Bats are the only true flying mammals. There are over 1,400 species of bats, and they can be found on nearly every part of the planet. Not only are they cute, they are also important...
Studying how bats use echolocation has helped scientists develop navigational aids for the blind. Without bats’ pollination, seed dispersal, and pest control we wouldn’t have bananas, avocados, mangoes, agave, or cacao… that’s right, bats bring us tequila and chocolate!
Do not handle it with bare hands! Bats can carry rabies.
Here's a map of worldwide rescues and temporary care instructions.
Bats should never be kept as pets: Here's why.
Our community's mascot is Baxter. Baxter is an Egyptian fruit bat that was cruelly kept alone and confined to a small cage for 12 years before being rescued by a bat sanctuary. You can read the full story by clicking on his name.
Our rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:
Everyone should feel welcome here. Hateful or bigoted language will not be tolerated.
Don’t post anything a fruit bat would not approve of.
Please don't hate on bats in this community (this includes all of your edgy covid humor).
Bats don’t like spam.
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As two of the oldest ladies at Lubee, Lucy (34+) and Miss Pearl (31) need a few extra calories to keep their weight stable. This is why they receive supplemental feedings of Pediasure, baby food, and juice daily by staff. They are always more than happy to enjoy their smoothies!
I assume as, with other animals, they live far longer in captivity than they would in the wild. Would these ladies likely already have passed in the wild? They wouldn't be getting supplements, for sure.
I appreciate you so much. Your sky-puppy posts are often one of the brightest points of my day
It's just occurred to me that their digestion or stomach probably does funny things due to being upside down most of the time (even if that's just a better sphincter valve!)
Honest Q: are they tagged and that’s how you can tell them apart? Or are they like black cats and the people around them most can tell them apart by their distinct makeup/facial structure?
Here is their response:
“All of the bats do have microchips that we can scan if we need to be 100% certain who we are with (like for a medical emergency, for example). However, some of the bats don’t love the chip reader, so it’s less stressful and quicker if we learn physical identification for everyday tasks. Most members of the animal care team started by keeping a list of every bat at Lubee and writing down identifiers that they could find or that previous animal care team members could point out to them. Eventually, the more seasoned team members can identify most of the bats by their face alone!”
Wow, interesting! Thanks for that
I don’t know the answer to this question, but I can ask on their Instagram. My guess is probably both. They do tend to have distinct features, but I am sure there are some that are hard to tell apart.