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Okay so millions of years ago some eutharian mammals figured out that they could make a fairly-decent living off of foraging for insects by developing echolocation and true flight powered by membranous wings, and it ended up working so well that they managed to spread their horrific offspring to pretty much every continent on Earth and ended up being nearly a quarter of the known mammalian species on the planet with substantially-different ecological niches and this is a thread about them. BAT THREAD 2016 Long story short, bats are wonky-looking placental mammals (vaguely-related to shrews/whales/carnivores/pangolins by way of a common ancestor) that possess wings made from their grossly-misshapen forelimbs with an equally-gross skin membrane stretched across to achieve true flight. That's right, they just so happen to have the distinction of being the only real flying mammals; none of that "glide from treetop to treetop" bullshit that sugar gliders try to pull off.  Numbering in at roughly 1,200 distinct species, bats are divided up between two suborders: Microchiroptera, the microbats; and Megachiroptera, the megabats. Microbats tend to be small, echolocating insectivores while the megabats are typically larger, non-echolocating fruit-and-pollen munchers. There's more to it than that, but instead of making a giant effort post about it and the giant clusterfuck that is chiropteran phylogeny I'm just gonna regurgitate a Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat  The Hoary Bat, a filthy microchiropteran  The Hammer-headed Bat, a plebeian megachiropteran  CURRENT WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME STATUS: STILL poo poo; NEBRASKA'S GON' GET hosed (also RIP Missouri's brown bats they never scored) Hope you guys on the east coast like mosquitoes But enough of that, the real reason this thread is here is due to the fact that a large majority of bats are indescribably-adorable, and require documenting via youtubes and animated gifs. Case in point: https://i.imgur.com/KOfDJZ8.webm  https://i.imgur.com/GccSoq9.webm  Heartless Australians forcibly-separate and traumatize bat families to sate their criminal urges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8_GGgT5rA Freeloading bat leeches bananas off hardworking taxpayers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSUVXAsQe4I Real, genuine facts about bats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_SjhcdF_J4 GBS, I need bat images to sustain my wretched existence, so gimmie your chiropteraniest images ITT. Also I guess I'll make some posts about individual cool bats if this thread doesn't die immedietely
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Jan 19, 2016 04:57
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I was thinking this morning I'd like a pet bat, major coincidence this thread happened today. Voting thread 4
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Jan 19, 2016 04:59
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I went to my friend's house over the summer and he ended up killing 7 bats that got inside that night. He has a big stick he would bash them with. That's my bat story.
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Jan 19, 2016 04:59
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i saved a bat that hurt its wing as a kid and it lived in our playhouse for like a year and a half and i guess it felt better enough to finally leave
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Jan 19, 2016 05:01
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radical mammal-wingers
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Jan 19, 2016 05:05
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Kuato posted:I was thinking this morning I'd like a pet bat, major coincidence this thread happened today. Voting thread 4 Turns out bats make awful pets, as they tend to require companions, specific nutritional requirements, and enrichment so they don't go crazy. Also they poo poo everywhere and are common carriers for zoonotic diseases. Hope you like hemorrhagic fevers! 
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Jan 19, 2016 05:11
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These are good bugs.
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Jan 19, 2016 05:13
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ChickenHeart posted:Turns out bats make awful pets, as they tend to require companions, specific nutritional requirements, and enrichment so they don't go crazy. Yikes. Tried having a pet ferret, that did not work out. Probably stick with my stupid idiot dogs as pets.
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Jan 19, 2016 05:16
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bats are awesome
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Jan 19, 2016 05:16
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na na na na na na na na na na na Bat!
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Jan 19, 2016 05:20
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 I like bats too, OP.
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Jan 19, 2016 05:24
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we must stop the spread of radical batslam in america #trump4potus
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Jan 19, 2016 05:24
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Matrim posted:
I will end you
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Jan 19, 2016 05:25
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ChickenHeart posted:
I never knew the bat cocaine problem was so bad.
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Jan 19, 2016 05:29
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https://i.imgur.com/8McKKKI.gifv here is a bat for your bat thread chicken heart <3
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Jan 19, 2016 05:36
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How is the ebola outbreak?
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Jan 19, 2016 05:46
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 Bat slumber party
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Jan 19, 2016 05:50
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Microwaves Mom posted:How is the ebola outbreak? Eh, it's still there, even though media coverage is nonexistent about it. Last I checked the Congo was still bleed-out-all-your-blood central but other places like Guinea have managed to get clean for the most part. Bat-wise, there's been a neato article about bat immune systems and Ebola that could give some insight into actually figuring out where the gently caress it comes from: http://phys.org/news/2015-12-reveals-arms-ebola-virus-waged.html 
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Jan 19, 2016 06:08
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VendaGoat posted:These are good bugs. 
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Jan 19, 2016 06:09
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You know what's NOT radical? Rabies, kids. gently caress all bats.
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Jan 19, 2016 06:16
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Thank you for this thread. Bats are my favourite animals. They are the best. Now I'm off to watch more for those True Facts videos.
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Jan 19, 2016 06:17
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Jan 19, 2016 06:22
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I have a fig tree outside my window and apparently the bats in my area loving love fig berries. They love them so much they sit out there eating them and make lovely noises all night and poo poo on my car. gently caress bats.
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Jan 19, 2016 06:25
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ChickenHeart posted:Eh, it's still there, even though media coverage is nonexistent about it. Last I checked the Congo was still bleed-out-all-your-blood central but other places like Guinea have managed to get clean for the most part. Other fun bat fun fact is human immune system response such as fever don't work on viruses from the bat reservoir since bats have a higher body temperature than humans. Hence the viruses had to evolve to survive in a much higher body temperature environment and infecting a human is like switching the game to easy mode.
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Jan 19, 2016 06:28
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i think it's good to put a bathouse on your roof, even though you'll probably never actually see the residents. also i made appreciative noises at all theses gifs except this one, gently caress you
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Jan 19, 2016 06:36
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I like this one's spirit.
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Jan 19, 2016 06:39
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LOVE LOVE SKELETON posted:i think it's good to put a bathouse on your roof, even though you'll probably never actually see the residents. that bat keeps it real
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Jan 19, 2016 06:48
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on second look, i like his set of tiny but totally distinguishable teeth.
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Jan 19, 2016 06:54
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why should i bother about bats when i can just throw a weasel up in the air and have the same effect?
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Jan 19, 2016 07:05
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We've got a colony of flying foxes (fruit bats) which feeds in my neighbourhood every night. You need to get the washing off the clothesline before nightfall if you don't want it covered in bat poo poo. Every now and then one of them flies extremely low and scares the poo poo out of my dog.
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Jan 19, 2016 07:55
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Lolie posted:We've got a colony of flying foxes (fruit bats) which feeds in my neighbourhood every night. You need to get the washing off the clothesline before nightfall if you don't want it covered in bat poo poo. i can imagine your doing going ARU RU RUU RUUU!
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Jan 19, 2016 07:58
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Here's a Fish-eating Bat (Myotis vivesi) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish-eating_bat Not to be confused with the bulldog/fishing bats, the Fish-eating Bat resides around the gulf of California, near the pacific. The biggest of the Myotis genus in America, this rear end in a top hat is also noteworthy for having big-honkin' feet with large claws to aid in catching fish (Also arthropods like insects or small crustaceans). They're also capable of processing seawater to help them live along arid coasts.  pictured: big-honkin' feet Here it is eating some shrimp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHph-Di8IKw
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Jan 19, 2016 08:35
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Posting in a bat thread. Quick, to the bat-mobile  
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Jan 19, 2016 08:37
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 Uh oh. http://www.earthtouchnews.com/wtf/wtf/excuse-me-mr-bat-youve-got-a-huge-parasitic-fly-on-your-face
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Jan 19, 2016 08:55
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That's a fly ?! Extremelyfucked upquote:"Female bat flies, like their relatives tsetse flies, are remarkably good mothers," he adds. "The great majority of insects lay hundreds or thousands of eggs, betting on one or two of them making it to adulthood. Bat flies, on the other hand – like humans – prefer to invest a lot in a much smaller number of offspring, hoping that they will all make it to the reproductive age. Instead of laying eggs the female gives birth to a single, fully developed larva, which immediately turns into a pupa."
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Jan 20, 2016 00:17
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yeah, it was nasty enough that those flies just hang out permanently in the middle of some cool disease-infested bat's face, but they give live birth too.
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Jan 20, 2016 00:26
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There are Lincoln Caverns ( U.S. Route 22 - Huntingdon, Pa. ) but white disease has just hosed everything up for local bats. there is a lot of non tourist nature out there that's really nice, just not as many bats 
ChairmanMeow fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Jan 20, 2016 |
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Jan 20, 2016 00:45
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i used to go to this pond at night and watch bats skim over the surface presumably gobbling up bugs
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Jan 20, 2016 00:56
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Jan 20, 2016 01:05
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man how is that bat even gonna see
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Jan 20, 2016 01:06
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