Trivia for Squiggle #XXI
Well, in honor of Batman Begins coming out on DVD tomorrow (October 18), I have listed below 25 trivial bits about bats for today's Trivia for Squiggle...I figured actual bat trivia would be more amusing than Batman trivia, as I'm not sure how many of you are comic geeks. Personally, I'm a helluva lot more excited about the DVD releases of George A. Romero's Land of the Dead and Saw (Uncut), but thought that maybe you guys didn't want to start out your week with trivia about zombies or serial killers...
501. The world's smallest mammal is the bumblebee bat of Thailand, weighing less than a penny.
502. Loss of bats increases demand for chemical pesticides, can jeopardize whole ecosystems of other animal and plant species, and can harm human economies.
503. The common little brown bat of North America is the world's longest lived mammal for its size, with life-spans sometimes exceeding 32 years.
504. Mexican free-tailed bats sometimes fly up to two miles high to feed or to catch tail-winds that carry them over long distances at speeds of more than 60 miles per hour.
505. The pallid bat of western North America is immune to the stings of scorpions and even the seven-inch centipedes upon which it feeds.
506. Fishing bats have echolocation so sophisticated that they can detect a minnow's fin as fine as a human hair, protruding only two millimeters above a pond's surface.
507. African heart-nosed bats can hear the footsteps of a beetle walking on sand from a distance of more than six feet.
508. Red bats that live in tree foliage throughout most of North America can withstand body temperatures as low as 23 degrees F. during winter hibernation.
509. Tiny woolly bats in West Africa live in the large webs of colonial spiders.
510. The Honduran white bat is snow white with a yellow nose and ears. It cuts large leaves to make "tents" that protect its small colonies from jungle rains.
511. Disk-winged bats of Latin America have adhesive disks on both wings and feet that enable them to live in unfurling banana leaves (or even walk up a window pane!).
512. Frog-eating bats identify edible from poisonous frogs by listening to the mating calls of male frogs. Frogs counter by hiding and using short, difficult to locate calls.
513. Vampire bats adopt orphans and have been known to risk their lives to share food with less fortunate roost-mates.
514. Male epauletted bats have pouches in their shoulders which contain large, showy patches of white fur that they flash during courtship to attract mates.
515. Mother Mexican free-tailed bats find and nurse their own young, even in huge colonies where many millions of babies cluster at up to 500 per square foot.
516. More than 1,100 species of bats account for almost a quarter of all mammal species, and most are highly beneficial.
517. Worldwide, bats are important natural enemies of night-flying insects.
518. A single little brown bat can catch 1,200 mosquito-sized insects in just one hour.
519. A colony of 150 big brown bats can protect local farmers from up to 33 million or more rootworms each summer.
520. The 20 million Mexican free-tails from Bracken Cave, Texas eat approximately 200 tons of insects nightly.
521. Tropical bats are key elements in rain forest ecosystems which rely on them to pollinate flowers and disperse seeds for countless trees and shrubs.
522. In the wild, important agricultural plants, from bananas, breadfruit and mangoes to cashews, dates, and figs rely on bats for pollination and seed dispersal.
523. Tequila is produced from agave plants whose seed production drops to 1/3,000th of normal without bat pollinators.
524. Bat droppings in caves support whole ecosystems of unique organisms, including bacteria useful in detoxifying wastes, improving detergents, and producing gasohol and antibiotics.
525. An anticoagulant from vampire bat saliva may soon be used to treat human heart patients.
"If it were 3 of them, I would say yes, but *4*? Their minimum objective must be...THE ENTIRE WORLD."
501. The world's smallest mammal is the bumblebee bat of Thailand, weighing less than a penny.
502. Loss of bats increases demand for chemical pesticides, can jeopardize whole ecosystems of other animal and plant species, and can harm human economies.
503. The common little brown bat of North America is the world's longest lived mammal for its size, with life-spans sometimes exceeding 32 years.
504. Mexican free-tailed bats sometimes fly up to two miles high to feed or to catch tail-winds that carry them over long distances at speeds of more than 60 miles per hour.
505. The pallid bat of western North America is immune to the stings of scorpions and even the seven-inch centipedes upon which it feeds.
506. Fishing bats have echolocation so sophisticated that they can detect a minnow's fin as fine as a human hair, protruding only two millimeters above a pond's surface.
507. African heart-nosed bats can hear the footsteps of a beetle walking on sand from a distance of more than six feet.
508. Red bats that live in tree foliage throughout most of North America can withstand body temperatures as low as 23 degrees F. during winter hibernation.
509. Tiny woolly bats in West Africa live in the large webs of colonial spiders.
510. The Honduran white bat is snow white with a yellow nose and ears. It cuts large leaves to make "tents" that protect its small colonies from jungle rains.
511. Disk-winged bats of Latin America have adhesive disks on both wings and feet that enable them to live in unfurling banana leaves (or even walk up a window pane!).
512. Frog-eating bats identify edible from poisonous frogs by listening to the mating calls of male frogs. Frogs counter by hiding and using short, difficult to locate calls.
513. Vampire bats adopt orphans and have been known to risk their lives to share food with less fortunate roost-mates.
514. Male epauletted bats have pouches in their shoulders which contain large, showy patches of white fur that they flash during courtship to attract mates.
515. Mother Mexican free-tailed bats find and nurse their own young, even in huge colonies where many millions of babies cluster at up to 500 per square foot.
516. More than 1,100 species of bats account for almost a quarter of all mammal species, and most are highly beneficial.
517. Worldwide, bats are important natural enemies of night-flying insects.
518. A single little brown bat can catch 1,200 mosquito-sized insects in just one hour.
519. A colony of 150 big brown bats can protect local farmers from up to 33 million or more rootworms each summer.
520. The 20 million Mexican free-tails from Bracken Cave, Texas eat approximately 200 tons of insects nightly.
521. Tropical bats are key elements in rain forest ecosystems which rely on them to pollinate flowers and disperse seeds for countless trees and shrubs.
522. In the wild, important agricultural plants, from bananas, breadfruit and mangoes to cashews, dates, and figs rely on bats for pollination and seed dispersal.
523. Tequila is produced from agave plants whose seed production drops to 1/3,000th of normal without bat pollinators.
524. Bat droppings in caves support whole ecosystems of unique organisms, including bacteria useful in detoxifying wastes, improving detergents, and producing gasohol and antibiotics.
525. An anticoagulant from vampire bat saliva may soon be used to treat human heart patients.
"If it were 3 of them, I would say yes, but *4*? Their minimum objective must be...THE ENTIRE WORLD."
posted by Scott at 11:58 AM
3 Comments:
Cool stuff, but why wouldn't we want trivia about killers and zombies? It's October, man!
Lovely trivia ... Precious trvia.
Not even one piece of zombie trivia?
BRILLIANT quote at the bottom! lol.
Thanks for the comments, guys...regarding the absence of killer and zombie trivia: Halloween does fall on a Monday (which just happens to be one of the 'Trivia for Squiggle' posting days! Hmmm...)... =)
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