Young bats learn to be discriminating when listening for their next meal.

From @ConversationUS: "Over the years, our research team has learned a great deal from frog-eating bats about how sound and echolocation are used to find prey, as well as the role of learning and memory in foraging success."

https://flip.it/623ccr

Good summary of research on how many mosquitoes bats eat. It starts with the oft-cited one where bats are trapped in a room with nothing but mosquitoes (they ate the mosquitoes). So, yes, if you have a lot of mosquitoes inside your house I would definitely recommend releasing bats. #bats #mosquitoes #science #insects #research https://www.gardenmyths.com/myth-bats-eat-mosquitoes/

Flying foxes heading out, presumably to forage #australia #wildlife #bats

Palatable versus #poisonous: Scientists reveal how #bats learn to identify which prey is safe to eat
https://phys.org/news/2025-04-palatable-poisonous-scientists-reveal-prey.html paper: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2025.0450

"if they hear a call from an unpalatable #frog, they save time and energy by not responding. But frog calls do not come with automatic spam warnings... the #bat learns to distinguish between palatable and unpalatable #frogs through experience... juveniles can identify larger prey by their calls, but they can't distinguish the #toxic species"

Young #bats develop a ‘caller ID’ to avoid #poisonous #prey

https://www.popsci.com/environment/bats-learn-frog-calls/

A little video from our garden as we're happy to report that the #bats are still around. We saw three at one point but it was mostly two flying in and around our garden and those of our neighbours. Not sure if the video will pick up the sound of Rainbow playing.

Bat infestation plaguing N.B. high school results in closure for remainder of year
Students at a northwestern New Brunswick school are being sent to other locations for the rest of the school year due to a bat infestation.
#school #animal #infestation #NewBrunswick #Canada #Bats
https://globalnews.ca/news/11153013/bat-infestation-new-brunswick-high-school/

Bat infestation plaguing N.B. high school results in closure for remainder of year
Students at a northwestern New Brunswick school are being sent to other locations for the rest of the school year due to a bat infestation.
#school #animal #infestation #NewBrunswick #Canada #Bats
https://globalnews.ca/news/11153013/bat-infestation-new-brunswick-high-school/

But seriously, though, bats are an important part of a healthy ecosystem and while it's not good for us to live WITH them, we still need to live beside them.

Learn more about vampire bats in particular here:
https://theconversation.com/vampire-bats-look-beyond-the-fangs-and-blood-to-see-animal-friendships-and-unique-adaptations-239980

When you were an opossum, but the transformation to a bat was successful.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for the Bright Green Futures anthology release!

Look at this cutie!

Plus more (notebooks, art).

Enter giveaway: https://lnk.to/BGFgiveaway

(US/Canada only)

#JustSaying #funny #meme #batlovers #bats #dracula

New blog post! Tiny Ice Age fossil bats!

This post is available now to paid subscribers, and will become available to everyone in a few days.

#Paleontology #Fossils #Scicomm #Bats

https://life-from-a-certain-point-of-view.ghost.io/tiny-fossil-bats/

Serologic #Surveillance for #Orthoflaviviruses and #Chikungunya Virus in #Bats and #Opossums in #Chiapas, #Mexico, https://etidiohnew.blogspot.com/2025/04/serologic-surveillance-for.html

A splendid old beech with tortuous branches at Beauchief Woods, Sheffield, UK.
If you look closely you can see that it has two bat boxes attached.
#ThickTrunkTuesday #trees #treesofmastodon
#beechtree #bats #sheffield

Bat keychains need a new photoshoot because I changed the magnets so their wings close in an even cuter way now, but I really don’t feel like doing it today haha
Instead, I have to use the old picture to tell you that I have one in stock on my website!
They’re my cutest creation!

https://evanskyarts.com/en/products/bat-keychain