It wasn’t just the caffeine that gave an eastern Iowa woman an extra jolt when she had her morning cup of coffee. It was the bat she found in the coffee filter.
Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Health said the woman reported seeing a bat in her house but wasn’t overly worried about it. [...]
Tours of Sequiota cave were canceled Sunday after the first group discovered an unusually high number of endangered gray bats, which may have been going into hibernation.
The tours give the public a peek into the caves located at Sequiota Park, 3500 S. Lone Pine Ave., typically in the fall and spring. The tours, given in [...]
Echolocation may have evolved more than once in bats, according to new research from the University of Bristol.
Professor Gareth Jones of the University of Bristol and Dr Stephen Rossiter of Queen Mary University of London, in collaboration with colleagues from East China Normal University in Shanghai, investigated the evolution of a gene called Prestin in [...]
Continue reading about Molecular Evolution Is Echoed In Bat Ears
Bats are known, in part, for making an infernal racket that helps them navigate, but it turns out they may actually flap around in relative silence when traveling in groups.
It’s only for a microsecond, but the bats may actually take turns shutting up so they can listen to the leader and avoid the confusion [...]
Continue reading about Bats Take Turns ‘Shutting Up’ When Flying in Groups
Power-generating wind turbines have long been recognized as a potentially life-threatening hazard for birds. But at most wind facilities, bats actually die in much greater numbers. Now, researchers reporting in Current Biology, a Cell Press journal, on August 26th think they know why.
Ninety percent of the bats they examined after death showed signs of internal [...]
Continue reading about Why Wind Turbines Can Mean Death For Bats
A new test for West Nile virus in horses that could be modified for use on humans and wildlife may help track the spread of the disease, according to an article in the September issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology.
West Nile virus infects a wide range of animals, including humans, horses, dogs, cats, bats, [...]
Continue reading about New And Improved Test For West Nile Virus In Horses
Studying species in the animal world helps police catch human criminals — and vice versa. Originally developed to catch serial killers, a method called geographic profiling is now being used to study great white sharks, bats and bees.
In turn, criminologists expect that these biological studies will help refine their criminal studies, making it easier for [...]
Continue reading about Bees, Fish Analyzed to Understand Serial Killers
A teenager was stunned to find that a baby bat had been curled up inside her bra for five hours - as she was wearing it.
Abbie Hawkins, a hotel receptionist, thought her mobile phone was ringing when she felt vibrations coming from her clothes.
But she later discovered the tiny creature tucked away in the [...]
Not many people think about what it’s like to be a bat, but for those who do, it’s enlightening and potentially groundbreaking for understanding aspects of the human brain and nervous system.
Cynthia Moss, a member of the Neuroscience and Cognitive Science program at the University of Maryland, College Park, Md., is one of few researchers [...]
Bloodsucking pests like bat fleas and bat flies may not sound very appealing to the rest of us, but to University at Buffalo biologist Katharina Dittmar de la Cruz, Ph.D., they are among the most successful creatures evolution has ever produced.
“From an historical perspective, they have been around forever, they don’t die out,” said Dittmar, [...]
Continue reading about To Find Out What’s Eating Bats, Biologist Takes To Barn Rooftops
