#Bats Keep Their Friends Close

It has been discovered that although bats change where they sleep within the colony every few days, they keep the same bats around them, forming tight social groups. These long term relationships can last for years. Studying the bats behaviour, researchers are hoping to predict how diseases might spread within the roost as a small proportion of bats carry rabies like viruses, and can also be the source of emerging diseases. Chinese bats are thought to have been responsible for the SARS virus outbreak.

Read More at Physorg.com

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Bat Buzz

We know that bats use echolocation to navigate & hunt by bouncing sound waves off objects. Now researchers from the University of Southern Denmark and the University of Pennsylvania have shown that the key to this technique is the bat's superfast muscles. In humans our fastest muscles control eye movement, but a bat's muscles contract as much as 20 times faster and about 100 times faster than typical body muscles. This is the first time superfast muscles have been discovered in mammals. They were previously known from the sound-producing organs of rattlesnakes, birds and fish. When hunting, bats produce what is known as the "terminal buzz," when they make as many as 190 calls per second in the instant before they catch their prey.

Read More at New Scientist

Posted by Astrojenny

For all your pest control problems, please visit www.capy.co.uk and book a professional pest control technician or purchase DIY pest control products and kits.

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Build A Bat Box

I love this. A simple design with clear instructions, using the minimum of tools, a plank & some nails (we used an offcut of leather for the hinge).  It's a great, first woodwork project for kids to get them using tools safely and getting them  thinking about conservation & wildlife. 

Full Instructions at ChickenStreet

Posted by Astrojenny

Bats are protected species and the Bats Conservation Trust at www.bats.org.uk should be notified of bat presence around any building works. 

For all your pest control problems, please visit www.capy.co.uk and book a professional pest control technician or purchase DIY pest control products and kits.

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Fruit Bats Fitted With World's Smallest GPS Devices

Egyptian fruit bats fly many kilometers each night to feed on specific fruit trees, and return to their home roost the same night. To understand how the bats locate individual trees, scientists attached tiny GPS devices to the bats. The results suggest that the bats carry an internal map of their territory based on visual landmarks, but also use another large-scale navigation system.  Scientists fitted the bats with miniaturized GPS devices & discovered that they  went to the same trees each night, even bypassing apparently identical trees that were nearer to home. The team then relocated the bats but they still managed to find their way to the trees & home caves. It was only when they were released within a deep crater that the bats took time to orientate themselves. The team suggest that along side visual clues, the bats can sense the magnetic fields or use directional odours to navigate.

Read More at Nobel Intent

For all your pest control problems, please visit www.capy.co.uk and book a professional pest control technicianor purchase DIY pest control products and kits

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Heat Seeking Vampire Bats!

Heat Seeking Vampire Bats!

Infrared sensors are used by vampire bats to detect where the blood flows closest to their prey's skin. The Common Vampire Bat Desmodus rotundus use heat-sensitive nerves in their upper lip and nose detect blood up to 20cm under their prey's flesh to enable them to feed more efficiently. Researchers have been able to pinpoint the molecule responsible as heat-sensitive TRPV1, a protein that helps animals detect dangerously high temperatures (those over 43 degrees C), but in the bats, some TRPV1 molecules have been mutated to be sensitive to lower temperatures, around 30 degrees C. So probably wise to make sure your garlic garland is kept well chilled!

Read More at The Scientist

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