Tuesday, July 24, 2012

I love bats

I don't understand how anyone can not like bats. Bats eat mosquitoes. Mosquitoes eat me. Every mosquito that gets eaten by a bat is one less mosquito that might nibble on my toe, right where my sandals will rub against it. If I could have a domesticated bat in my house, I would -- although I have a feeling that the chaos from two cats and two corgis chasing a bat would be a bit overwhelming.

The other night we went out to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, because during the summer they have special Saturday evening programs. That particular Saturday was all about insects, which was super exciting. But we also got to have a very long conversation with one of the docents about BATS! She told us what species we have most commonly in Tucson, how many mosquitoes they can eat in an hour, and where and when to go if we want to see huge flocks of bats come swarming out from under a bridge. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any living bats, but there was a very cool bat skeleton. Their bones are so amazingly tiny and fine!

The bat bead in my Hanging Around Bat Necklace is so cute and detailed. It shows the friendlier side of bats, not the creepy black "turning into Dracula" stereotype. If you met this bat, you'd want to cuddle her! Maybe give her a high-five to thank her for eating so many insects.

2 comments:

  1. You could put up a bat house -- we had a discussion about putting them on the back of the buildings (facing the woods) early on, but more people were afraid of bats than those of us who wanted to house them.

    And I have red and purple bat clips!

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  2. I would like to put in a bat house at some point! I could put it on the game room, so it would be in a separate part of the yard and I wouldn't have to worry about the dogs harassing the bats.

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