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Happy Halloween! Check out these BAT Photos; I Bet They Will Surprise You!

Happy Halloween friends! Hard to believe another month is over and that we are about to be thrust into the holiday season whether we’re ready or not. 

If you ask anyone what the creatures of Halloween are, I bet they’d answer BAT or SPIDER. Everywhere you look you’ll see decorations including both animals. And I bet many people could not tell you much about these animals other than that they are scary. When you get to know them they’re not really scary at all though and both provide invaluable services including controlling insect populations. The more than 15 MILLION bats of Bracken Cave, in Texas eat 100-200 TONS of insects EVERY NIGHT!!! That’s a lot of money they save farmers! One bat the size of your hand can eat more than 1000 mosquitoes, or mosquito-sized insects in ONE HOUR! We need to welcome these amazing creatures with open arms and do whatever we can to protect their habitats. 

Most of the things people know about bats are in fact myths. Like that bats are blind. They’re not. They have eyes and can see, though many rely on echolocation to find their way in the dark. Or that they carry rabies. Less than one half of a percent will contract rabies. Or that they suck your blood. Of 1200+ species, only 3 feed on blood, and those live in Latin America, usually feeding on birds or livestock, the animal not even knowing it provided a meal. Or that they’re dirty. They’re not, in fact they groom themselves regularly, just like cats. 

In honor of Halloween, I’ve uploaded some bat photos, from world-famous bat biologist and photographer extraordinaire, and my hero, Dr. Merlin Tuttle.

Me with Merlin in July 2021 in Austin, Texas.

Here are a few bats from around the world:

Madagascan fruit bat (Eidolon dupreanum)
Noack’s roundleaf bat (Hipposideros ruber) photographed in Africa.
White-winged vampire bat (Diaemus youngi) photographed in Trinidad.
Intermediate horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus affinis) photographed in China.
Orange nectar bat (Lonchophylla robusta), from Central America.
Macconnell’s bat (Mesophylla macconnelli), from Costa Rica.
Striped hairy-nosed bat (Mimon crenulatum) in South America.
Greater Naked Bat (Cheiromeles torquatus), from Asia.
My favorite bat, the tPainted Bat (Kerivoula picta), taken by Merlin in Ban Phai Province, Asia.
Mariana flying fox (Pteropus mariannus), in the Pacific Islands.
Greater Long-tongued Nectar Bat (Macroglossus sobrinus) from Asia
Northern Ghost Bat (Diclidurus albus) from Central America.
Blasius’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus blasii) from South Africa.
Rafinesque’s big-eared bat. This one lives in North America, photographed here in Tennessee.
Minor epauletted fruit bat (Epomophorus labiatus minor) from Africa.
Lesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae) on a Cardon Cactus in Central America.
Long-eared myotis (Myotis evotis) in Arizona.
Lesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae) in Arizona.
Spectacled flying fox (Pteropus conspicillatus) in Australia.
A mother bat and her pup, Minor epauletted fruit bat (Epomophorus labiatus minor) in Africa.
Spotted bat (Euderma maculatum) from Utah.
Another of our North American bats, the Hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus)
Townsend’s big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii), another bat that lives in North America.
Chapin’s free-tailed bat (Chaerephon chapini) from Kenya, Africa.
Northern yellow bat (Lasiurus intermedius), Central America.
Honduran white bat (Ectophylla alba)
Franquet’s epauletted fruit bat (Epomops franqueti) from Africa.
Straw-colored fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) from Africa.
Ghost bat (Macroderma gigas), from Australia.
Veldkamp’s dwarf epauletted fruit bat (Nanonycteris veldkampii) from Africa.

 

Upside-down Minor epauletted fruit bat (Epomophorus labiatus minor), from Africa.
Pallid Bat (Antrozous pallidus) in Arizona.
Fringed myotis (Myotis thysanodes), in Arizona.

Did you think all bats were black? Which one is your favorite? Did you know there was such variety? 

Want to know how Merlin Tuttle makes these amazing photos? Then you might want to check out his book, called The Secret Lives of Bats, My Adventures with the World’s Most Misunderstood Animals.

I hope you have a safe Halloween and that you’ll help me dispel some of the bat myths. Next time someone says they’re blind as a bat, maybe remind them that bats aren’t blind!

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