h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There is no substantial entry on these lovely flying mammals in the EG! ( or indeed in the guide at all...) Someone who knows more or has a love of the creatures could perhaps fix this problem. Nothing about vampire bats or so forth. Bat dung, bat echo location, but no bat entry!
PGHF

I'll do it any other animal too

Excellent! Nee dany help, more than happy to lend an ear
PGHF

well its written ready to go on h2g2 but i'm sure once its up you'll bombard me with criticism

*Armed with water balloons and little yellow balls made of soft squishy foam*

"Pilot to bombardier, ready payload" (reminded of Catch-22)

I'm sure it's cool!
PGHF

I love your space I'm curious to know more about what you do in the way of contribute to the post if you could tell me that'd be great liking your humour love opti

I like space too, all the twinkly stars and stuff are great!
though, it's been a labour of love. As for contributing to the Post, well at the mo' all I do is have a regular poem and short story submission thing going, as I write loads. I seem to have this endless form of literary diarho, aw literary runs... (I can never spell that word...) Shazz and the others at the Post Editorial Team are always on the look out for more poetry and writing, it's their bread and butter apparently...
I like bread and butter for my bread and butter personally...
Anyways, let me know when the Bats entry is onsite, as I like me bats
PGHF

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think I'll get involved

Ah, you've started the Entry...bwahaaha,*cough, cough* Time for the criticism... I like what you have so far, here's a few ideas though...

You could link to this Edited Guide Entry A748749, this one A765678 this one A618987 and even this one at a push A673599

And I'll ask the following questions.

Do bats come out at night and day? What do I do if a bat gets in my hair? Are they really little flying mice? There are some things called flying foxes. Are they really flying foxes, or are they bats? Where did bats evolve from? Can a bat carry you away to it's nest? Do they live in nests like birds or in caves or trees? Do all bats live in the smae place? What's this sonar thing and bats and are they really blind? What do people mean when they say that someone has 'bats in the belfry'? Where is the best place to see a bat, both in the wild and in captivity? Can you keep them as pets? Are there any myths and legends involving bats? Do people worship them as gods? If so, where? Can I join? Are there any good websites with pictures of bats? Can you eat them? If so, what do they taste like? What about vampires (try these EG links A273566 and A2218475) and other famous bats like Batman and, well I'm sure there are others...

Hope that gives you some further ideas
PGHF

There's also the issue of whether there are two separate lineages of bats - which would then resolve the cladistic controversy over whether to put them closer to primates or not (by splitting them).

Thanks for the bat attack q's will get to it pronto

One of the best sites I know of to research these guys is... http://www.warksbats.co.uk/ you might find it worth a look

I've had 'bats in my balcony' since early this past summer. A family of bats somehow managed to find an eensy hole in the brickwork at the top of my balcony doors and made a nest there.

I first noticed this in June when suddenly bats started flying into my living room on a regular basis. This puzzled me for quite awhile, as it had never happened before, but then one day I heard all this squeaking going on when I had the balcony doors open and when I checked for the source it was coming from this tiny hole in the wall.

I didn't mind the bat visits so much but I was concerned for my cats as I had heard that many bats in Seville carry rabies. Especially as one night I found one of my cat frolicking around on the living room floor and discovered he had caught a bat! (though happily it escaped). So I ended up getting the cats vaccinated against rabies, just in case.

One night two of them flew in at once and one ended up falling to the floor after bashing against the walls a few times (the other one had found its way back out again). And I didn't know what to do! When they are flying they are about the size of one's forefinger and thumb extended. But when this one fell and tucked in its wings it was no bigger than the first joint in my thumb. And sooooo cute!

Anyhow, fearing rabies, I didn't want to pick it up. So eventually I got a cup and placed it over the fallen bat and then slipped a piece of cardboard under that. Then I picked the caught bat up and tossed him outside again, though I was worried that after bashing itself against the wall it might not be able to fly properly. But it did a couple of wonky swoops and then fled into the darkness.

I spoke to a bat specialist here who told me the way to get rid of them was, after I was sure the baby bats were full grown, to cover the hole with a bit of cloth secured at the top. This way they could get out but not get back in again.

Which I have yet to do. Meanwhile, they are still in the nest, but I think they are all grown-up bats at this point. Though they do still seem to have problems finding the nest opening (which is why they end up into my living room).

Bats are a protected species here and 'Batman' (the specialist) warned me that I shouldn't cover up the hole before the baby bats could fly on their own. But really, I could never kill baby bats, protected or otherwise.

The other morning I opened my balcony doors and three of them swooped past my head - not even a foot away - trying to find the nest opening. I watched them for awhile 'coming in for a landing' and not making it until after several tries.

Anyhow, I have always been fascinated by bats and so I look forward to a researched entry on them.


az

just to warn you I'm a busy third year now so I'll probably abandon this ... care to take it over?

I am not going to answer all of those Q's, most can be easily researched. The question about night and day was interesting though, because here in the UK, although any bat in its right mind, not having bats in its belfry, will usually venture out at dusk and remain out through the night. However they do very occasionally venture out during the day. I saw one in bright afternoon sun. It swooped low over a Cheshire mere and drank water in a similar way to swifts and swallows, scooping water from the surface whilst in flight: thus answering "Do bats drink?" at the same time.

Nao

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Challenge h2g2' to 'British Bats'.