let's be social!
We quickly discovered upon arriving in Nasir last month that there’s a wee bit of a bat presence here. In our house. Thankfully they don’t LIVE in the house, but every evening just about an hour after dark, they make their way inside and start feasting on the bugs drawn in by the lights. At first, I was terrified of them. I honestly hated being here after dark, because the bugs became terrible and then the bats would come. We usually got into bed at around 7:30 to avoid interaction with the nature inside of our house. I felt like a prisoner in my own home, and I was miserable. I was terrified of a bat getting tangled in my hair and biting me, or biting me through the mosquito net while I slept. I even envisioned a bat accidentally running into me and biting me out of fear, or unintentionally biting me when he grabbed a bug off of me. And in every scenario, the bat was rabid and I was in trouble.
But then I started to learn more about bats. Turns out, most of them are not rabid, and because they are mammals, rabid bats act all crazy and erratic just as any other infected animal would. I began researching what normal bat behavior looks like, and I now carefully monitor the behavior of our bats. As long as they are flying about snatching bugs out of the air, we have some very helpful bats. The evidence of their labor is all of the floor every morning…they eat bug bodies and discard the bug wings!
I also learned that they are amazingly skillful flyers. All of those fears about them accidentally flying into me were pretty ridiculous. I mean, what would you think if they dipped so close to you that you could FEEL THE AIR FROM THEIR WINGS?!? But it turns out, they are much better flyers than I gave them credit. I read the story of the guy who discovered that bats use their ears to “see” in the dark. Pretty legit. The guy tested it by creating a crazy obstacle course of silk thread in a dark room, and it didn’t slow them down!
So, armed with all of that research, I began to feel a little more comfortable with the bats that frequent our house. And we even named them. Since we can’t tell them apart, we call them all Bruce (like Bruce Wayne…Batman).
Just a few days ago, one of our Bruces decided to roost in our guest room. I guess all of the extra strings for the two additional mosquito nets (we have a short-term team here right now) were too attractive to pass up. Bruce decided to stay inside and sleep through the day, which gave me a perfect photo op.
Meet Bruce (well, one of them)…
Also, does anyone know what species of bat this is??? I’ve been trying to research it, but I’m not having much success. Please let me know your thoughts!
My thought is, they still give me the creeps, even though I understand and am thankful for their purpose. I still shudder when I think of the one that came and hung on my mosquito netting with me trapped in the bed looking at it. How do they get in? I thought there was screening material between the roof and wall?? We'll enjoy Bruce and his friends.