Month June 2018

Some very special California critters

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. The world got some sad news Thursday when we learned of the passing of Koko the Gorilla. Koko was an amazing gorilla who had learned to communicate in American Sign Language. She was able to tell the world how she was feeling and what she was thinking in ways that humans didn’t realize animals would be able to. She was a great ambassador of the animal kingdom and will be greatly missed. I would like to express my sympathy to her caretakers and friends, especially Ms. Penny Patterson, who was Koko’s friend, teacher, and caretaker throughout Koko’s life. And I would like to dedicate this week’s blog to the memory of Koko. Since Koko lived in California, I thought it would be nice to learn about a California bat this week. Yuma myotis is just one of the adorable little critters that I read about. Not only does the Yuma myotis live in California, but it also lives in other parts of Western North America from British Columbia all the way down to Central Mexico. They live as far east as Oklahoma. They are covered by short brown fur and have little white tuffs on their stomachs. They always roost near a body of water, and like to rest in caves, attics, mines, and underneath bridges. They live in forests and desert areas with access to rivers, streams, ponds, or lakes. Like most other North American bats, these adorable animals like to munch on insects. Their favorites are moths, midges, caddisflies, craneflies, and beetles. If you would like to read more about the Yuma Myotis, you can find information here.        

Red light means go! If you’re a bat.

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I am very excited because yesterday was the last day of school! I am finally free! Free to sleep late and relax! While I was looking for batty news, I came across an article about a small Dutch town that is helping bats. Zuidhoek-Nieuwkoop is becoming a very eco-friendly town in the Netherlands. It is called home by a variety of rare and vulnerable plants and animals. Most importantly, they are home to a few bat species, including some in need of help. As we all know, bats, and other nocturnal animals, don’t like bright lights. Bright streetlights hurt their eyes and cause all kinds of problems for them. Zuidhoek-Nieuwkoop has found a pretty cool solution to the problem. Red lights! Signify is an organization that has taken regular streetlights and changed them so that they emit a red color that uses a wavelength that doesn’t hurt the bats’ eyes, so they are able to fly around and do all their batty things. Not only does this light help nocturnal animals, it also helps the environment. The new lights save energy, which helps reduce the town’s carbon footprint. The streetlights have LED lights that are hooked up to a remote that can change the brightness of the light if needed. I’d like to thank the people of Zuidhoek-Nieuwkoop for helping  bats and other nocturnal animals. I’d also like to thank them for everything else they do to help the environment. Back in 2011, this town built 89 new sustainable houses that are better for the environment. These new streetlights couple perfectly with them in helping the animals and plants living, and thriving, around them. If you want to read the article you can find it here. I hope everyone has […]

A little bat, a lot of cute!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I had an eventful one. My sister graduated from high school on Thursday! In honor of her graduating, I thought I would write about one of her favorite bats. She loves the little Bumble-Bee Bat. The Bumble-Bee Bat is not only one of the cutest animals I have ever seen, it is also the smallest mammal known to man. This makes it the smallest bat species. The official name of the Bumble-Bee Bat is the Kittie’s Hog-Nosed Bat, but since it’s only an inch long, people nicknamed it the Bumble-Bee Bat. This bat has red or gray fur, big ears, a cute tail, extra webbing between its hind legs, and true to its name, a cute hog-ish nose. The extra webbing between their legs helps them move around while they are flying. The Bumble-Bee Bat lives along the Southeast part of Burma, the western areas of Thailand, and the Sai Yok National Park in Thailand. They roost along the forest areas and the limestone caves by rivers. Their diet consists of insects that live near the water. They eat a lot of flies and also eat spiders. Unlike a lot of other bat species, these bats don’t live in large colonies. Their colonies usually only have between 100 and 500 members, sometimes even less. Some colonies only have 10 bats as members. If you’d like to read more about these adorable bats, you can find information here.