Tag archives for bats
Posted by 
Vampire bats can identify other bats by their voices—just like people, a new study says.
Posted by 
The greater wax moth evolved to hear better than any animal on Earth—all to avoid their nemesis, the bat, a new study says.
Posted by Cay Ogden, retired National Park Service wildlife biologist, discusses the bats that live in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park, and why we should do all we can to help bats co-exist with us in urban areas. Ogden’s role in the BioBlitz was to organize two teams of scientists to confirm the seven species of bats…
The Hazards of Fly Sex
Posted by Michael Jourdan on July 25, 2012 
When house flies get busy, they run the risk of becoming a bat’s dinner.
By Sean O’Connor Artificial lights flood the night sky, making the urban and suburban lives that so many of us live a little brighter, but not necessarily for the better. Light pollution also drowns out the sea of stars shining through our atmosphere. Who doesn’t love to look up at the night sky and…
Great Migrations: Tracing Birds, Bats, Butterflies, Bumblebees
Posted by Ford Cochran on November 14, 2010 Martin Wikelski uses tiny sensors and radio transmitters to trace the secret journeys of even the most elusive birds, bats, butterflies, and bees–some of them astonishingly small. Great Migrations continues tonight in the U.S. on the National Geographic Channel. By Ford Cochran The largest programming event in the ten-year history of the National Geographic Channel,…
As millions of people prepare for fun and a candy-overload this Halloween, bats will feature prominently in their plans for costumes and decor on Fright Night. But we should spare a thought for the flying, insectivorous mammals that play a critical role in the planet’s ecology. This Halloween is particularly scary for bat colonies in caves across North America. A deadly…
The National Geographic Society teamed up with the Waitt Family Foundation to help qualified and experienced individuals launch the most difficult stage of a project for which to secure funding—the search. Special emphasis is placed on expedited grant processing and turnaround. Applicants are able to receive funding within weeks. Since its inception the NGS/Waitt Grants…
Despite the fact that bats are active after sunset, they rely on the sun as their most trusted source of navigation, German researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology reported today. The scientists found that the greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis) orients itself with the help of the earth’s magnetic field at night and…
An estimated million bats have died in the northeastern United States from white-nose syndrome, a disease characterized by a white cold-loving fungus that invades the skin of the bat. Named for a distinctive ring of fungal growth around the muzzle, the disease also infests ears and wings. The bats lose their fat reserves and ultimately starve.…
By Ed Yong (via @Not Exactly Rocket Science @ScienceBlogs) In The Descent of Man, Darwin talked about the benefits of life among the treetops, citing the “power of quickly climbing trees, so as to escape from enemies”. Around 140 years later, these benefits have been confirmed by Milena Shattuck and Scott Williams from the University…
For 60 years scientists did not know why the adult Bourret’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus paradoxolophus, the bat on the right in the picture below) has a nose so much larger than the nose of a typical horseshoe bat species (left). Now Rolf Mueller, an associate professor with the Virginia Tech mechanical engineering department and director…
A tiny robot with wings that flap like a bat is being developed by researchers at North Carolina State University. Built with emerging smart materials, metal muscles and elastic joints, “robo-bat” is expected to be able to maneuver in tight conditions. The skeleton of the robotic bat uses shape-memory metal alloy that is super-elastic for…
Rock art photos and map courtesy Jack Pettigrew, University of Queensland Rock art painted in an Australian cave many thousands of years ago depicts flying foxes not found in modern Australia, scientists report in the December issue of the journal Antiquity. Fossilized remains of a wasp nest overlying the art tested to be 17,500 years…
