Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Frisky Times in the Bat Cave

As I have mentioned a time or two, you should not go rummaging around in brewery caves in the winter  time.  At least not in those known or suspected to be safe havens for hibernating bats.  They need their sleep.

Cave hibernating bats you see, have an odd lifestyle.  Stop eating in the fall.  Huddle together in underground spaces all winter.  Sleep. Wake up every now and then to stretch and mate.  Go back to sleep.

It all seems very decadent.  

Researchers tracking the plight of bats in this age of White Nose syndrome have gotten, well rather nosy in their study of bat night life.  (I suppose for bats in a cave all winter, it's always night).  They tag them with fluorescent powder then check later to see how many other bats have the magic dust on them.  Somewhere or other.



One of my "bat friends" sent me this photo of a dusted bat under UV light illumination.  It struck me as resembling pictures I've seen of "Raves" where decadent humanoids gather in underground spaces with glow sticks, loud music and illegal drugs.  Rave Bat manages to have a pretty good time even without these things.

Sleep well my squeaky little pals.  See you in the spring.

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