Tag Africa

Strangely adorable

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I am happy we have a long weekend. Since its almost Halloween, I decided to research “strange” bats. I guess my definition of strange is different than others, because my…

Adorable and fruity!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. I was looking up interesting bats from around the world and found a really adorable one called the Rousettus Bat. Rousettus bats are also more commonly known as Egyptian Fruit Bats. These bats have orange-yellow fur around their necks that match nicely with the dark brown and gray fur along their backs and stomachs. Rousettus bats are found in the tropical rainforests, savanna, and tropical deciduous forests in Africa. They are also found in scrub forests of Mediterranean Turkey. Egyptian Fruit bats eat a lot of fruit each night. They like to eat soft, pulpy fruit, especially wild dates. They also eat unripe fruit and fruit damaged by insects or fungus. Because they eat this fruit, they are able to survive when ripe fruit is not available. If you would like to read more about the Rousettus bat, you can find information here. And now for the exciting news! Herndon Nature Fest is tomorrow afternoon from 1 – 5 PM. It is being held at Runnymede Park, 195 Herndon Pkwy in Herndon, VA. Save Lucy’s President, Mrs. Sturges, will be there with some bats and I will be there too! If you are in the area, I hope to see you there. Have a good week!

Sharky and adorable in one blogpost!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! Since Shark Week is starting Sunday, instead of the wonderful Bat Week, I thought that I should have this week’s blog also be slightly sharky. Even though they aren’t bats, sharks are very important to us and do need help. Since Shark Week does raise awareness about how important they are, I decided that this year, I won’t be quite so hard on them. After all, they can’t help it that they aren’t lovely little bats. I did a little bit of research and discovered that there is a beach in South Africa called Gansbaai. This beautiful beach has been nicknamed Shark Ally because there are so many sharks in the water there. In honor of the sharks that swim around that beach, I decided to write this blog about a bat from South Africa. I found an adorable fruit bat called the Straw-colored Fruit bat. The Straw-colored Fruit bat, like its name suggests, has straw colored fur. They also have olive or brown fur mixed in with the straw colored fur. They have big eyes, big ears, and pointy heads that help them reach fruit. These bats, along with other fruit bats, have cheek pouches. They use the cheek pouches to stash fruit in. They like to do this, then fly away with their yummy fruit. They do this so that other bats can’t get to their tasty meal. Straw-colored fruit bats eat a lot of fruit, their favorites seem to be mangoes, dates, figs, baobab flowers (which bats are drawn to because they are very stinky), passion fruit, and avocados. Apparently, these bats are very vocal eaters, and like to scream about their food finds to their friends. They smack their lips while they eat, which I find […]

One bat, two bat, yellow bat…yellow bat?

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. I have had another nice and relaxing one. As I was looking for batty news, I stumbled upon a really interesting article. A research team in Kenya was studying African Yellow House Bats. There are 21 known species of African Yellow House Bats and the scientists were trying to accurately classify all the species when they made an amazing discovery. They believe they have discovered two new species of these bats! House Bats get their name from the fact that they like to roost in urban environments, but they are still very difficult to catch and study. Scientists knew there were different kinds because, while most of them have distinctive yellow bellies, some have brown or orange ones. Other than that, their physical differences are difficult to distinguish. Using skin samples, scientists analyzed the DNA of 100 bats in Kenya. They compared the samples to the bats in their genetic database and developed an African House Bat family tree. The new family tree helped organize the bats and showed that there are two distinct genetic lineages. Even though it is almost certain that these two bat species are new, researchers still have to show that they exhibit unique features, both physically and behaviorally, before they can officially be classified as new species. If you would like to read more about this exciting news, you can find information here. I hope everyone has a good week. Happy Bastille Day to everyone in France!