration simply due to

(21:15):
the bats normal fall routine, or maybe that's what the
bats want us to think. So I think it's interesting
because bats are just so associated with fall. Um. They aren't, like,
you know, exclusively a fall time creature, but those big
bat swarms would happen around the fall in the Northeast
in America. Uh, and it's pretty. It's kind of like

(21:39):
flocks of birds where it's sort of it's all inspiring
to see that many bats all flying together. Yeah. I
saw that for the first time like two years ago.
Oh yeah, in person. Yeah, because we don't really have
big I mean, maybe we do have them in Los Angeles,
but not as much of the big flocks of them.
I wonder if there's there's gotta be bats in Griffith

(21:59):
Park there yeah, um, and in the Sequoias yeah. But
just in a big national park I saw like a
billion bats. I thought it was park were you on? Um?
It was a place called building way up in northern California,
a friend's wedding. But I was like, oh, look at
that big flock of birds. Ain't no bird and they

(22:21):
lived under a bridge, it seemed like, which would Yeah,
that makes sense, makes sense, and that way you can
hunt sacks and fish if you're a fish bat um,
And that kind of leads into I asked listeners on
Twitter for their questions about bats, and this is actually
question I also have wondered about, and Kevin asks he

(22:41):
says it's a dumb question, but Kevin, it's not. This
is a question I also had before researching this, which
is why do they sleep upside down? I assume because
cave floors are gross, but that's got to be wrong.
I mean, first of all, cave floors under bats are
kind of too, because they're full of guano, full of guano,
and in fact, like sometimes if a baby bat falls

(23:02):
down uh into the guano, like and they can't get up,
it's they're going to get eaten by insects, which is
awful um, but that's not actually why they sleep upside down.
So most bats actually, unlike birds, they can't take off
from the ground because they birds can build up a
momentum with their little legs. Bats their wings are tissue

(23:27):
that uh connects from their hind legs to their fore legs,
and so that prevents a lot of locomotion. So hanging
upside down allows them to be in a ready position
for taking off. By falling and opening their wings, they
achieve the velocity they need to start flights, so they're
just basically ready to go. Cameron from Twitter asks when

(23:49):
they're on the ground, they crawl on their belly and
use their little hands on the end of their wings.
So how do they take off and start flying? Do
they stand on their little legs? I feel like they
would just keep smacking the ground with their wings and
not have any room. So this is a really good question.
And it's true that bats don't normally take off from
the ground, but there are a few species that can.

(24:09):
And it's really funny. So bats who have been known
to take off from the ground evolved the ability to
kind of scrabble on the ground like the New Zealand
short tailed bats who walks on the ground in search
of bugs. Uh, and vampire bats who sneak up on
hosts by crawling on the ground. And they also need
to like if a host kind of tries to get

(24:31):
away from it, they need to be able to kind
of like scary off, I know. And they really look
very awkward. It looks like a little they do look
like vampires because it looks like a little cape right exactly.
Looks like they keep getting tangled in their capes like
ed no mode no capes. Um. So Brown University conducted
a study in which they put bats on treadmills just

(24:53):
to be mean, I guess, just to make fun of them. Um. Predictably,
most bats don't do so well. Uh. New Zealand bats
can comfortably walk, and vampire bats, actually, they found will
run on their arms. So there's a really interesting video.
Let me show you and I'll post this video in
the show notes. But here's a vampire bat running. Oh

(25:15):
my god's so cool. So I'm just responding to everything
with it is cool and you can see like it's
front legs are really bearing most of the brunt of
the motion. They kind of look like something from Boston Dynamics,
you know, like how those those interesting robots have, like
are able to walk really interestingly. Um, I wonder if

(25:36):
they're going to build like a bat bot. That would
be cool. I would I would finally support the robot
uprising if they built a batbot. Speaking of kind of
interesting bats who have developed a kind of different way
of locomotion. So Madagascar sucker footed bats look like they
have a little section cups on their wrists and ankles.

(25:57):
So here's a picture of them. Oh, doesn't he look
He looks like is he on a leaf? Yeah, he's
on a leaf. So they look like they would be
section cups, but they actually don't use section um. They
use wet adhesion. So they secrete bodily fluids at the
paths which stick to the smooth surface of the leaves

(26:17):
um And so by using these like Spider Man powers
to stick to leaves, they can avoid being eaten by
parasites because the parasites can't walk on the leaves as well,
because they'll just fall off. So it's like if Batman
and Spiderman had a baby. I'm pretty sure if seemed
tumbler out of that. Um. So now to the big

(26:39):
question of the day is do bats carry rabies? So
Nicole from Twitter asks, I grew up hearing bats had
a higher chance of carrying rabies, but no one ever
explained why. So I'd like to know if that's true,
and if so, why it's a problem for them. So
that's do carry rabies. That's true, it's not a complete
myth um, but the threat of rabies from bats is

(27:01):
kind of overblown. So obviously disclaimer here, if you think
you've gotten bitten by a bat, you should go to
a doctor because it's better safe than sorry. Rabies don't
have uh, don't say it's okay they told us on Creatures.
Don't write that in your last will and testament. Be like,

(27:22):
I think I'll be fine because Katie Golden on Creature
feature said I would be. Um. No, So rabies can
be treated with a vaccine before you show symptoms, but
once she starts showing symptoms, it's almost always fatal. Um
basically too late. So you're I mean, this is a
general rule if you're ever bitten by a wild animal,

(27:44):
especially about especially raccoon, especially an unknown dog, it's always
a safer about to go to the doctor and get
it checked out because raby shots aren't fun, but they work.
And never pick up a bat you see on the ground,
just don't. I mean it's first of all, because bats
who are on the ground and aren't afraid of you
and we'll let you pick them up is actually more

(28:04):
likely to be sick um, and you shouldn't handle them anyways.
They don't want it. They don't want you to. You
might want to give it a big old hug, but
it doesn't want it, respect it's personal space. Um. So,
according to the c d C, most bats don't have rabies.
So this idea that all bats you encounter are just
infested with rabies is not true. Even of bats who

(28:27):
were suspected of having rabies who seemed sick or weak
or were easily captured when they tested them, only six
percent of those tested positive. So a very small number
of bats end up having rabies. Um. Typically, like I
mentioned before, bouts who have rabies grow very sick quickly,
and we'll start to have abnormal behaviors like crawling around

(28:50):
your humans, crawling around on your lawn, uh, not trying
to escape when you approach them. So certainly never like
if a bat seems whacked out of its mind, like
probably not drunk, Well it could be, I suppose, but
you don't want to handle it, you don't want to
pick it up. Um. The reason that bats get such
a bad reputation for rabies is that they're the main

(29:13):
culprits of the very very few rabies cases that happen
in the US every year. So there's really only like
a handful of rabies cases. We've done a pretty good
job of basically wiping rabies out in in the US.
Um there's like one to three cases reported annually. UM.
And but of these bats are often the culprit. And

(29:36):
it's not that bats are more likely to it's not
that there's something about bats that make them more rabid
or more likely to get rabies. It's that we've been
treating the problem in dogs, which used to be the
main carrier of rabies. So dogs, since they get rabies shot,
are no longer the main vector. And raccoons we've actually

(29:57):
done a lot of pest control with raccoons that have
also reduced the threat of rabies from them. And it's
also a lot easier to notice, like if you're bitten
by a raccoon, you're gonna know it, whereas when you're
bitten by a tiny bat, like you might not notice
it as much. Um only bite and self defense. You. Well,
if it's the vampire bat, I feel like, yeah, so

(30:20):
if if a bat is scared, most bats aren't just
gonna go up to you and bite you, even vampire bats,
except for the hairy legged vampire bat and even that one.
Um but uh yeah, most bats aren't looking to bite you.
Rabies does kind of affect the brain in a weird way,
and it can make animals more aggressive and more defensive. Um.

(30:43):
But certainly if you like squeeze a bat, or you
hold a bat in your hand, you know it's going
to get scared and it might BITEE squeeze a bat,
don't It is attempting Because they look like a pet bat.
I wouldn't recommend them as pets, but I'm sure some
people have m somebody, um, bats surpassed raccoons as carriers

(31:06):
just because we haven't really been you know, with raccoons,
there's been more of a concerted effort of animal control
um and kind of trying to approach the rabies problem. Um.
But in the US, you really don't need to fear
bats and rabies, like just if you're normal everyday life, like, uh,

(31:27):
they're not gonna they're not gonna try to bite you.
Most bats aren't going to try to approach you at all.
If they swoop at you, usually that's they're just looking
for mosquitoes that are hovering around you. Um, so bats
aren't really they're really not that scary. In fact, in
India and Asia, where rabies is far more prevalent and
kills many more people a year, it's stray dogs who

(31:50):
are the main culprits because most rays don't have the
rabies vaccine um. And you know, we don't fear dogs.
Another misconception about bats is that they're like flying vermin,
like they're flying mice and rats, some kind of rodent.
They're not rodents at all. Their chiroptera, which is uh,
there they have their own group of of species because

(32:13):
they're there are tons of species of bats. Um. They
didn't evolve from rodents. Um. They share a common ancestor
with all placental mammals. UM some kind of like weird
true like animal that basically humans, whales, everything came from um.
Their evolutionary history is a little bit of a mystery history.

(32:35):
Mystery um. Some biologists think they may be related to
the colugo, which are also known as flying lemurs. They
aren't lemurs, they're just called that because you know, we
don't know the difference. Colugos have these like skin flaps
and they glide around and their insectivorous and their nocturnal.

(32:56):
So the idea is like, even if they didn't necessarily
evolve from colugos, they may have evolved from some kind
of gliding um mammal that eats insects and is nocturnal.
And then those those those skin flaps just kind of
developed more and more into wings because that gave them
greater access to insects and wider distribution of food. Um.

(33:19):
So this leads into the question whire abouts nocturnal? Uh?
And why did they evolve flights? So one of the
theories about bats being nocturnal is that they helped them
not compete with birds as much. Uh So, Yet again
those uh the mythology about bats and birds competing like

(33:40):
is just totally true, like a rom com their their rivals.
But then they fall yeah, exactly, except for without the
falling in love, it's right, or maybe I guess like
a bat version of Twilight where the chicken is what's
their name and then the bat is Edward, they fall
in love with the ones they feed on. I guess so, well,

(34:03):
isn't that the whole thing with Twilight? Like he eats
the whole thing with vampires in general? Right, they eat
a lady, but then they look it's a little sexy
and romantic, right, It's it's like it's like, huh, you
look so delicious. I'm gonna make an incision on your
ankle and lap up your blood. It's very intimate, very intimate.
I wouldn't let just anyone do that. No, I know,

(34:23):
it's especially with the ankles. My goodness. Back when these
when these vampire stories were written, basically, yeah, researchers wanted
to examine this idea that they're nocturnal to avoid predation
and to avoid competing with birds, and they found that
the a bat who lives on sal Miguel Island um

(34:46):
the Azorus noctual, actually does do more hunting during the day,
and that island has very few insectivorous birds and very
few predators, so that seems to be some evidence that
would confirm that idea, um, which I think is it's like,
it's kind of interesting that really, because there are a

(35:06):
lot of insects during the day, there's not necessarily an
intrinsic advantage to hunting insects at night, except that you're
you're carving your own little ecological niche where you're just like,
this is my time to hunt. Is that where the
echolocation comes in. Yeah, I would guess that as they
developed flight more echolocation probably became more important because if

(35:28):
you're flying around, you're gonna gain velocity and slam into
things if you can't see in the dark. Essentially, uh so, um,
but yeah, it's it's interesting how it's it's actually kind
of difficult to check on their evolutionary history because of
how tiny and delicate their bones are, so it's hard
to get fossil records. How do you get inside a

(35:49):
bat ear? How do you get smalllest place? Bats are
one of the most diverse groups of mammals, with a
huge variety of species. In fact, it's estimated that one
fifth of all mammals or bats. Fortunately, bats are well
pretty chill little dudes, far from being the solitary and
brooding type like batman, they're more like the Brady Bunch.

(36:12):
They're often highly social and friendly with one another, even
roosting with other species with little conflict. They live in
colonies ranging from a handful of individuals to millions. We
barely have a grasp on the enormity of these bat societies,
as there are so many species of bats and such
a diversity of group behavior, but here are some examples.

(36:33):
Certain species will groom each other, feed each other, even
build shelters together, as will soon discuss. In some species,
colony members will share information about where to find food.
Some species babysit each other's baby bats called pups baby bats.
Some bats will even communally nurse pups, sharing the role

(36:53):
of wet nurse to help other mothers. Though there are
some minor squabbles among bats, they're surprisingly easy going with
a few conflicts, and generally they don't appear to have
hierarchies or dominant structures. So maybe we could learn a
thing or two about bats and start regurgitating food into
each other's mouths like a bunch of hippies. When we return,
I'm going to answer more questions about bats and take

(37:16):
you on a journey to visit some of the most
incredible species of bats in the world. Let's go on
a trip to imagination station. Close your eyes now, think
of a bat. Don't think too hard, just let the
first thing pop into your mind. You got it. When
you think of a bat, what comes to mind? Is
it a vampire bat, a fruit bat, a tiny bat,

(37:37):
a big bat. Well, it's going to depend on what
images of bats you've been exposed to over your life.
What you're looking at in your brain space is called
a prototype In cognitive science, this means the image that
your brain uses to match new visual information to your
library of concepts. One of the theories is that prototypes
are a sort of average over the experiences you've had

(38:00):
with that particular thing. You have a prototype of cat
made up of an average of cats who've encountered. There
are some studies that suggest this maybe the correct theory.
Participants in one study were given a series of composite
faces which were based on a prototype face, and which
were designed to, on average, resemble that prototype face. The

(38:22):
participants were then shown the prototype face and were asked
if they'd seen that face before and they strongly believed
they had. So why am I talking about prototype theory
and bats? Well, I want to shake up your prototype
of what your brain assumes bats look like. Bats are
one of the most diverse groups of mammals, with incredible
physical variety, from tiny bats to huge bats, bats with

(38:45):
faces that look like trumpets, to bats with faces that
look like well, kind of testicles. Here's some really crazy bats. Like.
Even when I was researching this, I didn't I knew
that there was a huge variety of weird, weird looking bats.
I didn't understand there I was. There's so many. I

(39:05):
was not prepared. But a book at Skylight Books that
was just like a coffee table book of photographs of bats.
Oh my god, it's just like every species of bat.
Oh my god. I look at it all the time.
Next time you're in, can you show Yeah, I'll bring
it in. That's how this came about me because I
was like, I shouldn't buy a book. It was like
I have to own Oh my god, that isn't I'm

(39:28):
going to steal that book. Oh you should go get it.
It's so good. What's it called. It's just called like
bats bats? You want a bat's book? Uh? So Christian
with no h asks on Twitter. What are the largest
and smallest species? So, the largest bats are the flying foxes. Uh.
These are mega bats. Uh. There's mega bats, which are

(39:49):
the big bats, and the microbats, which are in little bats.
So these are mega bats found in Southeast Asia. It's
a fruit bat that eats fruit, nectar and flowers. U.
It can't actually echolo hape, but it has very well
developed eyesight. Um. They weigh up to three and a
half pounds with a wingspan of up to five ft
uh and from head to butt it's about a foot long. UM.

(40:11):
So to give you a sense of what this looks like, Molly,
here's someone holding one of these guys. Uh. It is
a big boy. It's a big boy, even though it
doesn't really weigh that much. Just the wingspan. Uh. It's
like the size of a kite essentially. Um. And they're
called flying foxes because they have cute little fox like faces. Uh.

(40:32):
If they're not related to the fox and then not
at all. No, not related to foxes, not related to
rodents their character. The smallest bat in the world is
the bumblebee bat or also known as kitties hog nos bat,
and they're really cute. Also, they're one of the world's
smallest mammals. Now, it's hard to say if they're objectively

(40:55):
speaking the smallest mammal because like their wingspan is longer
than some animals. Uh, and they it's it just depends
on how you define smallest. It's about an inch long
and ways two grams. Um, that's not even enough. We
need to get you high. The bumble bees worth they

(41:16):
have about a six inch wingspan. Uh. They're about the
size of a human thumb. They live in western Thailand
and southeast Myan mar Uh. They're vulnerable to being endangered,
as are actually a lot of these species abouts. Uh.
They eat spiders and flies, and they have a little

(41:36):
pig like noses. And here's a picture of one of
them on a human hand. It's perfect. It's the perfect animal.
It's so small and tiny. Don't hold at but if
you had to hold about you want to hold that.
If you're a scientist, you can you get to hold this.
Some lucky people are so tiny and small with one finger.

(41:59):
I know, but you got to be very gentle. Don't write,
but don't but don't um. So gray long eared bats
and big eared bats have giant rabbit like ears that
they kind of look like because they have these little veins.
They kind of look like you just stuck two big
leaves on a on a little creature. Um. And then uh,

(42:19):
there's a boat that has tiny ears but a huge face.
So the hammer headed bat is found in Africa in
swamps and forests. Their fruit bats and they're the males
have huge heads shaped like a hammer. So here's one
of these guys. So cool. Looks like a raw wilder. Yeah,

(42:39):
like one of those what are those called? Um, the
dogs that have the snouts flat face. It looks like
spuds mackenzie, Buds Mackenzie. That's that's what. That's spuds mackenzie.
But it's a bat. It's a it's a bull terrier, right,
is that what Spuds Mackenzie has? I think so that
sounds right for a flatty face. Yeah, it's a bull terrier.

(43:01):
It looks like a bull terrier and a bat. Yeah. Um.
And actually, so females don't have that big big snaws. Um,
males use their huge heads to make loud honks to
attract females. Oh yeah, that's spuds, I'm looking at it,
Spuds Mackenzie. It spuds the bat. So I'm gonna play

(43:21):
a clip for you of bat's making the noise. It
sounds like it sounds like a space battle. It sounds
so cool. It sounds like it sounds like Star Trek
space battles. To me, I would like to listen to
that for just hours. Just bat a smr now onto

(43:45):
A really cute that. One of my favorite bats is
the Honduran white bat, which are just a little marshmallows
with wings. Uh. This is the bat that would if
you were gonna imagine what an Arctic bat might look like,
exactly this little dude exactly. So they're little white bats.
They look like cotton balls. They have yellow ears and

(44:06):
noses due to carotenoids like what's found in flamingos, carrots,
leaves and uh oranges. Uh and you and I and
you and I, yeah, to a certain extent, but we don't. Uh,
we don't. The density of carotenoids and bats is really interesting.
And how like densely they like collected around their nose

(44:27):
and ears, which is usually not seen in mammals. So
it's really interesting. Um, it's kind of like how so
like flamingos, they get the carotenoids from their diet and
they their wings become very pink and colorful and so
but that kind of thing unless I mean, we can
turn orange if we eat this insane amounts of carrots um.

(44:48):
But the bats do it with very little effort. It
eats fruit, mainly figs, And they make tints out of leaves.
So they actually build tints by cutting through the eyes
of the leaf and folding it over like it's so cool.
And they live in it's a team effort to so
they each tent contains like from one to about a

(45:11):
dozen bats, and they'll all work on the tent together. Yeah.
They're also communal. That's what I love about them. They're friendly. Yeah,
and they all snuggle for the snuggle warmth. Just imagine
a bunch of little marshmallows with with yellow ears and
a nose and wings, just all snuggling together in a leaf.
It's like something from Miyazaki my neighbor Totoro. Yeah, they're cute,

(45:35):
they're useful, they help each other. They don't have a hierarchy,
Like it doesn't get better than that. Yeah, they're really
like kind of got a utopian society to live in caves.
I think I just want all these things. I kind
of want to be a bat. So these tents protect
them from weather and predators. But imagine you didn't need

(45:58):
to build a tent it that you could make a
tint out of your own body. So here's a fun
imagination station. Imagine you had a sleep mask built into
your neck flaps, like your neck skin, that you could
just pull up and sleep on planes. It's kind of
scary to imagine that, but I'm doing it. Yeah, I

(46:19):
mean it's kind of like it's what I imagine, like
Mitch McConnell, does you know, like just kind of turns
into his neck. Um. Yeah. It would be cool if
there was more, if we had more extremity and human faces.
And I'd like more flaps, honestly, like more flaps too,
because I hate flying on planes and the lights. Someone
opens the window, which you shouldn't do. I've seen clouds.

(46:42):
I don't care about clouds. You're to sleep. I'm there
to sleep. I'm there to to try to force myself
to sleep and not think about how there are clouds
all around us and not see the beautiful vistas. That's
not important to me. But your skin flaps that's what
my skin flaps for. And it'd be such a strong
social signal to like someone's talking your ear off and
you just slowly start to like pull your skin flap

(47:05):
up up. I also really empathize with um. Well, first,
let me say that there are there is a bat
that can do this, and they're called wrinkle faced bats.
And personally, I can't actually sleep unless I pull like
my shirt up over my chin. I have no idea why.
It's almost like I'm afraid someone's gonna like come in

(47:27):
the middle of the night and stab me in the
next I've got to like protect my neck with my
the blanket. Really yeah, I like to be tucked in.
I like to be like covered by a leaf, you know. Yeah, Like, yeah,
that's just that security of like I am covering up
my face with it's really hot that I can't do anything,
which happened. I have to do it or I can't sleep.

(47:48):
It's very bizarre. Maybe like part bat. Maybe I was
bitten by radioactive bat and this is the crappy superpower
that I got. I was gonna say, we're both really
pale red hats. There's a reason we think bats are
cool because it can only come out at night, because
we only come out at night exactly. Um So, wrinkle
face beats are found in Central America. As their name suggests,

(48:11):
they have a very wrinkly face. Here's a picture. They
look like one of those kind of mohawk look a
little bit like Look, I don't want to get naughty
on the show, but they look a little bit like
a ball sack. Yeah, I mean they kind of also
look like a waffle, a waffle, right as skin waffle,

(48:32):
flesh waffle. Um. So, males have a flap of skin
they can pull down and use as a face mask
while they're sleeping. Um. And they also have mouth pouches
to store fruit in um, which is just I love
seeing imagining this little wrinkly face just distended over like
a grape, like a like a hamster. Where are those

(48:53):
ones the mouth patches, they're like right on his little cheeks,
like right there. I don't know. I meant, where the
where do those bats? Uh? Where do those bats come from? Oh?
They're in Central America. I wonder why that didn't become
more of a thing with all the other bats having
like a skin flap. Yeah, it's a good question. Just
their faces seem like such a great here's bio diversity,

(49:15):
let's try everything. It's like, you know that like Dr.
Seuss thing, this the need thing, like in the Lorex
where it's like a it's a basically a piece of
fabric that can be turned into many different articles of
clothing and like a purse or a shirt or sweater. Um, like,
that's how I feel like these bat faces are. It's
like it can be an eyemask, can be like a

(49:37):
storage thing. It can just look really beautiful. They're like plants. Yeah,
they do looktle bit like an orchid, don't they They
really do, especially some of the nose spikes like a fleshy,
fleshy orchid. Yeah. In fact, a lot of bats are
called a leaf nose bats because their nose look like
little leaves. They are. They're really beautiful to me. They

(49:57):
look like flowers. Um, there's those urns take goal drawings
of bat Yes, I have always left. Yes, I'll probably
put that online. The diversity of bad faces. Yeah there,
it's it's really incredible. Um. And speaking of awesome looking bats,
here's a bat with a mohawk. Oh yeah, this is

(50:18):
called a Chapman's bat. It's found in Central and South America.
They're insectivores. It's a little bat with a big hair do.
Um looks like Wendy Oh Williams. I don't know. She's
a she likes to She's like a cool punk lady
who blows stuff up and hammers and mohawk. Yeah. Uh,

(50:40):
it does look very punk rock. It's got it's it's
literally like it's the closest thing I've seen to like
a punk rock mohawk in a mammal. Really yeah, Um,
it absolutely looks like a punk mohawk. Um. It's probably
for sexual selection, since they're more prominent in males. It's
probably soft, less spiky than I realized. Stop making me

(51:04):
want to pet. That's all I can do is talk
about I just want to pet a bat and not
get babies. Yeah. Um, so Christian with an h asks?
Um do bats pea or crap on themselves when sleeping?
How do they keep babies safe while upside down? Do
they have protection against pork air quality and caves? So

(51:26):
this is a good question. Um, when bats are roosting,
they don't poop and pee on themselves. They actually will
flip over to go to the bathroom. Um, and so
you have. I mean they'll when they're flying, they'll poo
and pee just in the air, just like birds do.
But um, like when they're in their caves, they don't
want to they don't poop on themselves. That's the cave floor,

(51:46):
that's for the floor. So they'll they'll do a little
somersaults so they can poop. They do give birth to
babies upside down though, and the mother has to kind
of catch the baby on the way right. And then
they drop them sometimes and they aren't allowed to get them. Yeah,
I mean if they draw a sad documentary where that happened. Yeah,
if they dropped them, I think it's just like really
difficult to retrieve them. Um and so and like they

(52:10):
do get like a baby that gets dropped is not
gonna make it generally. Um so high stakes high stakes
game of catch here circus performers. It's like if we
shot a baby out like when giving birth and the
doctor just had to catch it or like we had
to catch back to the ball game. Um, the baby
will quickly start to learn to cling to its mother's belly. Uh.

(52:34):
And in some species, the mother can fly with a
baby clinging to her stomach. Like instill a luna, remember
that book, and then like they get attacked by a
hawk or something and still a little for it. You
get lost from her mom, but then she's not abandoned,
but then she gets raised by birds and they're like,
why are you so strange? And it turns out she

(52:54):
wasn't strange, She was a bat all along, all along.
Uh So. The other part of the question is about
um poor air quality in caves, and actually this is
a little bit of a misconception. Generally speaking, air qualitying
caves is fine. There are some exceptions, obviously, um, but

(53:14):
natural caves typically have a good amount of oxygen and
air mixing uh and they rarely have dangerous gases, although
there are some caves that do, like have high concentrations
of c O two. So don't just like go don't
pick up a bat, squeeze it and go marching into
a cave and be like Katie told me to, don't
go in a cave where bats are and up a

(53:36):
bat right, and like shove your face and all their
guana and such um and the the things you really
have to look out for our minds and minds are
more dangerous because they don't have Unlike a natural cave,
they don't have as much air circulation. There's usually like
one way in and one way out, so that's how
dangerous gases can often build up in mines um. Bat

(53:59):
caves do offer a little extra gassiness because bat guano
does give off ammonia gas um. I'm not exactly sure
how bats cope with the strong ammonia. My guess is
that air circulation in the caves, the humidity, or their
distance from the guano is probably enough to keep it
from bothering them. But if there's any bat biologists or

(54:22):
caveologists spollnchologists out there, uh, sim me a message, tell
me how wrong I am. Here's another question about bats.
Doc Garb asks, would you rather fight one batman size
bat or twenty bats sized batmans? Yes? Um, So obviously
that depends on the species of bats, Like if the

(54:43):
batman's were the size of the bumblebee bat, definitely twenty
bat sized batman's um. And honestly, though the real answer
to this question is, uh, fighting a batman size bat
because the bat isn't gonna want to fight me. Yeah,
if I see a big bat, we're gonna be friends. Friends,
we're gonna be friends. I'll be like, hey, can I

(55:05):
groom you can? You can throw up in each other's mouths.
Would you like to throw up in my mouth? I'll
throw up in your mouth if you throw up in
the back and forth exactly. Um uh. And similar to this,
Waffles asks if Batman was bitten by radioactive bat, what
powers would he likely have? Uh? Not including cancer um,

(55:27):
which I guess is a concern with radioactivity. Um so uh,
if he was bitten, it again depends on the species
of bats. So if he was bitten by a vampire bat,
he'd be able to use his nose as a heat
detection system, so he could like maybe put his nose
on a wall. I'm imagining like uldtrap powers. Like this

(55:48):
is not something an actual vampire bat can do, but
maybe a radioactive vampire bat could do. Like maybe he
could like put his nose against a wall and like
use that as heat sensors to see where all the
criminals are. His bite would also contain an anticoaculant, so
you know, he'd just like bite the joker and he'd
bleed out. I guess he could also, as we've talked about,

(56:09):
vomit up blood to feed Robin, to keep him nourished.
He's a grown boy. He's a grown boy, wonder and
he needs to make Batman like a little cooler. It
makes him so much better. And he he doesn't believe
in hierarchies, right, so he wouldn't be first of all,
he'd be a batman. He wouldn't be Batman. He would
just be like, hey, I'm man bat I'm going to
give all my wealth away. Um, I'm gonna bite people

(56:32):
who are bad and vomit blood up into children's mouths
and echo and echolocate. A true hero um. He'd also
have exquisite hearing. He could probably hear flies having sex,
probably hear everyone having sex, which sounds like a horrible nightmare.
Bat's actually will listen for um flies as they're having sex.

(56:53):
They make like sexual buzzing as flies have sex. And
then if a bat hears that, they know how to
target them and eat them, and they'll just eat both
of them. Yes, so kind of kind of like both
a messiah and a horror movie villain who would just
eat people who have sex. And if he was bitten
by the sucker footed bat, he would be able to
scale buildings like Spider Man. So you know, as long

(57:17):
as he's on our side, he'd be great. But if
just like we'd have to be a chaste, equitable society.
Matt asks, is there a way to attract bats to
come live in the bat houses we've put up? And
a related question from Lady friend is bat addicts. I
should get some, right, So this is kind of what
we were talking about before. Um, I don't know if

(57:40):
you want bats in your attic, especially because they won't
they won't destroy the attic at all. They don't choose
through things, but they'll they'll poop a lot, And I
don't know if you want poop there. Um like guana
like used to make dynamite? Also, is it? I didn't
know that there's something it's used for, something that makes
it really valuable. I believe it involves explosive. Oh yes,

(58:01):
it's because dried back wando consists largely of saltpeter, potassium
nitrate explosive poop. The Confederates used it after their supplies
were cut off. Oh my gosh, the Civil War. I
wonder what would happen if you gave like a bat chipotle?
Would that just be like an H bomb? Of that's

(58:24):
pretty incredible. Maybe you don't want bats in your attic.
I don't think it'll probably not unless you probably might
lead to some confederates, which the FBI, raiding your house. Like,
what's with all this explosions. It's explosive material. Um. But
bat houses are a great idea. Um So, uh, if
you want bats to take up residents in a bat house,

(58:48):
it's a location, location, location, according to back Conservation International,
So lures don't really work to attract them to the house. Obviously,
you shouldn't like try to force a bat into a else.
You shouldn't pick up a bat and like place it
in a house. Don't pick up bats. They're adorable. I
know you want to, Just don't touch them. Don't touch them. Instead,

(59:08):
they recommend making the house appealing by placing it against
a wall or solid wood structure rather than a pull
to regulate the temperature, as the bats will prefer warmer houses,
but not too hot, so around eighty two a hundred
degrees fahrenheit in the summer. Um. By choosing where the
home is in the sun or shade, and what color
you paint it, you can control the temperature. And I'll

(59:30):
put up a link to the Uh, there's a bad
conservation um worksheet about like how to how to make
a cool bath house decoy decoy asks. I've always heard
baths de flat show and kind of lingus to each
other a lot. Is there any truth to that? Yes
there is, so we your point for bath not their

(59:50):
point for bats. So I talked about this on the
Worst at Sex Awards episode, But biologists found that female
Chinese fruit baths indeed perform fully show during mating copulations. Uh.
It's thought that this is used to help encourage the
males to keep going so successful insemination occurs. It's kind
of like a little bit of an auDA boy, like

(01:00:12):
you're doing a good job, keep on going. It's got
to be they're probably doing it like really having to
crunch those abdominal muscles. You gotta put those wings out
of the way. And I bet you're thinking, well, that's great.
But do male bats perform kind of lingus um? And
in fact they do so. Researchers have found that male

(01:00:32):
Indian flying foxes will perform oral sex on females, which
I think is great. I mean, we can learn so
much from baths. They're basically the best animal. I like
to be a bat, right, Yeah, I mean they have
they have equitable societies, they have welfare, they practice uh

(01:00:54):
sex on each other, and they're cute and exactly. Yeah. Uh.
And here's another point in the favor of bats. If
you take a video of bats hanging upside down, flip
it and put some music to it, they look like
they're dancing. So I'll post this. I'll post this video.

(01:01:14):
So cute they definitely they look it's a little trio
of bats, and they look like they're dancing because they're
just kind of like, I guess breathing. Uh and uh.
I can't play the video on podcast. I'm pretty sure
it's got but if you can imagine the cutest, funniest
thing you've ever seen, right, look at the leg where

(01:01:35):
like look at the lego here like looks like he's
tap dancing. Oh it's so cool. It's hilarious. So you
got any got any more stories about bats? Well? I
haven't had that much experience with them personally, so I've
only really seen them in other places. But now I
want to find the ones in l A. Yeah, see

(01:01:55):
if we can track them down. I did see when
I was in Las Vegas a couple of years ago. Um,
the bats congregate around the lux or pyramid really because
there's so many because it's a big light. Yeah, and
they shoot a big light out of the top of
the pyramid own bugs, right. Yeah, So there's so many
bugs that it's like a great place for bats to

(01:02:16):
the desert. Bats hang out there and you can see
like a cool big spotlight for the It's the best
show in town. That's awesome. I'm actually going to Vegas
and all, oh, we'll check it out. I'm gonna check
out the bats. Probably not going to gamble at all,
going to spend all my time looking about I can.
I would also love to recommend the Atomic Bomb Testing
Museum in Las Vegas is really cool. Really Yeah, it's

(01:02:39):
like a Smithsonian museum about all the atomic bomb stuff
and it's really scary and the Bombaguana No, but it's
funny because it's like it all happens out in the desert.
So you know, I'm sure it was in some places
where bats are leaving the guano around something, they're like, oh,
just another explosion, just another way one of those dead

(01:03:00):
theert bats that can crawl on the ground just like oh,
geez back to the pyramid. Thank you so much for
joining me today. Thank you. So you're you're part of
a podcast called Nightcall. I've had tests on that. I
get Emily for the tri I know. Uh so, can

(01:03:23):
you talk a little bit about your podcast? Nightcall is
a podcast about sort of the occult and as Terrika,
you talk about UFOs and ghosts and stuff like that
a lot, but we also talk about animals, which is
why this is a great pod to cross over on
because we also talk about uh, leeches specifically recently um

(01:03:46):
and sometimes bath. So you have to come on Night
Call next. I'd love to be on Nightcall. I will
talk to you about all sorts of creepy animals. Having
an animal expert on a call is like something I've
always dreamed of in my life, just having someone who
I can ask the kind of questions that people would
ask you, right, like is Bigfoot made out of eels?

(01:04:07):
And the answer, I don't know, the science of nobody
knows yet. Can people find you on social media? Yeah?
You can find me on Twitter at Molly Lambert and
other places. Yeah. Yeah, you can find us on the internet.
Uh Creature feature pod dot Com Creature feature pod on Instagram,
Creature Feet Pod on Twitter. F e a T not

(01:04:30):
f ET That'll bring you somewhere very different. Uh. You
can find me at Katie Golden. I'm also at pro
bird Rights uh, and I urge you to ignore all
of the propaganda in this episode about being pro bat
rights because in fact, birds are the superior creature. Oh
I disagree. Somebody help me on being controlled by birds anyways.

(01:04:51):
Thank you so much for joining us. If you're enjoying
the pod, please leave our review, subscribe, press all the
numerous buttons available to you below the episode, and send
Katie pictures of your bath houses. That would be wonderful
Send me pictures of bath houses. Dick Dix Chevertine's anything
really and thanks to the Space Classics for They're Awesome song.

(01:05:13):
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