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<v Speaker 1>Oh hi, it's me from the future. It's been two

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<v Speaker 1>years since we made this episode. I still love this ologist.

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<v Speaker 1>We're still friends. He just turned eighty and I actually

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<v Speaker 1>missed his surprise party in August. Jarrett had popped his

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<v Speaker 1>acl and got a small fracture on his femur wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>able to go. But actually, speaking of he just got

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<v Speaker 1>surgery with a knee specialist in San Francisco, so we're

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<v Speaker 1>up taking care of him and taking a few weeks off,

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<v Speaker 1>which is why this is an encore episode. But next week,

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<v Speaker 1>in the week after, we have new Spooktobra episodes you've

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<v Speaker 1>never heard before, so stay tuned for those next week. Also,

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<v Speaker 1>if you need more spooky content, check the link in

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<v Speaker 1>the show notes for the Spooktober episodes. Because there's everything

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<v Speaker 1>from body farms to vultures and evil spirits and changing leaves,

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<v Speaker 1>we have episodes for all of it. So put on

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<v Speaker 1>a scarf and pour something that has some popkin spice

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<v Speaker 1>it in and listen to those. Okay, but now enjoy

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<v Speaker 1>this encore of Chiropterology, one of the best ever episodes

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<v Speaker 1>of ologies with your new favorite scientist for real. Oh hey,

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<v Speaker 1>it's your friend's new baby who looks kind of like

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<v Speaker 1>a turtle, but in the best way. Ali Ward back

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<v Speaker 1>with another episode of Ologies. We're rounding the corner to

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<v Speaker 1>finishing Spookctober, and I meant for this to be the

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<v Speaker 1>last Halloweeny episode, but guess what. I talked to this

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<v Speaker 1>ologist for three frickin hours and I'm making it a

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<v Speaker 1>double so buckle up for bats, because holy guano, it's

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<v Speaker 1>ban out. I loved every second I spent with his

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<v Speaker 1>expert this episode. Next week's episode some of my favorites. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>but before we get into it, if you, thank you uptop,

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<v Speaker 1>including everyone on Patreon, Patreon dot com, slash ologies who

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<v Speaker 1>supports the podcast. Y'all are the foundation of funding for it.

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you to everyone wearing Ologies merch from ologiesmarch dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you to all who make sure they're subscribed, who

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<v Speaker 1>rate the podcast and keep it up in the charts.

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<v Speaker 1>Of course, you folks who leave reviews for me to

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<v Speaker 1>read like a weird lurking monkey so I can pick

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<v Speaker 1>a new one each week, such as the Narn Goddess

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<v Speaker 1>who says from disaster to perfection, from entropy to order. Somehow,

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<v Speaker 1>this podcast encompasses the sacred, the profane, and the mundane

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<v Speaker 1>in a way that makes us delight in every revelation,

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<v Speaker 1>and finally, at the end of the day, we emerge

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<v Speaker 1>from each episode icky and radiant, like a shiny penny

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<v Speaker 1>barfed up by a hagfish. It's absolutely delightful, as are

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<v Speaker 1>you the narn Goddess. Thank you for that. Also Rory Watts,

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<v Speaker 1>who says imposter syndrome is super real and that they

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<v Speaker 1>love hearing stories of queer scientists and makes their little

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<v Speaker 1>by heart so happy. So anyway, your reviews, I read

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<v Speaker 1>them and I love them and thank you. Okay, now chiropterology,

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<v Speaker 1>are you ready for the best etymology? Maybe? Ever? As

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<v Speaker 1>soon as I saw this word, I was like, well,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm going to have to start a podcast the word origin.

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<v Speaker 1>I feel like it rivals pharaoh equinology, which was iron

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<v Speaker 1>horses the study of trains as like the best first date,

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<v Speaker 1>awkward dinner party, stuck in an elevator for a few

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<v Speaker 1>hours killing time trivia? Ever? Okay you ready probably not,

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<v Speaker 1>but here we go. So Cairo means hand, so thanks,

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<v Speaker 1>a chiropractor practices with their hands, so Cairo hand and

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<v Speaker 1>put terr like pterodactyl means wing, so Chiroptera bats have

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<v Speaker 1>hand wings. They have hand wings. The wings are made

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<v Speaker 1>of hands, so as mammals, these little critters fly around

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<v Speaker 1>on the floppy membranes of webbings between their long ass

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<v Speaker 1>bony fingers. They've been haunting the night for as long

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<v Speaker 1>as sixty million years. They make up twenty percent of

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<v Speaker 1>all mammal species. There are over fourteen hundred recognized species

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<v Speaker 1>of bats, and we will cover all of them. No,

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<v Speaker 1>we won't, but we're going to do our best. So

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<v Speaker 1>I heard of this ologist through a CBS Innovation Nation

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<v Speaker 1>story I did about bathouses called bat b and B's.

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<v Speaker 1>And as soon as I heard his name and saw

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<v Speaker 1>a picture of him in the nineteen seventies with a

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<v Speaker 1>pushbrew mustache and a headlamp feeding fruit to a megabat,

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<v Speaker 1>I thought, I need to meet this person. I need

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<v Speaker 1>to befriend them at all costs. And I've been like

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<v Speaker 1>a thirteen year old girl on a mission to meet

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<v Speaker 1>her k pop Idols. I would accept no other bat

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<v Speaker 1>expert for this topic. So he's been working in this

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<v Speaker 1>field for over five decades. Has written several books for

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<v Speaker 1>lay people about bats, including the Secret Lives of Bats,

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<v Speaker 1>and America's neighborhood bats, and I'll link those on my

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<v Speaker 1>website and in the show notes. He has published so

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<v Speaker 1>many academic papers on bats, I wouldn't know where to

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<v Speaker 1>begin listing them. He has lectured all over the world.

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<v Speaker 1>So in September, I got myself to Austin, Texas, and

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<v Speaker 1>I headed to this ologist's home office. Okay, I'm in

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<v Speaker 1>front of Merlin's house. Total residents. This is so exciting. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>my hotel coffee. I'm sweating. It's a million degrees in Austin.

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<v Speaker 1>I just I look sweaty, so nervous. I met his

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<v Speaker 1>wonderful wife, Paula in the driveway. She led me in him.

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<v Speaker 1>How hard you doctor tittle? It is lovely to I'm

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<v Speaker 1>Ali Ward. This is a dream come true to talk

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<v Speaker 1>to me about bats. I can't even tell you. This

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<v Speaker 1>is far from his first media appearance. This dude is

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<v Speaker 1>America's chiropterology darling, the go to for back questions the

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<v Speaker 1>world over. He's even appeared on David Letterman in nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>eighty four because of his bat knowledge.

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<v Speaker 2>This is this bat, and you see how small he is.

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<v Speaker 2>This bat is the one that sends thousands of otherwise mature, grown,

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<v Speaker 2>brave men cowering, running in tear. Every year. I know

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<v Speaker 2>of two cases in the last few months in Wisconsin.

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<v Speaker 2>One man broke his leg falling downstairs getting away from

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<v Speaker 2>one of these guys. One broke his arm swinging a

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<v Speaker 2>tennis racket around a door jam.

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<v Speaker 3>How can I you can touch you? I don't want

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<v Speaker 3>to hold him.

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<v Speaker 2>Now, you got to admit.

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<v Speaker 1>So I winged it. Oh, I was nervous. We talked

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<v Speaker 1>for three hours. So this episode is broken into two weeks,

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<v Speaker 1>and we cover what is a bat? How big are they?

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<v Speaker 1>How small are they? Will they attack you? Why are

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<v Speaker 1>people so scared of them? How do they evolve to fly?

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<v Speaker 1>How do they sleep upside down? How scary are caves?

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<v Speaker 1>Which ones guzzle blood? How do they protect us from mosquitoes?

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<v Speaker 1>Can you train a bat? Why are they so cute?

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<v Speaker 1>What's the deal with guano? The latest on white nose syndrome,

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<v Speaker 1>which is not a drug problem. What is the best

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<v Speaker 1>time and place to see bats? And how can you

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<v Speaker 1>help bats by letting them crash in your place? Kind

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<v Speaker 1>of So hang tight for part one and get ready

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<v Speaker 1>to have a new favorite bat. Expert with conservationist explore

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<v Speaker 1>icon National Treasure and chiropterologist Doctor Merlin Tuttle. Do you

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<v Speaker 1>make people address you as doctor ever?

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<v Speaker 3>No, but there are a lot of people on this

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<v Speaker 3>planet who know me only as the Batman.

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<v Speaker 1>That's not a bad that's not a bad nickname to have.

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<v Speaker 3>When I was working years ago studying bats in the

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<v Speaker 3>backwoods of Tennessee, the hill Billy moonshiners were always watching

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<v Speaker 3>out for revenuers. And when I would drive into the

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<v Speaker 3>final hollow where they had their moonshine, which I pretended

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<v Speaker 3>not to know where it was en route to my

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<v Speaker 3>bat caves, I would hear them yell across the hallow

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<v Speaker 3>to each other, the Batman's are coming. And I don't

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<v Speaker 3>think they ever knew my real name.

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<v Speaker 1>That's pretty appropriate.

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<v Speaker 3>It was funny, you know, these guys. They they had

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<v Speaker 3>a coat of ethics among themselves. It was very strict.

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<v Speaker 3>You know, you turn in a fellow to the revenuers

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<v Speaker 3>or something, and you deserved to die on the spot.

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<v Speaker 3>It was. These weren't These were tough guys. Yeah, but

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<v Speaker 3>they the moment I started studying bats in a cave

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<v Speaker 3>near where they were making moonshine, they were down trying

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<v Speaker 3>to figure out who I was and what I was doing,

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<v Speaker 3>and I welcomed them and showed them how I put

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<v Speaker 3>bands on the bats and explained that some of them

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<v Speaker 3>are coming all the way from Florida to the Virginia

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<v Speaker 3>Tennessee border to go hibernate in that cave. And they

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<v Speaker 3>were so excited they ended up bringing their wives down

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<v Speaker 3>to see me ban bats the next night, and I

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<v Speaker 3>ended up being really good friends with them. And the

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<v Speaker 3>next winter, as I was still coming every ten days

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<v Speaker 3>to trap at the entrance, I was leaping out in

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<v Speaker 3>my car, and they became very concerned. You know, I

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<v Speaker 3>shouldn't be out there in the snowy cold, and so

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<v Speaker 3>they start inviting me to come. They're very poor. The

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<v Speaker 3>home that they had was so poor that if you,

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<v Speaker 3>they said, we couldn't more than three of us go

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<v Speaker 3>in the kitchen at the same time or the floor

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<v Speaker 3>might fall in. And I stayed with him a few nights,

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<v Speaker 3>but then I realized that Hugh Kyle, the primary moonshiner

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<v Speaker 3>among them, slept with a sawed off shotgun in his

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<v Speaker 3>bed in case the revenuers came at night. I decided

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<v Speaker 3>I didn't want to sleep in the middle of a

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<v Speaker 3>possible battle.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh no, Oh my gosh. As the batman, you weren't

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<v Speaker 1>about to do any crime fighting. Oh my gosh. And

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<v Speaker 1>so your work is probably primarily nocturnal when you're out

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<v Speaker 1>doing field work, or how much of it is nocturnal?

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<v Speaker 1>How much of it is.

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<v Speaker 3>A lot of it's nocturnal? More than I would like

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<v Speaker 3>it these days?

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<v Speaker 1>Someone calling the bat line, that's the batphone. Huh.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, I mean, if it wasn't probably considered unethical or illegal,

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<v Speaker 3>it would be fun for you to listen in on

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<v Speaker 3>one of these calls from somebody who's terrified thinks they're

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<v Speaker 3>about to die of rabies because the bat got near

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<v Speaker 3>him last night.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh so he unplugged the batphone and we continued going

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<v Speaker 1>back in your history. You were born in Hawaii, right,

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<v Speaker 1>and now when did you make the move from the

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<v Speaker 1>island to the mainland and did you grow up around

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<v Speaker 1>caves at all?

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<v Speaker 3>I grew up going into lava tubes in Hawaii. My

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<v Speaker 3>father was very interested in exploring the old lava tubes.

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<v Speaker 3>But there aren't any bats in caves in Hawaii. I

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<v Speaker 3>didn't discover bats until I was at least nine years old.

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<v Speaker 3>Living in California, I really first discovered them when a

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<v Speaker 3>classmate in the fourth grade brought a dead one to school.

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<v Speaker 1>Cool.

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<v Speaker 3>We were all curious and looked at it, and I

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<v Speaker 3>took it home and made a steady skin out of it.

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<v Speaker 3>At age nine, a mammalogist came to my school to

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<v Speaker 3>speak about his research on small mammals in the jungles

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<v Speaker 3>of Central America, and I immediately I never forget. I thought, Wow,

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<v Speaker 3>you mean a scientists actually get paid to go have

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<v Speaker 3>fun adventures in the jungle.

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<v Speaker 1>That's what I want to do. That's amazing. So you

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<v Speaker 1>were inspired from just being a wei one.

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<v Speaker 3>So from age nine I got acquainted with the scientists

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<v Speaker 3>who lectured at my school. He told me about a

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<v Speaker 3>book I could get that would teach me how to

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<v Speaker 3>be a memologist, and I started preparing study skins and

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<v Speaker 3>trading specimens with museums.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh my gosh, So even in high school you were

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<v Speaker 1>starting to work on this kind of in an almost

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<v Speaker 1>professional sense, right.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, I actually it was only age of nine when

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<v Speaker 3>I started doing this.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh my god.

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<v Speaker 3>I started taking accurate field notes and really getting serious. Actually,

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<v Speaker 3>I published my first two or three papers based on

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<v Speaker 3>high school work.

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<v Speaker 1>You're like the Doogie Howser of bats.

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<v Speaker 3>Douglas Doogie Houser is a whiz kid.

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<v Speaker 1>You're like a wonder kind, like a baby bat genius.

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<v Speaker 1>Did you ever did you ever waiver in terms of

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<v Speaker 1>what you wanted to do? Did you ever say, like,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe I'll go into farming, or maybe I'll be a

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<v Speaker 1>nurse or was it bats? From age nine?

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<v Speaker 3>Well, it starts way back before that. I mean, I

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<v Speaker 3>was clearly a nature buff you know, from the beginning,

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<v Speaker 3>from the time I could talk. I mean, when I

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<v Speaker 3>was less than two years old, I knew when a

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<v Speaker 3>bonner butterfly was about to hatch from its pupa. I

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<v Speaker 3>would rear the caterpillars on a plant stuck in water

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<v Speaker 3>in the window, And when a pupa would be about

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<v Speaker 3>to hatch, I'd run around the house telling my parents,

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<v Speaker 3>you know, come quick, come quick, the butterfly is about

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<v Speaker 3>to come out.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh my god.

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<v Speaker 3>So I mean, And by the time I was five,

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<v Speaker 3>my father was big time interested in seashells and collecting,

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<v Speaker 3>and so by that time I probably knew nearly all

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<v Speaker 3>the scientific names of the seashells of Hawaii.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh my god.

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<v Speaker 3>And then later I got into snakes and Oh, man,

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<v Speaker 3>I could tell you stories endlessly about terrorizing my mother

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<v Speaker 3>and all her friends with my snakes getting loose. And

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<v Speaker 3>then I published I think two papers on shrews before

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<v Speaker 3>I did anything on bads.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh so, people, it's okay to like a lot of things.

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<v Speaker 1>Maybe over time you'll realize a common thread between your interests,

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<v Speaker 1>or a way to link them, or do both, or

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<v Speaker 1>you'll just figure out which one you truly love the most.

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<v Speaker 3>By the time I was nine, there was no question

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<v Speaker 3>I was going to be a mammalogist, and so all

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<v Speaker 3>the way through high school I was out. In fact,

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<v Speaker 3>this is an interesting part of my story in well,

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<v Speaker 3>all through college. I barely graduate from college really, In fact,

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<v Speaker 3>I was terrified the last semester of college. I found

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<v Speaker 3>out at the last minute that if I didn't have

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<v Speaker 3>a C average. In my mind, I couldn't graduate. And

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<v Speaker 3>I was taking biochemistry and I'm about to flunk it,

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<v Speaker 3>And so I stayed around the clock. I'd study for

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<v Speaker 3>like an hour and then take a twenty minute nap,

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<v Speaker 3>and study for an hour and take a twenty minute nap.

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<v Speaker 3>The reason I was terrified I had a job. I

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<v Speaker 3>was going to go directly from college to being co

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<v Speaker 3>director of a four hundred thousand dollars field project for

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<v Speaker 3>the Smithsonian.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh my god, all you needed was that, just that

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<v Speaker 1>piece of paper.

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<v Speaker 3>This was based on the fact that while I was

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<v Speaker 3>near flunking out of school, I was becoming a well

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<v Speaker 3>recognized mammalogist, hanging out with leading mammologists in the field,

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<v Speaker 3>learning from them, and skipping classes while I did it.

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<v Speaker 3>Oh no, And so the funny thing was I finally

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<v Speaker 3>did graduate, got my job at the Smithsonian, but I'd

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<v Speaker 3>been warned that I'd never make it into graduate school

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<v Speaker 3>on my lousy grades.

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<v Speaker 1>Merlin got a bachelor's in zoology at Andrews University in Michigan,

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<v Speaker 1>but he was so focused on field studies of bats

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<v Speaker 1>that he said they had to twist some arms to

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<v Speaker 1>get him admitted to graduate school at the University of Kansas.

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<v Speaker 1>He was admitted on academic probation, and his admission was

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<v Speaker 1>so conditional the school said they might not even keep

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<v Speaker 1>him past his masters even if he wanted to. But

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<v Speaker 1>he got his master's sure enough in systematics and ecology,

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<v Speaker 1>studying the zoo geography of Peruvian bats, and then he

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<v Speaker 1>stayed for his PhD in ecology and evolution. His dissertation

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<v Speaker 1>was on gray bats, and he graduated with honors, becoming

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<v Speaker 1>doctor Merlin Tuttle in nineteen seventy four.

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<v Speaker 3>I gave a commencement address this spring at a school

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<v Speaker 3>where I point out that you don't sit around and

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<v Speaker 3>wait for somebody to tell you how you're going to

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<v Speaker 3>get the biggest job opportunities, the most pay that kind

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<v Speaker 3>of thing, because it's always going to change. Whatever everybody's

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<v Speaker 3>telling students today is the big job opportunity area will

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<v Speaker 3>probably be glutted five years from now. Pick what you're

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<v Speaker 3>passionate about, and if you're passionate about what you've chosen,

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<v Speaker 3>you're probably going to be in the top five percent

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<v Speaker 3>of people doing it, and you'll get a job regardless

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<v Speaker 3>of where the job market goes. If you're really passionate

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<v Speaker 3>about something, you're smart enough to be a success at it.

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<v Speaker 3>It's not about IQ. It's about dedication and endurance and passion.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh you thought this was just about bats. Oh no way, never, No,

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<v Speaker 1>there's so much self help in here.

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<v Speaker 3>Oh, get your heart ready, and I've definitely got the passion.

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<v Speaker 1>And now what is it about bats? What drew you

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<v Speaker 1>to them? In terms of all the mammals that you

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<v Speaker 1>could study.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, I start out studying small mammals in general, particularly shrew's.

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<v Speaker 3>Shrews are very interesting, Oh very Don't worry.

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<v Speaker 1>I have my eye on a shrewd expert, doctor Leslie

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<v Speaker 1>carowainne Oregon. Come coming for you anyway. When it comes

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<v Speaker 1>to mammals, how many really fly? We just have bats

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<v Speaker 1>and sort of gliding gliding squirrels.

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<v Speaker 3>Right, only bats truly fly.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, that's what I thought, is that one thing you

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<v Speaker 1>love about them?

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<v Speaker 3>Well, I think I could have studied almost anything that

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<v Speaker 3>happened to get in my way long enough to keep

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<v Speaker 3>me focused for a while. I went through periods when

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<v Speaker 3>I loved snorkeling on coral reefs, and I could have

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<v Speaker 3>easily been a marine ecologist. I went through a phase

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<v Speaker 3>where I'm collected and identified I think one hundred and

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<v Speaker 3>sixty species of mosses and liver warts. I love nature.

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<v Speaker 3>But I think one of the things that's really made

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<v Speaker 3>me much more successful than I could have been otherwise

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<v Speaker 3>studying bats is I first loved the whole picture, all

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<v Speaker 3>of it things and had a fascination for them, and

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<v Speaker 3>so it was much easier than for me to understand

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<v Speaker 3>where my animals fit and what their roles were in

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<v Speaker 3>that system.

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<v Speaker 1>Sure, so you understood the whole puzzle, and so every

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<v Speaker 1>piece in a puzzle becomes really interesting and vital.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and you know, I get internally, at least rather

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<v Speaker 3>upset at people who are just focused on a species

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<v Speaker 3>or a group. And you've got to save these and

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<v Speaker 3>doesn't matter how many others you trample on. These have

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<v Speaker 3>got to be saved. And it's not that way. Bats

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<v Speaker 3>aren't safe until all living things are safe. They're all interlocked, interdependent,

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<v Speaker 3>and so are we. We don't get out of that.

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<v Speaker 1>Merlin, come for the bats and stay for the poetic existentialism.

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<v Speaker 1>He's the best speaking of existence. How do bats define themselves?

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<v Speaker 1>What is a bat? How do you define a bat?

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<v Speaker 1>I know that's a stupid question, but.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, they nurse their young. Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy,

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<v Speaker 3>thought that beats were true primates because they had pectorol

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<v Speaker 3>instead of England old brass primates.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, this is the flying primate hypothesis, and it relates

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<v Speaker 1>to the flying fox, which is a fruit eating megabat

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<v Speaker 1>as opposed to the smaller insect munching microbats. So side note,

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<v Speaker 1>none of them are blind as a bat. These little

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<v Speaker 1>winged fluff muffins have pretty good eyesight, and microbats use

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<v Speaker 1>incredible echolocation sonar to hunt for bugs. But revered Australian

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<v Speaker 1>neuroscientist and vision researcher Jack Pettigrew, who sadly passed away

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<v Speaker 1>earlier this year, had made an interesting discovery about megabat

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<v Speaker 1>brains and vision.

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<v Speaker 3>He discovered that all flying foxes have crossing over neurons

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<v Speaker 3>between the eyes and the midbrain. The yeah, thousands of

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<v Speaker 3>neurons that go between your eyes and your midbrain, and

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<v Speaker 3>in primates they cross over between the two sides, and

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<v Speaker 3>in no other mammal do they. So that was the diagnostic.

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<v Speaker 3>You know, if it has crossing over, it's a primate.

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<v Speaker 3>If it doesn't, it's not. That was accepted for most

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<v Speaker 3>of the history of paleontology. And then Jack found that

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<v Speaker 3>all flying foxes had to cross in over neurons like primates,

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<v Speaker 3>and all of a sudden they threw out the rule.

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<v Speaker 3>I had the good fortune of happening to speak with

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<v Speaker 3>Jack about a month before he passed away, and he said, well, moron,

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<v Speaker 3>it's not going to happen while you and I are

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<v Speaker 3>still alive. But it will happen. There'll be a day

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<v Speaker 3>when they finally decide that flying foxes are primates.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh my god, I had no idea that they were

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<v Speaker 1>even up for consideration for it. It's just such an

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<v Speaker 1>honor to just be nominated.

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<v Speaker 3>Neuronal evolution. You don't evolve new thousands of new neuronal

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<v Speaker 3>pathways just overnight. Those are the slowest parts to evolve.

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<v Speaker 3>Your fingers may get longer or shorter, things like that,

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<v Speaker 3>but your neurons are pretty stable. So when you find

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<v Speaker 3>thousands of neurons are doing the same things they do

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<v Speaker 3>in primates, you should at least take a good look

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<v Speaker 3>at what that might mean.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and now, when it comes to the evolution of bats,

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<v Speaker 1>where what are their ancestors, what are their relatives? What

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<v Speaker 1>are these beautiful, very fuzzy skypuppies as they're called come from.

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<v Speaker 3>That's probably a pretty debatable subject. When I start studying bats,

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<v Speaker 3>we recognize just a little over eight hundred species. Now

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<v Speaker 3>it's almost fourteen hundred.

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<v Speaker 1>Now are more and more people maybe going into areas

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<v Speaker 1>that haven't been explored or caves or do we have

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<v Speaker 1>better technology? Why such a jump in the number of species.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, for a very long time, bats weren't very studied.

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<v Speaker 3>I mean, you could go through a whole major in

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<v Speaker 3>biology and all you'd find out about baths was there

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<v Speaker 3>was this order chiropter and they flew and everybody ignored them.

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<v Speaker 3>And bats haven't always been the easiest thing to study,

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<v Speaker 3>even if you wanted to study them. But with modern technology,

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<v Speaker 3>we're coming up with a whole lot more ways of

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<v Speaker 3>looking at bats.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, So, a bat is a mammal covered in fur

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<v Speaker 1>that gives birth to live young and makes milk, and

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<v Speaker 1>each one has a little belly button, and it's the

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<v Speaker 1>only mammal capable of true flight. Also, you know how

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<v Speaker 1>their wings are really just big webbed hands. So imagine

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<v Speaker 1>if you had a stubby clawed thumb and then your

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<v Speaker 1>fingers got longer and longer until your pinky was as

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<v Speaker 1>long as your whole body and webbed, and then you

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00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:06.640
<v Speaker 1>were like later losers and flew away. How badass? Are you?

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<v Speaker 1>So badass? Also, bats used to be classified by their

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<v Speaker 1>coat color, which Merlin says was bunk because some bats

401
00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:18.279
<v Speaker 1>are bright orange in the wild and brown in captivity.

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<v Speaker 1>Others change color after they're weaned. So yes. Actually, speaking

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<v Speaker 1>of let's talk about teeny tiny bat babies. Shall we

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00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:31.680
<v Speaker 1>squirmy little smush faced, seashell eared fuzzy wigglers. Can you

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00:23:31.720 --> 00:23:34.759
<v Speaker 1>walk me through a little bit of a life cycle

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<v Speaker 1>of a bat?

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<v Speaker 3>Well, it's very different for different kinds of bats. Most

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00:23:40.759 --> 00:23:44.799
<v Speaker 3>bass produced just one puppy year, and that's part of

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<v Speaker 3>why they're so easily threatened with extinction. They form the

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<v Speaker 3>largest aggregations of any mammal except Homo sapiens.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh wow.

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<v Speaker 3>And they not only form these huge aggregations in very

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00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:04.119
<v Speaker 3>places like caves, but they only produce one puppy year

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<v Speaker 3>per mom. Their program for long life span, forty plus

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00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:10.640
<v Speaker 3>year old bats have been found.

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<v Speaker 1>What that's crazy. I didn't know that they could live

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<v Speaker 1>that long.

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<v Speaker 3>They're the longest lived mammals on the planet for their size.

419
00:24:18.519 --> 00:24:22.920
<v Speaker 1>That's not because normally typically isn't there a metabolism of

420
00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:27.279
<v Speaker 1>smaller mammals typically shorter and they live they live less time.

421
00:24:27.319 --> 00:24:28.119
<v Speaker 1>Do they have different hearts?

422
00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:30.519
<v Speaker 3>Rodents are lucky to get in two years?

423
00:24:30.680 --> 00:24:34.960
<v Speaker 1>Right? Yeah, So how are they doing it? Do you think? Well?

424
00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:40.960
<v Speaker 3>Bats are just totally different, and it largely centers around

425
00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:44.319
<v Speaker 3>these long life spans, and if you're going to be

426
00:24:44.359 --> 00:24:46.720
<v Speaker 3>as sophisticated and live as long as they do, you'd

427
00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:51.319
<v Speaker 3>better be sophisticated socially. And they have a lot of smarts.

428
00:24:51.359 --> 00:24:56.440
<v Speaker 3>In fact, when I first banded gray bats, I had

429
00:24:57.680 --> 00:25:02.759
<v Speaker 3>big time suspicions that they were were having friendships that

430
00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:05.799
<v Speaker 3>you know, like these four or five baths knew each

431
00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:09.680
<v Speaker 3>other and would travel around each together. Because I had

432
00:25:09.720 --> 00:25:12.720
<v Speaker 3>groups of up to several baths that I had caught

433
00:25:12.759 --> 00:25:16.279
<v Speaker 3>all at the same time. Like, let's see, I found

434
00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:17.960
<v Speaker 3>a little cluster them in a cave and I can't

435
00:25:17.960 --> 00:25:20.279
<v Speaker 3>put a handnet under them. They dropped in. I caught him,

436
00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:23.640
<v Speaker 3>and I banded him. Well, I have caught some of

437
00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:28.519
<v Speaker 3>those groups five ten years later, sometimes hundreds of miles away,

438
00:25:28.599 --> 00:25:29.279
<v Speaker 3>still together.

439
00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:32.160
<v Speaker 1>No, they have bat packs.

440
00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:35.440
<v Speaker 3>I could tell because I banded my baths at known

441
00:25:35.480 --> 00:25:37.799
<v Speaker 3>ages when they're just learning to fly coming out a

442
00:25:37.799 --> 00:25:39.480
<v Speaker 3>certain case. I know where they came from, and I

443
00:25:39.559 --> 00:25:42.039
<v Speaker 3>knew how old they were, and I knew that some

444
00:25:42.119 --> 00:25:45.720
<v Speaker 3>of these baths weren't just mom, you know, mom, pop

445
00:25:46.359 --> 00:25:53.720
<v Speaker 3>or brother sister, And so that led me to a

446
00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:56.559
<v Speaker 3>lot of wondering. But it was only in the last

447
00:25:56.559 --> 00:25:59.240
<v Speaker 3>few years that there was a paper published done on

448
00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:03.680
<v Speaker 3>some really good research that could document that kind of thing,

449
00:26:04.920 --> 00:26:09.920
<v Speaker 3>concluding that bats have social systems strikingly similar to those

450
00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:13.039
<v Speaker 3>of whales, dolphins, and primates.

451
00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:15.720
<v Speaker 1>Oh my gosh, do you think that they can communicate

452
00:26:15.720 --> 00:26:17.200
<v Speaker 1>with their sonar to each other?

453
00:26:18.279 --> 00:26:23.240
<v Speaker 3>Well, bats have a much bigger repertoire of communication ability

454
00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:25.119
<v Speaker 3>certainly than we do.

455
00:26:25.640 --> 00:26:27.279
<v Speaker 1>Really, how are they communicating?

456
00:26:27.559 --> 00:26:31.720
<v Speaker 3>They can hear our low frequencies, and they can hear

457
00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:35.799
<v Speaker 3>extremely high frequencies. They have a much broader range of hearing.

458
00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:40.240
<v Speaker 3>In fact, I years ago stayed froggating bats, and when

459
00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:44.119
<v Speaker 3>I discovered that a bat eight frogs, the herpetologists all

460
00:26:44.200 --> 00:26:47.160
<v Speaker 3>laughed and they didn't believe it because they'd never seen

461
00:26:47.160 --> 00:26:51.400
<v Speaker 3>a bat chasing a frog. And the hearing specialists, the

462
00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:55.920
<v Speaker 3>foremost hearing physiologists in America nixed my first grant proposal

463
00:26:56.400 --> 00:26:59.720
<v Speaker 3>to study it because they said that it is impossible

464
00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:02.359
<v Speaker 3>for to hear the low frequencies of rog calls.

465
00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:03.559
<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry, said.

466
00:27:04.599 --> 00:27:06.839
<v Speaker 3>They ended up doing research on how they did it.

467
00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:12.400
<v Speaker 1>Oh my god. Okay. Side note, a research institute just

468
00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:15.440
<v Speaker 1>called the Bat Lab in Tel Aviv has been analyzing

469
00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:19.960
<v Speaker 1>fifteen thousand different noises that bats make, And they made

470
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:22.039
<v Speaker 1>a recent discovery that a lot of the time they're

471
00:27:22.119 --> 00:27:25.039
<v Speaker 1>nestled together in colonies, kind of a mix between a

472
00:27:25.079 --> 00:27:28.720
<v Speaker 1>cuttle party and a rush hour commuter train from New Jersey.

473
00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:35.400
<v Speaker 1>Those noises are bats bickering, yep, just bitching at each other,

474
00:27:35.480 --> 00:27:40.039
<v Speaker 1>like Jesus, Eric over who farted? Who ate a grasshopper

475
00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:44.559
<v Speaker 1>and farted? So yes, bat squeaking is so much drama

476
00:27:44.640 --> 00:27:47.960
<v Speaker 1>in a language you can't understand. Holy shit, do I

477
00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:51.480
<v Speaker 1>wish that nature had subtitles? So do you think that

478
00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:58.079
<v Speaker 1>they are forming these social associations for survival and just

479
00:27:58.640 --> 00:27:59.759
<v Speaker 1>psychological well being?

480
00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:02.799
<v Speaker 3>Well, you know, if you're going to live at forty

481
00:28:02.839 --> 00:28:05.759
<v Speaker 3>some years and you're going to have a complex lifestyle.

482
00:28:05.799 --> 00:28:09.000
<v Speaker 3>I mean, look the gray bats that I stayed. For example,

483
00:28:10.039 --> 00:28:14.079
<v Speaker 3>you'll have a hibernation cave where maybe a half million

484
00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:16.160
<v Speaker 3>or even a million or more come to hibernate in

485
00:28:16.200 --> 00:28:19.319
<v Speaker 3>one site. Some of the destination caves, one of them

486
00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:22.400
<v Speaker 3>had an entrance so small and well concealed that after

487
00:28:22.440 --> 00:28:25.039
<v Speaker 3>I'd been going there years, I would still sometimes park

488
00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:27.960
<v Speaker 3>my car and spend twenty minutes looking for the cave entrant.

489
00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:30.759
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god, And You've got to understand that these

490
00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:36.240
<v Speaker 3>bats probably can't detect much with their echo location more

491
00:28:36.279 --> 00:28:40.160
<v Speaker 3>than maybe thirty feet or so in front. That's not

492
00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:44.640
<v Speaker 3>a whole long ways. They're having to cross terrain that

493
00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:48.319
<v Speaker 3>is changing constantly. I mean, we're cutting down forests, we're

494
00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:51.039
<v Speaker 3>building cities, we're doing everything under the sun to change

495
00:28:51.079 --> 00:28:54.160
<v Speaker 3>things on them. You've got to be pretty damn sophisticated

496
00:28:54.279 --> 00:28:57.599
<v Speaker 3>to figure all just your travel routes out. You know,

497
00:28:58.200 --> 00:29:00.519
<v Speaker 3>there's a paper published a long time ago that showed

498
00:29:00.519 --> 00:29:03.839
<v Speaker 3>that there was a species of bat that didn't eat frogs,

499
00:29:04.440 --> 00:29:08.799
<v Speaker 3>that homed in on ponds where frogs were calling, just

500
00:29:08.839 --> 00:29:11.359
<v Speaker 3>as an indicator of where they would find the most insects.

501
00:29:11.480 --> 00:29:17.720
<v Speaker 1>Oh god, that's amazing. Merlin says bats are important in

502
00:29:17.799 --> 00:29:22.000
<v Speaker 1>controlling agricultural past two like the corn earworm moths, and

503
00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:24.880
<v Speaker 1>on top of that, they are excellent meteorologists. So if

504
00:29:24.880 --> 00:29:27.359
<v Speaker 1>you see a bat, just kindly stop it and excuse me.

505
00:29:27.519 --> 00:29:30.799
<v Speaker 1>Pardon me, well, I need an umbrella tomorrow. I mean,

506
00:29:30.839 --> 00:29:33.440
<v Speaker 1>if you can stop them, well speed demons.

507
00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:37.920
<v Speaker 3>They can fly thousands of feet above ground, catch tailwinds,

508
00:29:37.960 --> 00:29:40.079
<v Speaker 3>and go one hundred mile close to one hundred miles

509
00:29:40.079 --> 00:29:43.359
<v Speaker 3>an hour, so that they can really, you know, if

510
00:29:43.400 --> 00:29:45.720
<v Speaker 3>they can figure out where the storm disturbances or things

511
00:29:45.759 --> 00:29:48.880
<v Speaker 3>are happening, they know where the insects are happening. And

512
00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:51.480
<v Speaker 3>we've probably got a lot more to learn about that.

513
00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:57.240
<v Speaker 3>But just to illustrate how important the bats can be

514
00:29:57.480 --> 00:30:01.839
<v Speaker 3>to crop protection, the bats just from Bracken Cave alone,

515
00:30:02.119 --> 00:30:04.720
<v Speaker 3>the cave that I spent twenty years getting protected near

516
00:30:04.759 --> 00:30:08.440
<v Speaker 3>San Antonio, just those bats tend to twenty million of

517
00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:11.960
<v Speaker 3>them eat between one hundred and two hundred tons of

518
00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:15.079
<v Speaker 3>insects in a night, a night, in a night.

519
00:30:15.319 --> 00:30:16.519
<v Speaker 1>Oh god.

520
00:30:17.079 --> 00:30:21.519
<v Speaker 3>And now get this. One of those bats, just one

521
00:30:21.720 --> 00:30:24.960
<v Speaker 3>can eat enough corner worm laws to prevent them from

522
00:30:25.079 --> 00:30:28.599
<v Speaker 3>laying twenty thousand or more eggs. That's enough to force

523
00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:32.960
<v Speaker 3>the Texas farmer to spray multiple acres with pesticides at

524
00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:34.839
<v Speaker 3>a cost of seventy four dollars an acre.

525
00:30:35.279 --> 00:30:37.319
<v Speaker 1>You said you weren't good at math, but I'm starting

526
00:30:37.359 --> 00:30:40.839
<v Speaker 1>to doubt that. I think you better at math. You are.

527
00:30:43.039 --> 00:30:48.119
<v Speaker 1>That's amazing. So the importance of them for pest control.

528
00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:52.519
<v Speaker 3>Is huge nationally. It's been conservatively estimated to be worth

529
00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:53.880
<v Speaker 3>twenty three billion a summer.

530
00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:55.119
<v Speaker 1>Oh my gosh.

531
00:30:55.640 --> 00:30:58.519
<v Speaker 3>But The sad thing is that we're just looking at

532
00:30:58.559 --> 00:31:00.400
<v Speaker 3>the tip of the iceberg of what it would be.

533
00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:05.279
<v Speaker 3>Most of of America's bats were probably lost before we

534
00:31:05.279 --> 00:31:05.799
<v Speaker 3>were born.

535
00:31:06.279 --> 00:31:10.440
<v Speaker 1>Really now, is what caused that decline? Was it loss

536
00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:11.160
<v Speaker 1>of habitat?

537
00:31:12.319 --> 00:31:15.720
<v Speaker 3>Loss of habitats a big factor. Loss of habitat is what,

538
00:31:15.799 --> 00:31:18.440
<v Speaker 3>of course happens when people get scared and starts burning

539
00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:19.079
<v Speaker 3>their caves.

540
00:31:20.160 --> 00:31:22.839
<v Speaker 1>Marlin told me that two decades ago, in one part

541
00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:26.480
<v Speaker 1>of Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park, he was able to

542
00:31:26.519 --> 00:31:30.200
<v Speaker 1>convince park officials to remove a concrete door that they'd

543
00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:32.119
<v Speaker 1>put up at the entrance of a cave and make

544
00:31:32.119 --> 00:31:34.599
<v Speaker 1>a friendlier to the bats who used to live there.

545
00:31:34.759 --> 00:31:37.400
<v Speaker 1>And the bats were like, oh shit, wow, okay, thank you.

546
00:31:37.759 --> 00:31:39.920
<v Speaker 3>And the parks staff were really proud this time to

547
00:31:39.960 --> 00:31:43.920
<v Speaker 3>show me that in twenty years we'd gone from right

548
00:31:43.960 --> 00:31:47.160
<v Speaker 3>at zero to three hundred thousand bats in that cave.

549
00:31:47.240 --> 00:31:48.240
<v Speaker 1>Oh that's amazing.

550
00:31:48.720 --> 00:31:52.440
<v Speaker 3>It's not too late to restore bats. But it's too

551
00:31:52.559 --> 00:31:55.799
<v Speaker 3>late if we don't change our attitudes. And it all

552
00:31:55.839 --> 00:32:01.000
<v Speaker 3>gets down to attitudes. People fear most. What they understand Lee,

553
00:32:01.319 --> 00:32:04.640
<v Speaker 3>We all fear more taken off on a plane than

554
00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:07.119
<v Speaker 3>riding to the airport in a taxi, and yet the

555
00:32:07.119 --> 00:32:10.359
<v Speaker 3>taxi is far more dangerous. Yeah, it just seems to

556
00:32:10.359 --> 00:32:14.839
<v Speaker 3>be the way we are. And it's been very easy

557
00:32:14.880 --> 00:32:19.559
<v Speaker 3>to scare people about rabies and bats, disease and bats.

558
00:32:19.599 --> 00:32:23.799
<v Speaker 3>Did you know that you're actually almost twice as likely

559
00:32:25.039 --> 00:32:27.960
<v Speaker 3>to die of a coke vending machine falling on you

560
00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:30.720
<v Speaker 3>as you are a bat. Rabies in America, I believe it.

561
00:32:31.039 --> 00:32:34.519
<v Speaker 1>I have same with sharks. Sharks kill like five people

562
00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:38.720
<v Speaker 1>a year. Relin says, way more people die of food

563
00:32:38.759 --> 00:32:43.920
<v Speaker 1>poisoning at picnics, from dog attacks, maybe even from falling coconuts.

564
00:32:44.160 --> 00:32:47.480
<v Speaker 1>In America. Your chance of dying by rabies is about

565
00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:52.000
<v Speaker 1>two million times less likely than your death by diabetes.

566
00:32:52.480 --> 00:32:55.960
<v Speaker 1>And no, lie, I left over confetti cake for breakfast.

567
00:32:56.039 --> 00:32:59.279
<v Speaker 1>I should have been terrified of it and thrown it

568
00:32:59.319 --> 00:33:02.640
<v Speaker 1>at a wall and run screaming. Based on those odds.

569
00:33:02.920 --> 00:33:06.599
<v Speaker 3>If bats were even fractionally as dangerous disease wise as

570
00:33:06.599 --> 00:33:09.119
<v Speaker 3>they're purported to be, people like me would have been

571
00:33:09.160 --> 00:33:10.119
<v Speaker 3>dead eons ago.

572
00:33:10.519 --> 00:33:12.599
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Have you ever had a bat by?

573
00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:15.319
<v Speaker 3>You ever had a bat bite me? I'm probably the

574
00:33:15.319 --> 00:33:17.640
<v Speaker 3>world's foremost authority on bat bites.

575
00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:19.279
<v Speaker 1>What is it like when they bite you.

576
00:33:19.759 --> 00:33:23.319
<v Speaker 3>Now, I'm not a guy to brag about being bit

577
00:33:23.480 --> 00:33:25.519
<v Speaker 3>I don't want to encourage people to be careless and

578
00:33:25.559 --> 00:33:27.880
<v Speaker 3>get bit by any animal they don't know, or even

579
00:33:27.960 --> 00:33:32.440
<v Speaker 3>when they do know. But here's the key. I've never

580
00:33:32.480 --> 00:33:34.920
<v Speaker 3>been bitten by a bat that wasn't bite in self

581
00:33:34.920 --> 00:33:37.720
<v Speaker 3>defense because I was handling him and he was frightened.

582
00:33:38.680 --> 00:33:41.000
<v Speaker 3>I have never been attacked by a bat. I've been

583
00:33:41.039 --> 00:33:43.440
<v Speaker 3>surrounded by millions at a time, for days at a

584
00:33:43.519 --> 00:33:47.680
<v Speaker 3>time in their caves. I've personally photographed more than three

585
00:33:47.799 --> 00:33:51.039
<v Speaker 3>hundred species in every part of the world where they exist,

586
00:33:51.640 --> 00:33:55.960
<v Speaker 3>and I've still not seen an aggressive bat. And yet

587
00:33:56.119 --> 00:33:59.119
<v Speaker 3>what you hear in these people wind is scar us

588
00:33:59.240 --> 00:34:03.559
<v Speaker 3>because there's big money in it. We hear that bats

589
00:34:03.759 --> 00:34:08.159
<v Speaker 3>are sneaking around buying people in their sleep without them

590
00:34:08.159 --> 00:34:08.639
<v Speaker 3>knowing it.

591
00:34:08.760 --> 00:34:13.519
<v Speaker 1>Merlin and other bat researchers, like veterinarians, have gotten pre

592
00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:17.679
<v Speaker 1>exposure vaccination against rabies. That just protects them against defensive

593
00:34:17.760 --> 00:34:22.039
<v Speaker 1>bites from some unfamiliar critters they handle, so unprotected. People

594
00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:26.079
<v Speaker 1>bitten by any animal, of course, should get advice regarding

595
00:34:26.280 --> 00:34:28.920
<v Speaker 1>a possible need to be vaccinated and to have the

596
00:34:28.960 --> 00:34:31.599
<v Speaker 1>animal tested for rabies. Just be safe.

597
00:34:31.920 --> 00:34:36.199
<v Speaker 3>If I'm trying to scare you into taking your rabies shots,

598
00:34:37.960 --> 00:34:41.159
<v Speaker 3>I'll tell you that almost every person in America who

599
00:34:41.199 --> 00:34:45.960
<v Speaker 3>gets rabies gets it from bat. True, but did you

600
00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:47.920
<v Speaker 3>know that's only one and a half people a year

601
00:34:47.960 --> 00:34:50.360
<v Speaker 3>out of the whole US and Canada combined.

602
00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:52.840
<v Speaker 1>One and a half people a year and.

603
00:34:53.000 --> 00:34:57.079
<v Speaker 3>One and a half people per year. I mean you risk.

604
00:34:57.920 --> 00:35:00.719
<v Speaker 3>You put your life at greater risk driving one mile

605
00:35:00.760 --> 00:35:04.679
<v Speaker 3>in a motorized vehicle then your annual risk of rabies

606
00:35:04.679 --> 00:35:08.840
<v Speaker 3>in America. And the good news is that for anybody

607
00:35:08.920 --> 00:35:13.159
<v Speaker 3>who simply doesn't handle bats, the odds of contracting rabies

608
00:35:13.280 --> 00:35:16.280
<v Speaker 3>or any disease from bat are right at zero.

609
00:35:16.639 --> 00:35:19.519
<v Speaker 1>So we recorded this at Merlin's kitchen table in Austin,

610
00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:22.519
<v Speaker 1>which is of course known for its caves and bats

611
00:35:22.719 --> 00:35:24.719
<v Speaker 1>and attractive people in bands.

612
00:35:25.199 --> 00:35:28.400
<v Speaker 3>Look at the Congress Avenue bridge right here in Austin.

613
00:35:29.519 --> 00:35:32.760
<v Speaker 3>When hundreds of thousands of baths started moving into that bridge,

614
00:35:33.199 --> 00:35:36.559
<v Speaker 3>public health people warned that they were rabid, dangerous, would

615
00:35:36.559 --> 00:35:41.360
<v Speaker 3>attack people. People signed petitions demanding that they'd be eradicated.

616
00:35:41.719 --> 00:35:44.119
<v Speaker 3>They're right on the verge of doing it. When I

617
00:35:44.199 --> 00:35:47.679
<v Speaker 3>came here and convinced the city that they might be

618
00:35:47.679 --> 00:35:53.519
<v Speaker 3>better off saving the bats. Today, decades later, we're still

619
00:35:53.559 --> 00:35:56.719
<v Speaker 3>waiting for the first person to be attacked. We're still

620
00:35:56.719 --> 00:36:00.760
<v Speaker 3>waiting for the first person to contract a disease. The

621
00:36:00.840 --> 00:36:04.480
<v Speaker 3>bats are simply eating tons of insects nightly and bring

622
00:36:04.480 --> 00:36:09.000
<v Speaker 3>in millions of tourist dollars every summer. You can't find

623
00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:12.920
<v Speaker 3>a better safer neighbor, my neighbor.

624
00:36:13.360 --> 00:36:15.119
<v Speaker 1>Now, what about people who want to put up bat

625
00:36:15.159 --> 00:36:17.719
<v Speaker 1>boxes in front of their or you know, on their house.

626
00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:19.760
<v Speaker 3>Well, it's a great idea if you're going to go

627
00:36:19.800 --> 00:36:21.920
<v Speaker 3>to all that trouble or expense, so just be sure

628
00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:24.280
<v Speaker 3>you do it right. If you go to my website,

629
00:36:24.360 --> 00:36:30.159
<v Speaker 3>there's a resource on my website at Merlin Tuttle dot

630
00:36:30.280 --> 00:36:35.800
<v Speaker 3>org that tells you how to recognize a good bathouse

631
00:36:35.840 --> 00:36:40.960
<v Speaker 3>from one that isn't good, and even less several producers

632
00:36:40.960 --> 00:36:44.119
<v Speaker 3>that make good ones that I have personally tested.

633
00:36:44.880 --> 00:36:48.679
<v Speaker 1>Okay, side note. A bathouse is a relatively flat, usually wooden,

634
00:36:48.760 --> 00:36:51.239
<v Speaker 1>structure about the size of a suitcase, and you can

635
00:36:51.280 --> 00:36:54.559
<v Speaker 1>mount it on your house or barn about twelve to

636
00:36:54.599 --> 00:36:57.840
<v Speaker 1>twenty feet off the ground, so little flying critters can

637
00:36:57.960 --> 00:37:01.880
<v Speaker 1>nestle up and roost in it like little snugly furry sardines.

638
00:37:02.159 --> 00:37:05.199
<v Speaker 3>Well, I'm the one that first introduced bad houses to America.

639
00:37:05.480 --> 00:37:07.159
<v Speaker 1>You did? Was that a hard sell?

640
00:37:07.800 --> 00:37:11.079
<v Speaker 3>The hard sell was with my colleagues. Really, I had

641
00:37:11.119 --> 00:37:15.119
<v Speaker 3>several leading colleagues who actually one of them even published

642
00:37:15.119 --> 00:37:18.360
<v Speaker 3>a scientific paper claiming that bad houses didn't work. And

643
00:37:18.400 --> 00:37:23.480
<v Speaker 3>it was unfortunate that, without naming me specifically, that some

644
00:37:23.519 --> 00:37:27.400
<v Speaker 3>people were promoting them to raise money despite the fact

645
00:37:27.400 --> 00:37:31.320
<v Speaker 3>they didn't work. And all of these people that made

646
00:37:31.360 --> 00:37:34.119
<v Speaker 3>those kind of claims ended up using them as research

647
00:37:34.199 --> 00:37:35.960
<v Speaker 3>sites for their students when they worked.

648
00:37:37.840 --> 00:37:42.280
<v Speaker 1>Did they ever issue a public formal apology? No, I

649
00:37:42.559 --> 00:37:45.320
<v Speaker 1>still owe you one. So I didn't want to take

650
00:37:45.360 --> 00:37:47.079
<v Speaker 1>up too much of Merlin's time, and I thought I'd

651
00:37:47.079 --> 00:37:49.920
<v Speaker 1>just move on to the Patreon questions. But as we

652
00:37:49.960 --> 00:37:53.000
<v Speaker 1>have established, Merlin is the best, and he was in

653
00:37:53.039 --> 00:37:55.199
<v Speaker 1>no hurry to wrap up the bat facts.

654
00:37:55.320 --> 00:37:57.280
<v Speaker 3>Before we get there, though, let me point out, you

655
00:37:57.360 --> 00:38:00.320
<v Speaker 3>know that there's a lot of interest in people find

656
00:38:00.360 --> 00:38:03.840
<v Speaker 3>out that they couldn't have margaritas without bats. Oh really,

657
00:38:04.239 --> 00:38:10.320
<v Speaker 3>Mexico's tequila and mescal industries, which those products sell for

658
00:38:10.440 --> 00:38:13.159
<v Speaker 3>billions of dollars annually could be lost. Without bats to

659
00:38:13.199 --> 00:38:17.599
<v Speaker 3>pollinate the agavees which produced those products, the whole chewing

660
00:38:17.599 --> 00:38:21.199
<v Speaker 3>gum industry might never have existed if it wasn't for

661
00:38:21.679 --> 00:38:25.960
<v Speaker 3>the chicklay tree, that is bat seed dispersed.

662
00:38:27.239 --> 00:38:30.199
<v Speaker 1>Okay, side note, there was a study done recently in Indonesia,

663
00:38:30.320 --> 00:38:33.320
<v Speaker 1>which is one of the top three suppliers of cacao beans,

664
00:38:33.639 --> 00:38:38.559
<v Speaker 1>and researchers found that bats saved farmers nearly eight hundred

665
00:38:38.639 --> 00:38:42.480
<v Speaker 1>million dollars a year by eating bugs. So every time

666
00:38:42.800 --> 00:38:46.760
<v Speaker 1>you see chocolate, wink at it and say, hey, bats, thanks,

667
00:38:47.599 --> 00:38:50.119
<v Speaker 1>you did this. You did this to my mouth, and

668
00:38:50.159 --> 00:38:50.840
<v Speaker 1>I'm grateful.

669
00:38:51.360 --> 00:38:57.239
<v Speaker 3>The whole world price of chocolate could go up without bats.

670
00:38:58.239 --> 00:39:01.159
<v Speaker 1>And now what areas of the country we tend to

671
00:39:01.239 --> 00:39:03.360
<v Speaker 1>have more bats because I know you're here in Austin

672
00:39:03.360 --> 00:39:07.719
<v Speaker 1>where there are tons of caves, so bats and spilologists

673
00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:09.239
<v Speaker 1>I imagine our friends.

674
00:39:09.960 --> 00:39:15.000
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, we're we're lucky here in Texas because clear back

675
00:39:15.039 --> 00:39:18.039
<v Speaker 3>from the Civil War, it was known that bats had

676
00:39:18.079 --> 00:39:23.280
<v Speaker 3>some value. They mined the guano for saltpeter to make gunpowder.

677
00:39:24.039 --> 00:39:27.440
<v Speaker 3>In fact, one of the biggest declines ever in American

678
00:39:27.480 --> 00:39:31.239
<v Speaker 3>bats came during the War of eighteen twelve when extensive

679
00:39:31.719 --> 00:39:35.079
<v Speaker 3>bat caves were mined for saltpeter for gunpowder.

680
00:39:35.119 --> 00:39:37.239
<v Speaker 1>Who's taking care of the guano in the caves? Like

681
00:39:37.599 --> 00:39:39.559
<v Speaker 1>you've got let's say a million bats in a cave,

682
00:39:39.840 --> 00:39:45.039
<v Speaker 1>there's some droppings, what's normally digesting that? Where's that?

683
00:39:45.159 --> 00:39:48.719
<v Speaker 3>Well, now you've come to a whole new area. We

684
00:39:48.719 --> 00:39:52.400
<v Speaker 3>could have spent most of our time talking about bats

685
00:39:52.440 --> 00:39:56.079
<v Speaker 3>are the primary producers of energy in a cave ecosystem,

686
00:39:56.159 --> 00:39:59.199
<v Speaker 3>no less than plants are on the surface. Oh wow,

687
00:40:00.199 --> 00:40:04.079
<v Speaker 3>And there are thousands and thousands of different kinds of

688
00:40:04.079 --> 00:40:08.719
<v Speaker 3>microorganisms A studied done bracking cave. I think there was

689
00:40:08.960 --> 00:40:12.239
<v Speaker 3>at least a thousand species and maybe a couple hundred

690
00:40:12.360 --> 00:40:15.519
<v Speaker 3>genera of bacteria and a tablespoonful of guano from there,

691
00:40:15.800 --> 00:40:17.840
<v Speaker 3>and most of them weren't known from any place else.

692
00:40:18.719 --> 00:40:21.119
<v Speaker 3>And among those they found a whole bunch of them

693
00:40:21.119 --> 00:40:26.960
<v Speaker 3>that had biotechnological significance. That See, when they domestic insects

694
00:40:27.239 --> 00:40:31.880
<v Speaker 3>in that cave feed on the bat droppings, their poop

695
00:40:32.280 --> 00:40:36.440
<v Speaker 3>ends up creating a lot of ammonia. And they found

696
00:40:37.480 --> 00:40:43.400
<v Speaker 3>enzymes that are breaking down ammonia feeding on ammonia, and

697
00:40:43.480 --> 00:40:45.760
<v Speaker 3>they could be used to detoxify some of the worst

698
00:40:45.840 --> 00:40:50.719
<v Speaker 3>chemical waste of industry in America. They also found bacteria

699
00:40:50.800 --> 00:40:54.679
<v Speaker 3>that were feeding on kiten, which leads to a whole

700
00:40:54.679 --> 00:41:00.199
<v Speaker 3>bunch of interesting possibilities. If you're feeding on kiten, be

701
00:41:00.360 --> 00:41:06.440
<v Speaker 3>used to convert seafood waste by products, you know, the

702
00:41:06.519 --> 00:41:12.159
<v Speaker 3>shels of lobsters and shrimp and things like that. You

703
00:41:12.199 --> 00:41:15.639
<v Speaker 3>could convert that using these bacteria to gas a hole.

704
00:41:16.360 --> 00:41:19.599
<v Speaker 1>What ps What is gas a hall? I had to

705
00:41:19.599 --> 00:41:22.199
<v Speaker 1>look this up and it's a blend of gasoline and ethanol. Boom.

706
00:41:22.320 --> 00:41:24.360
<v Speaker 1>Kind of like if your gas tank took some shots

707
00:41:24.639 --> 00:41:29.480
<v Speaker 1>of everclear that was made from usually leftover agricultural starches,

708
00:41:29.639 --> 00:41:34.039
<v Speaker 1>and this fuel may offer lower levels of certain emissions.

709
00:41:34.320 --> 00:41:37.239
<v Speaker 1>Ever Clear into your own personal gas tank of your

710
00:41:37.239 --> 00:41:40.679
<v Speaker 1>stomach does increase emissions of three am pizza barth, so

711
00:41:40.760 --> 00:41:43.840
<v Speaker 1>watch out for that. But anyway, bats and caves and

712
00:41:43.880 --> 00:41:45.079
<v Speaker 1>science in the future.

713
00:41:45.440 --> 00:41:49.920
<v Speaker 3>But it wouldn't be terribly surprising a someday someone found

714
00:41:49.960 --> 00:41:53.639
<v Speaker 3>that they had the billion dollar bug from a cave

715
00:41:53.719 --> 00:41:56.119
<v Speaker 3>system where it wasn't found anywhere else and wouldn't have

716
00:41:56.119 --> 00:41:59.000
<v Speaker 3>been if it hadn't been for the bats still being there.

717
00:41:59.519 --> 00:42:03.679
<v Speaker 1>Now, like to do field work in caves and what

718
00:42:03.800 --> 00:42:06.880
<v Speaker 1>is that? What does the night of fieldwork look like

719
00:42:06.920 --> 00:42:09.119
<v Speaker 1>to you? And did you ever feel claustrophobic?

720
00:42:10.199 --> 00:42:16.559
<v Speaker 3>Hi? You kidding? Well, the day that I made a

721
00:42:16.599 --> 00:42:20.880
<v Speaker 3>wrong turn and crawled down a real tight squeezed for

722
00:42:20.880 --> 00:42:27.039
<v Speaker 3>one hundred feet, I felt very claustrophobic. I'd been told

723
00:42:27.440 --> 00:42:31.320
<v Speaker 3>that there was one hundred thousand bats in this place

724
00:42:31.320 --> 00:42:37.800
<v Speaker 3>where they'd escape noticed by people. And to get there, oh,

725
00:42:37.800 --> 00:42:40.599
<v Speaker 3>it was horrible. There was a little passage so small.

726
00:42:40.679 --> 00:42:42.559
<v Speaker 3>You had to lie on your belly or your back

727
00:42:42.599 --> 00:42:46.360
<v Speaker 3>with your arms either going down along your sides or

728
00:42:46.440 --> 00:42:49.880
<v Speaker 3>up ahead pinned and squeeze through. And you had to

729
00:42:49.960 --> 00:42:52.719
<v Speaker 3>siphon water out of the tunnel before you could go in.

730
00:42:52.960 --> 00:42:57.599
<v Speaker 3>Oh god, And it was forty three degree temperature blowing

731
00:42:57.760 --> 00:43:01.280
<v Speaker 3>through this. And back then we didn't have wetsuits or anything.

732
00:43:01.920 --> 00:43:04.880
<v Speaker 3>So I'm going through just dressed with long John's and

733
00:43:05.159 --> 00:43:09.800
<v Speaker 3>a jumpsuit on. And so I get good and soak

734
00:43:09.880 --> 00:43:11.519
<v Speaker 3>and wet. I come out the other side, and the

735
00:43:11.559 --> 00:43:13.679
<v Speaker 3>cavers have told me there's a real tight squeeze on

736
00:43:13.719 --> 00:43:15.639
<v Speaker 3>the other side, but don't worry. It opens up on

737
00:43:15.679 --> 00:43:18.519
<v Speaker 3>the other side where the bats are I'm going in,

738
00:43:18.800 --> 00:43:21.119
<v Speaker 3>so I go into the real tight squeeze. Don't worry.

739
00:43:21.159 --> 00:43:23.000
<v Speaker 3>It opens up on the other side where the bats are.

740
00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:26.440
<v Speaker 3>But I missed the tight squeeze that they found. I

741
00:43:26.519 --> 00:43:29.079
<v Speaker 3>found another one, and my tight squeeze didn't have any end.

742
00:43:29.440 --> 00:43:33.320
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god, and I ended up. I don't know

743
00:43:33.320 --> 00:43:35.559
<v Speaker 3>how long I was in that thing, But back in

744
00:43:35.599 --> 00:43:38.639
<v Speaker 3>those days, we had six folk batteries that I would

745
00:43:38.800 --> 00:43:41.559
<v Speaker 3>hang in a pistol off a pistol belt on my side.

746
00:43:42.840 --> 00:43:44.960
<v Speaker 3>As I crawled down this and my arms pinned up

747
00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:47.320
<v Speaker 3>in front of me, I couldn't even reach back to

748
00:43:47.360 --> 00:43:50.000
<v Speaker 3>do anything about my battery. Once I got in there

749
00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:52.840
<v Speaker 3>and realized that it wasn't gonna I wasn't going to

750
00:43:52.880 --> 00:43:54.599
<v Speaker 3>come out on the other side. And a few feet

751
00:43:55.559 --> 00:44:01.320
<v Speaker 3>I caught my battery in a tight spot and pulled

752
00:44:01.360 --> 00:44:03.119
<v Speaker 3>it loose from my head lights, so I didn't even

753
00:44:03.199 --> 00:44:07.280
<v Speaker 3>have a light. And then I'm squeezing through places so tired,

754
00:44:07.320 --> 00:44:11.719
<v Speaker 3>I'm practically breaking ribs, and I know that there's no

755
00:44:11.800 --> 00:44:14.559
<v Speaker 3>way I'm going to come out alive if I don't

756
00:44:14.599 --> 00:44:16.480
<v Speaker 3>find a place to turn around, so I have to

757
00:44:16.559 --> 00:44:21.239
<v Speaker 3>keep going ahead. And I went ahead for like about

758
00:44:21.239 --> 00:44:25.679
<v Speaker 3>one hundred feet it seemed like a mile and finally

759
00:44:25.719 --> 00:44:28.239
<v Speaker 3>found a place where if I had, I swear, if

760
00:44:28.239 --> 00:44:30.199
<v Speaker 3>I'd been one inch taller, I wouldn't have been able

761
00:44:30.199 --> 00:44:30.840
<v Speaker 3>to turn around.

762
00:44:31.079 --> 00:44:36.159
<v Speaker 1>Oh my god, Oh man, I'm freaking out. I'm having

763
00:44:36.159 --> 00:44:38.320
<v Speaker 1>an anxiety attack listening to this.

764
00:44:38.920 --> 00:44:42.039
<v Speaker 3>That made me much more careful about what I crawl into.

765
00:44:42.960 --> 00:44:46.639
<v Speaker 1>How when you got through, when you were able to,

766
00:44:46.760 --> 00:44:49.320
<v Speaker 1>thank God, turn around and get through, because then you

767
00:44:49.360 --> 00:44:51.480
<v Speaker 1>had to do the tight squeeze again.

768
00:44:51.599 --> 00:44:53.719
<v Speaker 3>I wasn't even sure I could get back through it all.

769
00:44:53.920 --> 00:44:56.880
<v Speaker 1>Oh my god, what was it like when you got out?

770
00:44:57.119 --> 00:44:59.559
<v Speaker 3>And by the time I got out, remember by that time,

771
00:44:59.599 --> 00:45:03.519
<v Speaker 3>I would have in hypothermic, you know, just absolutely teeth chattering, and.

772
00:45:04.400 --> 00:45:07.679
<v Speaker 1>Oh man, what was that like when you got out?

773
00:45:09.039 --> 00:45:10.840
<v Speaker 1>How did you celebrate that night? Did you just go

774
00:45:10.960 --> 00:45:12.840
<v Speaker 1>straight home? I would go, I've been like I'm done

775
00:45:12.840 --> 00:45:13.880
<v Speaker 1>for the day.

776
00:45:14.480 --> 00:45:14.599
<v Speaker 2>Uh.

777
00:45:15.840 --> 00:45:17.760
<v Speaker 1>Or did you go through the next tight squeeze to

778
00:45:17.760 --> 00:45:18.519
<v Speaker 1>where the bats were?

779
00:45:18.559 --> 00:45:23.559
<v Speaker 3>I actually did go see where the baths were lived unstoppable. Well,

780
00:45:23.599 --> 00:45:25.320
<v Speaker 3>I wasn't going to go through all that misery not

781
00:45:25.880 --> 00:45:27.559
<v Speaker 3>find out if the baths were actually there.

782
00:45:29.199 --> 00:45:32.039
<v Speaker 1>Oh now, how was that tight squeeze was that easy.

783
00:45:32.159 --> 00:45:34.400
<v Speaker 3>Well, it was a tight squeeze for about four feet,

784
00:45:34.480 --> 00:45:36.159
<v Speaker 3>like they said, and then it opened up.

785
00:45:36.599 --> 00:45:40.039
<v Speaker 1>Oh my god. So you went through twenty five times

786
00:45:40.039 --> 00:45:42.719
<v Speaker 1>what you needed to, really fifty times that you needed to.

787
00:45:42.960 --> 00:45:45.199
<v Speaker 1>You had to come all the way back. How are

788
00:45:45.199 --> 00:45:45.599
<v Speaker 1>the bats?

789
00:45:46.599 --> 00:45:50.800
<v Speaker 3>Well, I have found a lot of undiscovered parts of

790
00:45:50.880 --> 00:45:53.880
<v Speaker 3>caves by looking for bats, because a lot of our

791
00:45:53.920 --> 00:45:57.920
<v Speaker 3>bats nowadays only survive where people can't find them. And

792
00:45:59.239 --> 00:46:05.079
<v Speaker 3>so by sometimes following where you see bats disappearing, you

793
00:46:05.079 --> 00:46:07.079
<v Speaker 3>can find caves that nobody knew about.

794
00:46:08.119 --> 00:46:12.760
<v Speaker 1>So they're kind of like the tour guides into unknown caves.

795
00:46:12.800 --> 00:46:13.519
<v Speaker 1>Come follow me.

796
00:46:14.119 --> 00:46:18.199
<v Speaker 3>We started earlier to talk about what's happened to American bats.

797
00:46:18.239 --> 00:46:22.079
<v Speaker 3>What the cause of decline is a major major cause

798
00:46:22.079 --> 00:46:27.480
<v Speaker 3>of decline is loss of hibernation caves. The Mammoth Cave

799
00:46:27.559 --> 00:46:32.000
<v Speaker 3>system alone had millions, probably tens of millions of bats

800
00:46:32.039 --> 00:46:37.159
<v Speaker 3>hibernating in Early visitors reported that you could go for

801
00:46:37.320 --> 00:46:40.000
<v Speaker 3>miles and the walls were solidly covered with bats in

802
00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:40.360
<v Speaker 3>the winter.

803
00:46:40.599 --> 00:46:41.519
<v Speaker 1>Oh my god.

804
00:46:42.280 --> 00:46:46.440
<v Speaker 3>And they've lost those resources and now they have to

805
00:46:46.480 --> 00:46:50.920
<v Speaker 3>travel much farther to find a place over winter. When

806
00:46:50.920 --> 00:46:53.960
<v Speaker 3>they get there, it's often too warm or too cold

807
00:46:54.039 --> 00:46:57.519
<v Speaker 3>and stresses amount so they have to wait squander energy

808
00:46:57.599 --> 00:47:01.400
<v Speaker 3>faster than they should. All this makes them vulnerable to

809
00:47:01.440 --> 00:47:03.880
<v Speaker 3>what else may happen. That's a threat.

810
00:47:04.519 --> 00:47:04.679
<v Speaker 1>You know.

811
00:47:04.719 --> 00:47:07.360
<v Speaker 3>It's like you've got a pie here, and every time

812
00:47:07.400 --> 00:47:09.360
<v Speaker 3>you take a piece out of it, you got that

813
00:47:09.480 --> 00:47:13.719
<v Speaker 3>much less energy left for survival. So you know, it's

814
00:47:13.920 --> 00:47:17.519
<v Speaker 3>my opinion that many of the deaths that have occurred

815
00:47:17.559 --> 00:47:20.559
<v Speaker 3>in recent years from the fungus that causes white nose

816
00:47:20.599 --> 00:47:26.239
<v Speaker 3>syndrome may very well not have occurred had the bats

817
00:47:26.320 --> 00:47:30.760
<v Speaker 3>not lost key hibernation sites and were already suffering at

818
00:47:30.760 --> 00:47:33.960
<v Speaker 3>the edge of their energy limits right now.

819
00:47:34.480 --> 00:47:35.920
<v Speaker 1>And that was a question I was going to get

820
00:47:35.920 --> 00:47:37.280
<v Speaker 1>to you, which I'm glad you brought it up. But

821
00:47:37.400 --> 00:47:41.559
<v Speaker 1>what is exactly white no syndrome. This is a fungal infection.

822
00:47:41.960 --> 00:47:47.320
<v Speaker 3>It's a fungal infection that appears to have been inadvertently

823
00:47:47.320 --> 00:47:50.320
<v Speaker 3>introduced from Europe. It's found all across Europe in Asia.

824
00:47:50.800 --> 00:47:54.519
<v Speaker 3>The bats in Europe and Asia rarely are harmed by it.

825
00:47:54.599 --> 00:47:56.880
<v Speaker 3>They may have been harmed by it a long time ago,

826
00:47:56.960 --> 00:48:02.840
<v Speaker 3>but they've evolved immunity. And it's been said that some

827
00:48:03.000 --> 00:48:06.440
<v Speaker 3>human undoubtedly brought it, who went to a cave in

828
00:48:06.519 --> 00:48:11.599
<v Speaker 3>Europe and then went to a cave in America. But truthfully,

829
00:48:11.599 --> 00:48:13.840
<v Speaker 3>we don't know how it got here. I think it's

830
00:48:14.119 --> 00:48:17.400
<v Speaker 3>more probable that a bat came across from Europe and

831
00:48:17.440 --> 00:48:21.679
<v Speaker 3>a shipping container. They're published records of quite a few

832
00:48:21.719 --> 00:48:26.039
<v Speaker 3>bats have ended up in the US or UK just

833
00:48:26.239 --> 00:48:30.079
<v Speaker 3>because they got on in a crevice and a shipping container.

834
00:48:30.159 --> 00:48:31.840
<v Speaker 3>The next thing they knew, they were waking up out

835
00:48:31.840 --> 00:48:33.400
<v Speaker 3>and see where they couldn't get off, and then they

836
00:48:33.440 --> 00:48:34.639
<v Speaker 3>ended up in a new country.

837
00:48:35.360 --> 00:48:38.679
<v Speaker 1>Everybody, oh my gosh. And so maybe one that was

838
00:48:38.719 --> 00:48:42.159
<v Speaker 1>infected with it spread it to a cave. Do they

839
00:48:42.199 --> 00:48:46.960
<v Speaker 1>know the actual area where they first kind of identified

840
00:48:47.000 --> 00:48:48.719
<v Speaker 1>it on this continent.

841
00:48:49.079 --> 00:48:52.559
<v Speaker 3>Yes, it was a commercial cave in New York, and

842
00:48:54.199 --> 00:48:58.320
<v Speaker 3>it's been said that that proved that it was human born.

843
00:48:58.679 --> 00:49:02.679
<v Speaker 3>But if a new fungus came to a state, where

844
00:49:02.679 --> 00:49:05.800
<v Speaker 3>would you expect it to be seen first in a

845
00:49:05.840 --> 00:49:09.840
<v Speaker 3>commercial cave where people are going every day. It doesn't

846
00:49:09.880 --> 00:49:13.559
<v Speaker 3>mean that people started it there. It just means that

847
00:49:13.599 --> 00:49:15.679
<v Speaker 3>it was more likely to be found there, right.

848
00:49:16.000 --> 00:49:20.360
<v Speaker 1>Correlation, of course, is not causation, So more peepers on

849
00:49:20.559 --> 00:49:24.039
<v Speaker 1>bat noses could just have helped identify it faster. We

850
00:49:24.119 --> 00:49:24.440
<v Speaker 1>don't know.

851
00:49:24.639 --> 00:49:28.480
<v Speaker 3>There's been a huge focus on stopping it spread by

852
00:49:28.480 --> 00:49:32.840
<v Speaker 3>telling people that they couldn't go in caves anymore, and

853
00:49:33.159 --> 00:49:36.840
<v Speaker 3>that hasn't even slowed the spread because bats are far

854
00:49:36.960 --> 00:49:42.440
<v Speaker 3>more effective spreaders. Just bats that I banded in one

855
00:49:42.480 --> 00:49:46.199
<v Speaker 3>cave in northern Alabama ended up being found almost all

856
00:49:46.239 --> 00:49:49.320
<v Speaker 3>the way into the state of Kansas, into Missouri, into Oklahoma,

857
00:49:49.880 --> 00:49:57.159
<v Speaker 3>into Arkansas, Mississippi, Florida, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina.

858
00:49:57.280 --> 00:50:02.559
<v Speaker 1>They're like truckers. They really make in and around. And now

859
00:50:02.599 --> 00:50:06.039
<v Speaker 1>are they finding a place to sleep? Every night or

860
00:50:06.119 --> 00:50:11.320
<v Speaker 1>rather every day? Typically? Our most bats nocturnal. Are they

861
00:50:11.480 --> 00:50:13.239
<v Speaker 1>sleeping like on a daily schedule?

862
00:50:13.440 --> 00:50:17.800
<v Speaker 3>The only truly diurnal or at least partially diurnal bats

863
00:50:17.840 --> 00:50:21.719
<v Speaker 3>are on remote islands where there are very few birds

864
00:50:21.719 --> 00:50:25.119
<v Speaker 3>of prey. Okay, a bat in the daytime is pretty

865
00:50:25.159 --> 00:50:26.440
<v Speaker 3>easy prey for a hawk.

866
00:50:26.719 --> 00:50:28.679
<v Speaker 1>When are they sleeping, like, let's say that they are

867
00:50:28.760 --> 00:50:30.880
<v Speaker 1>out and about. Are they returning to the same cave

868
00:50:31.039 --> 00:50:34.880
<v Speaker 1>unless it's a hibernation period or a migration period.

869
00:50:35.159 --> 00:50:40.760
<v Speaker 3>Bats are very loyal to specific areas. If you have

870
00:50:41.039 --> 00:50:43.760
<v Speaker 3>four or five caves fairly close together. They may very

871
00:50:43.760 --> 00:50:46.920
<v Speaker 3>well move among those. In my study, I banded forty

872
00:50:46.960 --> 00:50:51.280
<v Speaker 3>some thousand gray bats and track them for twenty years,

873
00:50:51.519 --> 00:50:53.639
<v Speaker 3>so I got pretty good date on what the bats

874
00:50:53.639 --> 00:50:58.000
<v Speaker 3>are doing. They were very loyal to a home what

875
00:50:58.079 --> 00:51:00.400
<v Speaker 3>i'd call a home area. They'd have a nurse cave

876
00:51:00.440 --> 00:51:04.199
<v Speaker 3>that was center focus. Then they'd usually have a few

877
00:51:04.280 --> 00:51:09.000
<v Speaker 3>ba I call bachelor caves within a few kilometers around that.

878
00:51:08.880 --> 00:51:14.719
<v Speaker 1>One bachelor caves were they mostly dudes. Okay, quick, before

879
00:51:14.719 --> 00:51:18.119
<v Speaker 1>the dudes, let's divert to some lady batfax. So Merlin

880
00:51:18.199 --> 00:51:22.079
<v Speaker 1>says that before a female gray bat can breed, for example,

881
00:51:22.239 --> 00:51:25.519
<v Speaker 1>she has to have access to some insect rich territories,

882
00:51:25.800 --> 00:51:29.079
<v Speaker 1>but those are usually guarded by the older females who

883
00:51:29.119 --> 00:51:32.599
<v Speaker 1>probably chatter at them things like back off, Mikayla, this

884
00:51:32.639 --> 00:51:36.000
<v Speaker 1>is Denise's mosquito patch. She will cut you. So Michaela

885
00:51:36.119 --> 00:51:39.159
<v Speaker 1>will have to wait before breeding. But in populations that

886
00:51:39.199 --> 00:51:42.639
<v Speaker 1>have declined, those turf wars don't happen, so lady bats

887
00:51:42.639 --> 00:51:46.000
<v Speaker 1>can breed easier and earlier if they have access to

888
00:51:46.000 --> 00:51:48.239
<v Speaker 1>food stores. Kind of like if you had a sizzler

889
00:51:48.440 --> 00:51:50.519
<v Speaker 1>all to yourself, you'd be like look at all these croutcheons.

890
00:51:50.639 --> 00:51:51.679
<v Speaker 1>Might as well have some kids.

891
00:51:51.920 --> 00:51:54.880
<v Speaker 3>But most gray bats wait a year or so before

892
00:51:54.880 --> 00:51:58.599
<v Speaker 3>they act. They'll breed, they'll mate the first fall, but

893
00:51:58.840 --> 00:52:01.239
<v Speaker 3>my belief is that probably they just if they don't

894
00:52:01.320 --> 00:52:03.719
<v Speaker 3>get enough energy the next spring to produce a feed

895
00:52:03.800 --> 00:52:08.039
<v Speaker 3>as they resorb it, which is known to occur in bats.

896
00:52:08.480 --> 00:52:12.280
<v Speaker 3>Oh wow, they have wonderful birth control methods that they

897
00:52:12.280 --> 00:52:16.159
<v Speaker 3>don't waste anything. You know, they resort the embryo.

898
00:52:16.800 --> 00:52:19.239
<v Speaker 1>Wow, they can recycle it if they're like not a

899
00:52:19.239 --> 00:52:20.079
<v Speaker 1>good time not.

900
00:52:20.360 --> 00:52:22.800
<v Speaker 3>I don't know whether gray bats resorb or not, but

901
00:52:22.840 --> 00:52:24.360
<v Speaker 3>some bats do. I know that.

902
00:52:24.760 --> 00:52:27.079
<v Speaker 1>I'ms it, Daisy, let me just recycle those molecules.

903
00:52:27.639 --> 00:52:32.639
<v Speaker 3>I did not know that, but any rate, I knew

904
00:52:32.719 --> 00:52:38.880
<v Speaker 3>one place where a banded female own the same territory

905
00:52:38.960 --> 00:52:44.840
<v Speaker 3>for at least four consecutive years, and she probably was

906
00:52:44.880 --> 00:52:50.679
<v Speaker 3>allowing her offspring special access to her territory.

907
00:52:51.039 --> 00:52:55.360
<v Speaker 1>So it's almost like a dynasty or a legacy territory.

908
00:52:55.639 --> 00:52:58.719
<v Speaker 3>Well, they know each other, that's so cool.

909
00:52:59.199 --> 00:53:01.360
<v Speaker 1>I loved I love that they think that, like Han Kamer,

910
00:53:01.639 --> 00:53:03.559
<v Speaker 1>four or five of us were friends. They come come

911
00:53:03.679 --> 00:53:05.880
<v Speaker 1>check out my territory. Some of my insects like, no,

912
00:53:06.000 --> 00:53:07.800
<v Speaker 1>go for it, go for it. We're good, we're friends.

913
00:53:08.440 --> 00:53:10.880
<v Speaker 3>Now you asked about you know, are these old dudes

914
00:53:10.920 --> 00:53:15.960
<v Speaker 3>at the bachelor's caps. No, they're dudes and gals that

915
00:53:16.039 --> 00:53:20.840
<v Speaker 3>haven't yet can see far enough to produce an offspring.

916
00:53:21.880 --> 00:53:25.239
<v Speaker 1>Now, do they tend to have the same mate year

917
00:53:25.320 --> 00:53:25.840
<v Speaker 1>after year?

918
00:53:26.159 --> 00:53:26.280
<v Speaker 2>Not?

919
00:53:26.400 --> 00:53:32.239
<v Speaker 3>Gray bats? Oh, gray bats might offend a few people's tastes.

920
00:53:34.199 --> 00:53:36.639
<v Speaker 3>They have what appears to be a grand old orgy

921
00:53:36.679 --> 00:53:41.719
<v Speaker 3>every fall. But there are bats that are monogamous really

922
00:53:42.400 --> 00:53:46.280
<v Speaker 3>and apparently stick together for long periods of time. One

923
00:53:46.320 --> 00:53:49.719
<v Speaker 3>will stay with the pup and babysit, and the other

924
00:53:49.760 --> 00:53:52.920
<v Speaker 3>will go out and hunt and bring rats and things back,

925
00:53:53.000 --> 00:53:55.280
<v Speaker 3>and for the one that's babysitting.

926
00:53:55.400 --> 00:53:58.280
<v Speaker 1>Oh my god, Now, what is the biggest bat in

927
00:53:58.320 --> 00:53:59.719
<v Speaker 1>the smallest bat You've.

928
00:53:59.519 --> 00:54:02.639
<v Speaker 3>Got every thing from giant flying foxes with almost six

929
00:54:02.679 --> 00:54:04.440
<v Speaker 3>foot wingspans.

930
00:54:03.880 --> 00:54:08.280
<v Speaker 1>Six foot wingspans. Yeah, that's bigger than this table. I

931
00:54:08.320 --> 00:54:12.880
<v Speaker 1>had no idea they were that big. Yeah, Oh my god. Wow. Okay,

932
00:54:12.920 --> 00:54:13.440
<v Speaker 1>so they're.

933
00:54:13.320 --> 00:54:17.039
<v Speaker 3>Huge all the way down to tiny little bumblebee bats,

934
00:54:17.079 --> 00:54:20.960
<v Speaker 3>which actually I'm leading a trip in November to show

935
00:54:21.679 --> 00:54:25.880
<v Speaker 3>members of Merlin Tttle's bat conservation. These bats, We're gonna

936
00:54:25.920 --> 00:54:28.440
<v Speaker 3>look at the flying foxes and the bumblebee bats on

937
00:54:28.480 --> 00:54:29.199
<v Speaker 3>the same trip.

938
00:54:29.400 --> 00:54:31.519
<v Speaker 1>What where are they?

939
00:54:31.559 --> 00:54:32.039
<v Speaker 3>Thailand?

940
00:54:32.440 --> 00:54:35.000
<v Speaker 1>They're both in Thailand. Uh huh my god, that's an

941
00:54:35.039 --> 00:54:38.119
<v Speaker 1>amazing trip. I might just have to piggyback on that trip.

942
00:54:39.320 --> 00:54:42.559
<v Speaker 1>Look at that about So in mid November, Merlin is

943
00:54:42.639 --> 00:54:47.000
<v Speaker 1>leading a group through Thailand to see painted bats, flying foxes,

944
00:54:47.320 --> 00:54:50.199
<v Speaker 1>we little bumblebee bats and more so is this man

945
00:54:50.320 --> 00:54:53.320
<v Speaker 1>living his dream or what the answer is? Yes. Also,

946
00:54:53.400 --> 00:54:57.639
<v Speaker 1>it should be noted that Merlin is an incredible bat photographer.

947
00:54:57.920 --> 00:55:01.599
<v Speaker 1>In his thousands of Bats photos are kind of like

948
00:55:01.639 --> 00:55:04.880
<v Speaker 1>if bats had a glamour shot studio set up in

949
00:55:04.920 --> 00:55:08.360
<v Speaker 1>the jungle. He has photos of huge eared bats and

950
00:55:08.440 --> 00:55:12.760
<v Speaker 1>scrunch face bats and dog looking flying foxes and bright orange,

951
00:55:12.800 --> 00:55:15.920
<v Speaker 1>fuzzy little pups by the bye. Why do some bats

952
00:55:16.039 --> 00:55:19.599
<v Speaker 1>have long noses like an Irish setter dog and others

953
00:55:19.679 --> 00:55:22.159
<v Speaker 1>have a face that looks like they pressed a vagina

954
00:55:22.440 --> 00:55:25.519
<v Speaker 1>against glass and it stayed that way. Well, in general,

955
00:55:25.840 --> 00:55:29.960
<v Speaker 1>microbats with the squish face eat bugs, and they rely

956
00:55:30.159 --> 00:55:33.880
<v Speaker 1>on echolocation that comes from and bounces off their mouth

957
00:55:33.960 --> 00:55:36.559
<v Speaker 1>and their nose leaf. And yeah, that things called a

958
00:55:36.639 --> 00:55:41.119
<v Speaker 1>nose leaf anyway. Flying fox type megabats, by contrast, tend

959
00:55:41.199 --> 00:55:43.440
<v Speaker 1>to eat fruit, which they don't have to hunt because

960
00:55:43.480 --> 00:55:45.679
<v Speaker 1>fruit tends not to fly around innovate them, so they

961
00:55:45.679 --> 00:55:48.239
<v Speaker 1>don't have all of those nose leaves. Also, is now

962
00:55:48.280 --> 00:55:50.360
<v Speaker 1>an okay time to list off some of my favorite

963
00:55:50.360 --> 00:55:53.719
<v Speaker 1>bat names. Okay, good, Just listen to these. The little

964
00:55:53.760 --> 00:55:58.440
<v Speaker 1>golden mantled flying fox, Patresa's triedent leaf nose bat, Eastern

965
00:55:58.519 --> 00:56:02.800
<v Speaker 1>small footed myotis a mountain tube nosed fruit bat, a

966
00:56:02.880 --> 00:56:06.679
<v Speaker 1>dragon tube nosed froot bat, demonic tube nosed fruit bat,

967
00:56:07.000 --> 00:56:12.519
<v Speaker 1>Saint Egen's trumpet eared bat, hoary wattled bat, pungent pipistrelle,

968
00:56:12.719 --> 00:56:16.639
<v Speaker 1>white bellied yellow bat, wrinkle lipped, free tailed bat, cinnamon

969
00:56:16.719 --> 00:56:21.960
<v Speaker 1>dog faced bat, naked rumped pouch bat, hammer headed fruit bat. Well,

970
00:56:21.960 --> 00:56:24.280
<v Speaker 1>by the way, the last of which, the hammerhead, has

971
00:56:24.320 --> 00:56:27.360
<v Speaker 1>a face kind of like a warped horse. It looks

972
00:56:27.400 --> 00:56:30.599
<v Speaker 1>like if you shrunk a moose tiny and then gave

973
00:56:30.639 --> 00:56:33.480
<v Speaker 1>it wings. If it were a Star Wars creature, people

974
00:56:33.519 --> 00:56:35.719
<v Speaker 1>would be like, h this is too much. And that

975
00:56:35.800 --> 00:56:39.559
<v Speaker 1>fills my heart with warm rays of golden sunshine. One

976
00:56:39.599 --> 00:56:41.360
<v Speaker 1>thing I find so interesting about bat is that their

977
00:56:41.440 --> 00:56:44.960
<v Speaker 1>head shapes very so so much like that. Isn't there

978
00:56:44.960 --> 00:56:48.719
<v Speaker 1>a hammerhead bat that just looks like a balloon kind of?

979
00:56:49.400 --> 00:56:49.559
<v Speaker 2>Oh?

980
00:56:49.599 --> 00:56:53.000
<v Speaker 3>I love those big male hammerhead bats. I never worked

981
00:56:53.079 --> 00:56:55.280
<v Speaker 3>so hard in my life trying to get a picture

982
00:56:55.320 --> 00:57:00.480
<v Speaker 3>of a bat. I caught dozens of hammerhead bats, but

983
00:57:00.519 --> 00:57:02.400
<v Speaker 3>I never got an alpha male.

984
00:57:03.440 --> 00:57:05.519
<v Speaker 1>I know that the alphas have bigger heads.

985
00:57:06.159 --> 00:57:09.880
<v Speaker 3>They have bigger heads. Well, they're older and they're more developed.

986
00:57:09.960 --> 00:57:15.679
<v Speaker 3>Mm hm uh. I've I definitely have the world's most

987
00:57:15.960 --> 00:57:18.159
<v Speaker 3>nearly complete collection of bat photos.

988
00:57:18.440 --> 00:57:20.920
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, your bat photos are amazing, but.

989
00:57:20.960 --> 00:57:25.599
<v Speaker 3>I still don't have a fully Now. I've got some

990
00:57:25.679 --> 00:57:29.280
<v Speaker 3>pretty nice males, but not the not the gorgeous one

991
00:57:29.280 --> 00:57:29.800
<v Speaker 3>that I want.

992
00:57:30.599 --> 00:57:33.280
<v Speaker 1>So you've seen ones that you just haven't been able

993
00:57:33.280 --> 00:57:33.840
<v Speaker 1>to photograph.

994
00:57:33.960 --> 00:57:37.800
<v Speaker 3>The reason I don't have the gorgeous one, those alpha

995
00:57:37.840 --> 00:57:41.679
<v Speaker 3>males are usually way the highest up in the safest

996
00:57:41.679 --> 00:57:46.920
<v Speaker 3>place courting, and they're not coming down to feed where

997
00:57:46.920 --> 00:57:49.039
<v Speaker 3>I can catch them very much. The people are catching

998
00:57:49.039 --> 00:57:51.079
<v Speaker 3>those are putting nets way up in the canopy of

999
00:57:51.119 --> 00:57:54.960
<v Speaker 3>the forest, And back when I was trying to catch mine,

1000
00:57:54.960 --> 00:57:57.320
<v Speaker 3>we didn't yet have triple what we call triple high

1001
00:57:57.360 --> 00:57:59.679
<v Speaker 3>nets that we could raise up to where they.

1002
00:57:59.639 --> 00:58:05.079
<v Speaker 1>Are, and so there are probably unphotographed like alpha male

1003
00:58:05.800 --> 00:58:07.280
<v Speaker 1>hammerhead bats out there.

1004
00:58:08.199 --> 00:58:13.880
<v Speaker 3>Well, people looking for ebola in them have photographed them.

1005
00:58:15.159 --> 00:58:19.960
<v Speaker 3>And that's another sore point with me. You'd think nowadays

1006
00:58:19.960 --> 00:58:25.079
<v Speaker 3>that it had been documented clearly that bats are the

1007
00:58:25.119 --> 00:58:27.519
<v Speaker 3>source of ebola, and yet that's not true at all.

1008
00:58:28.239 --> 00:58:32.199
<v Speaker 3>After all these years of speculating that came from bats

1009
00:58:32.679 --> 00:58:35.480
<v Speaker 3>and spending millions of dollars trying to prove it came

1010
00:58:35.480 --> 00:58:40.519
<v Speaker 3>from bats, Still, in my opinion, the best evidence doesn't

1011
00:58:40.519 --> 00:58:41.199
<v Speaker 3>go to bats.

1012
00:58:41.480 --> 00:58:43.280
<v Speaker 1>Really, where do you think it came from?

1013
00:58:44.159 --> 00:58:46.559
<v Speaker 3>Well, we hadn't don't have any proof yet. Okay. The

1014
00:58:46.639 --> 00:58:50.159
<v Speaker 3>last time they said they had real good evidence that

1015
00:58:51.039 --> 00:58:54.239
<v Speaker 3>ebola might come from bats, they found a piece of

1016
00:58:54.400 --> 00:58:59.840
<v Speaker 3>RNA virus in an insectivorous bat's mouth in a mouth swab.

1017
00:59:00.800 --> 00:59:04.360
<v Speaker 3>They said this was related to ebola, you know it was.

1018
00:59:04.760 --> 00:59:08.760
<v Speaker 3>They couldn't prove it, but it was a genetic fragment

1019
00:59:08.800 --> 00:59:14.760
<v Speaker 3>that could be. But another virologist himself pointed out that

1020
00:59:14.760 --> 00:59:17.039
<v Speaker 3>that could just as easily come from the bat eating

1021
00:59:17.079 --> 00:59:20.239
<v Speaker 3>a mosquito or something that was carrying ebola, making the

1022
00:59:20.280 --> 00:59:22.079
<v Speaker 3>bat a controller instead of a vector.

1023
00:59:22.400 --> 00:59:23.360
<v Speaker 1>Oh my god.

1024
00:59:23.559 --> 00:59:28.840
<v Speaker 3>What I point out is that even sick bats rarely

1025
00:59:29.079 --> 00:59:33.440
<v Speaker 3>become aggressive. It is so rare that in sixty years

1026
00:59:33.440 --> 00:59:36.880
<v Speaker 3>of studying bats all over the world, hundreds of species,

1027
00:59:37.440 --> 00:59:39.639
<v Speaker 3>I have yet to see an aggressive bat or to

1028
00:59:39.719 --> 00:59:44.159
<v Speaker 3>document one actually going out and attacking somebody. I mean

1029
00:59:44.320 --> 00:59:47.199
<v Speaker 3>a vampire bat in Latin America. Yes, may sneak up

1030
00:59:47.199 --> 00:59:49.599
<v Speaker 3>and try to get a nip at night and a bike.

1031
00:59:50.519 --> 00:59:52.159
<v Speaker 3>That's not what we're talking about in the rest of

1032
00:59:52.199 --> 00:59:58.920
<v Speaker 3>the world. Yeah, our bats. Simply if I saw a

1033
00:59:58.960 --> 01:00:02.719
<v Speaker 3>bat that looked aggress I would assume immediately that it

1034
01:00:02.760 --> 01:00:08.239
<v Speaker 3>had rabies. I wouldn't no joking about it, and I'd

1035
01:00:08.480 --> 01:00:12.000
<v Speaker 3>have be treated or have somebody treated if it seemed

1036
01:00:12.000 --> 01:00:16.039
<v Speaker 3>to bitten anybody. But even touching a rabbit bat is

1037
01:00:16.079 --> 01:00:18.639
<v Speaker 3>not an exposure if you're not bitten or exposed to

1038
01:00:18.679 --> 01:00:19.480
<v Speaker 3>an open wound.

1039
01:00:20.119 --> 01:00:23.360
<v Speaker 1>Raby's side note is a virus that can be transmitted

1040
01:00:23.440 --> 01:00:27.039
<v Speaker 1>from animals to humans, and it is potentially fatal if

1041
01:00:27.039 --> 01:00:30.119
<v Speaker 1>it's not treated. But Merlin says that a fear of

1042
01:00:30.199 --> 01:00:34.320
<v Speaker 1>rabies is very lucrative, so post treatment for rabies, which

1043
01:00:34.360 --> 01:00:37.079
<v Speaker 1>people have been known to get needlessly in a panic

1044
01:00:37.159 --> 01:00:40.280
<v Speaker 1>without even being bitten by or touching a bat just

1045
01:00:40.360 --> 01:00:43.800
<v Speaker 1>seeing one. That treatment will run you forty eight thousand

1046
01:00:43.840 --> 01:00:49.639
<v Speaker 1>dollars in some American emergency rooms. Dogs, coyotes, foxes, skunks,

1047
01:00:49.760 --> 01:00:53.559
<v Speaker 1>raccoons can also all carry rabies. But bats are out

1048
01:00:53.599 --> 01:00:54.760
<v Speaker 1>there taking the heat.

1049
01:00:54.960 --> 01:01:00.760
<v Speaker 3>Let me make one point abundantly clear for anybody who

1050
01:01:00.840 --> 01:01:05.639
<v Speaker 3>simply doesn't handle bats, the odds of contracting anty disease

1051
01:01:05.760 --> 01:01:08.639
<v Speaker 3>from any bat are very close to zero.

1052
01:01:08.880 --> 01:01:10.440
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, oh, I believe it.

1053
01:01:10.719 --> 01:01:12.880
<v Speaker 3>We hear so much about baths, but did you know

1054
01:01:12.960 --> 01:01:16.280
<v Speaker 3>that worldwide dogs count for ninety nine percent of human rabies,

1055
01:01:16.599 --> 01:01:19.360
<v Speaker 3>about sixty thousand a year, as opposed to probably ten

1056
01:01:19.400 --> 01:01:21.800
<v Speaker 3>a year worldwide from baths. You know, we're kind of

1057
01:01:21.880 --> 01:01:24.519
<v Speaker 3>naturally a little bit frightened of anything we don't know about.

1058
01:01:24.639 --> 01:01:27.239
<v Speaker 3>We don't know much about baths. We only see a

1059
01:01:27.280 --> 01:01:30.840
<v Speaker 3>bout when he's in trouble, dying, or you know, being defensive.

1060
01:01:31.119 --> 01:01:33.239
<v Speaker 1>Oh my gosh, Can I ask you listener questions?

1061
01:01:33.280 --> 01:01:33.519
<v Speaker 3>Sure?

1062
01:01:33.599 --> 01:01:37.599
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, okay, they have good questions. Okay, before we get

1063
01:01:37.599 --> 01:01:41.440
<v Speaker 1>to your questions, there were almost three hundred and fifty submitted,

1064
01:01:41.760 --> 01:01:44.639
<v Speaker 1>the most for any episode to date. But first, a

1065
01:01:44.679 --> 01:01:46.960
<v Speaker 1>word about some sponsors who make it possible to donate

1066
01:01:47.000 --> 01:01:49.360
<v Speaker 1>to a cause each week. This one was easy. The

1067
01:01:49.440 --> 01:01:53.000
<v Speaker 1>Merlin title Back Conservation. It's an organization that relies on

1068
01:01:53.480 --> 01:01:57.360
<v Speaker 1>a powerful combination of science, field knowledge and photography to

1069
01:01:57.440 --> 01:02:00.880
<v Speaker 1>help save millions of bats to pre tech, public health

1070
01:02:01.119 --> 01:02:05.599
<v Speaker 1>economies and worldwide ecosystems by teaching people to live harmoniously

1071
01:02:05.920 --> 01:02:08.880
<v Speaker 1>with bats. And the founder's a pretty dang cool guy.

1072
01:02:09.039 --> 01:02:12.559
<v Speaker 1>So a donation went directly to that nonprofit at Merlin

1073
01:02:12.679 --> 01:02:15.400
<v Speaker 1>tuttle dot org. And now you may hear some words

1074
01:02:15.400 --> 01:02:19.840
<v Speaker 1>from sponsors who made that possible. Okay, back to the

1075
01:02:19.880 --> 01:02:22.320
<v Speaker 1>first half of your questions, and next week a follow

1076
01:02:22.400 --> 01:02:25.599
<v Speaker 1>up episode with the remainder of your questions and more

1077
01:02:25.840 --> 01:02:29.920
<v Speaker 1>field adventures from Merlin. Okay, First up, Claire Meyer and

1078
01:02:30.159 --> 01:02:32.960
<v Speaker 1>Heather Densmore asked a similar question to this first one.

1079
01:02:33.079 --> 01:02:36.079
<v Speaker 1>Sarah Ayinucci wants to know can bats be trained?

1080
01:02:37.599 --> 01:02:38.360
<v Speaker 3>Absolutely?

1081
01:02:38.719 --> 01:02:39.079
<v Speaker 1>Really?

1082
01:02:39.599 --> 01:02:44.639
<v Speaker 3>Go to my website at Merlin tuttle dot org. Go

1083
01:02:44.719 --> 01:02:49.119
<v Speaker 3>to videos, and you will see a bat training me

1084
01:02:50.119 --> 01:02:50.679
<v Speaker 3>training you.

1085
01:02:51.559 --> 01:02:52.400
<v Speaker 1>This bat.

1086
01:02:54.440 --> 01:02:58.559
<v Speaker 3>Weighs just four grams, that's less than a US nickel

1087
01:03:00.119 --> 01:03:02.440
<v Speaker 3>small that I was convinced that there was no way

1088
01:03:02.480 --> 01:03:04.760
<v Speaker 3>you could have trained him. He couldn't be smart enough

1089
01:03:04.760 --> 01:03:07.840
<v Speaker 3>to be trained. And yet the first one I got,

1090
01:03:10.039 --> 01:03:12.400
<v Speaker 3>I put it in my walk in studio because I

1091
01:03:12.440 --> 01:03:16.840
<v Speaker 3>was going to photograph it there, and I fed it mealworms,

1092
01:03:17.000 --> 01:03:19.280
<v Speaker 3>hand fed it while I held it when I first

1093
01:03:19.320 --> 01:03:21.920
<v Speaker 3>took it in after I'd caught it, and then I

1094
01:03:22.000 --> 01:03:24.559
<v Speaker 3>left it over the night, came back the next day

1095
01:03:24.679 --> 01:03:30.280
<v Speaker 3>to do some photography. As soon as I walked into

1096
01:03:30.320 --> 01:03:33.719
<v Speaker 3>my studio, the bat flew down and started bumping me

1097
01:03:33.800 --> 01:03:36.079
<v Speaker 3>in the nose, flying up and bumping me in the nose.

1098
01:03:36.920 --> 01:03:38.800
<v Speaker 3>And I wouldn't tell this story if I didn't have

1099
01:03:38.960 --> 01:03:43.800
<v Speaker 3>proof recording. This bat is bumping me in the nose

1100
01:03:44.199 --> 01:03:46.760
<v Speaker 3>time after time. In fact, he did it so many

1101
01:03:46.800 --> 01:03:49.199
<v Speaker 3>times that my wife had time to go run and

1102
01:03:49.199 --> 01:03:51.079
<v Speaker 3>grab another camera and say, oh, I got to get

1103
01:03:51.119 --> 01:03:52.840
<v Speaker 3>this here. Put your shirt on. You know, it was

1104
01:03:52.880 --> 01:03:55.199
<v Speaker 3>really hot and I was without a shirt on. Said

1105
01:03:55.239 --> 01:03:56.800
<v Speaker 3>this is going to be interesting. Put your shirt on.

1106
01:03:57.119 --> 01:04:02.480
<v Speaker 3>And the bat's still doing it, and so I finally go.

1107
01:04:02.599 --> 01:04:06.360
<v Speaker 3>I realized that the bat was trying to get my attention.

1108
01:04:06.440 --> 01:04:09.199
<v Speaker 3>He wasn't attacking me, So I got a meal worm.

1109
01:04:09.760 --> 01:04:11.840
<v Speaker 3>As soon as I held the meal worm up to him,

1110
01:04:12.159 --> 01:04:13.880
<v Speaker 3>he flew right up and took the meal worm out

1111
01:04:13.920 --> 01:04:19.159
<v Speaker 3>of my hand. Now here's an animal weighs less than nickel.

1112
01:04:19.920 --> 01:04:25.360
<v Speaker 3>Never seen a human only hours before, never saw meal

1113
01:04:25.400 --> 01:04:29.119
<v Speaker 3>worm hours before, never caught a non flying insect, probably

1114
01:04:29.159 --> 01:04:33.039
<v Speaker 3>in his life. And now he all of a sudden

1115
01:04:33.159 --> 01:04:37.800
<v Speaker 3>remembers from the night before that I'm good for food,

1116
01:04:39.159 --> 01:04:41.320
<v Speaker 3>and that it's better to come bump me in the nose.

1117
01:04:41.360 --> 01:04:43.400
<v Speaker 3>If he wants to get my attention, why is he

1118
01:04:43.440 --> 01:04:45.679
<v Speaker 3>not bumping my shoulder or my knee, or my hand,

1119
01:04:46.119 --> 01:04:52.519
<v Speaker 3>you know, someplace else. And if this seems almost unbelievable,

1120
01:04:53.360 --> 01:04:57.239
<v Speaker 3>three years later, we went to Taiwan and they caught

1121
01:04:57.679 --> 01:05:00.480
<v Speaker 3>a bat of that same genus, a wooly bat that

1122
01:05:00.760 --> 01:05:02.599
<v Speaker 3>hadn't been named yet. It was a new species.

1123
01:05:03.360 --> 01:05:06.519
<v Speaker 1>Side note, wooly bats looked like if you shrunk a

1124
01:05:06.559 --> 01:05:10.159
<v Speaker 1>buffalo and washed and conditioned and blowed rit its hair

1125
01:05:10.440 --> 01:05:13.960
<v Speaker 1>and then stuck huge beige cone ears on it, just

1126
01:05:14.039 --> 01:05:14.760
<v Speaker 1>the fuzziest.

1127
01:05:15.280 --> 01:05:17.760
<v Speaker 3>And they brought it to me to show them how

1128
01:05:17.800 --> 01:05:22.000
<v Speaker 3>to photograph a back catching flying insects, which is a

1129
01:05:22.039 --> 01:05:28.880
<v Speaker 3>real challenge, and so it was. They didn't. It rained

1130
01:05:28.920 --> 01:05:30.880
<v Speaker 3>a lot, and they didn't catch this bat until like

1131
01:05:31.079 --> 01:05:32.760
<v Speaker 3>two nights before I had to leave the country, and

1132
01:05:32.800 --> 01:05:34.840
<v Speaker 3>I figured, God help me, I'll never be able to

1133
01:05:34.920 --> 01:05:37.199
<v Speaker 3>train this bat and do these things in that time.

1134
01:05:38.079 --> 01:05:41.360
<v Speaker 3>And so I decided though I'd go through the motions

1135
01:05:42.199 --> 01:05:45.079
<v Speaker 3>had to. So I take the bat into my studio

1136
01:05:45.119 --> 01:05:46.800
<v Speaker 3>and I came get him to eat meal worms out

1137
01:05:46.800 --> 01:05:48.760
<v Speaker 3>of my hand. He will have nothing to do with

1138
01:05:49.480 --> 01:05:53.599
<v Speaker 3>cooperating at all. So I finally let him go in there.

1139
01:05:54.119 --> 01:05:56.679
<v Speaker 3>But I knew I couldn't keep a small animal like

1140
01:05:56.760 --> 01:05:58.880
<v Speaker 3>that without him having food, or he'd die on me

1141
01:05:58.880 --> 01:06:02.320
<v Speaker 3>in It'd be very embarrassing to be a leading conservation

1142
01:06:02.440 --> 01:06:06.199
<v Speaker 3>is killing a new species before it got described. God,

1143
01:06:07.199 --> 01:06:10.719
<v Speaker 3>So I released some aws to fly around in there

1144
01:06:10.840 --> 01:06:13.280
<v Speaker 3>with him. Came back a little while later to see

1145
01:06:13.320 --> 01:06:15.880
<v Speaker 3>if he'd eaten any of them. I saw wings on

1146
01:06:15.880 --> 01:06:17.920
<v Speaker 3>the floor, so I said, okay, I can keep him

1147
01:06:18.000 --> 01:06:22.719
<v Speaker 3>n till tomorrow night. Anyway, hmm. The next evening, I

1148
01:06:22.840 --> 01:06:25.239
<v Speaker 3>come walking in, knowing that there was no way I

1149
01:06:25.280 --> 01:06:27.920
<v Speaker 3>was going to photograph this bat because he's a total

1150
01:06:28.000 --> 01:06:32.760
<v Speaker 3>non cooperator. I unzipped the corner and start to come in,

1151
01:06:32.840 --> 01:06:34.679
<v Speaker 3>and then when I came in, he started bumping me

1152
01:06:34.719 --> 01:06:37.000
<v Speaker 3>in the nose, just like the one in Barneo had done.

1153
01:06:37.280 --> 01:06:42.599
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god, different, you know, totally different locality, totally

1154
01:06:42.599 --> 01:06:43.559
<v Speaker 3>different species.

1155
01:06:45.400 --> 01:06:47.280
<v Speaker 1>I wonder if that's how they nursed. Do you think

1156
01:06:47.280 --> 01:06:49.559
<v Speaker 1>that that's maybe how they get their mother's attention.

1157
01:06:49.960 --> 01:06:52.000
<v Speaker 3>I have no idea, But how would I relate to

1158
01:06:52.039 --> 01:06:56.719
<v Speaker 3>his mother? Tell me about your mother his His mother

1159
01:06:56.840 --> 01:06:58.119
<v Speaker 3>wasn't as big as my nose.

1160
01:06:59.400 --> 01:07:02.079
<v Speaker 1>Oh god. So they can be trained, and they can

1161
01:07:02.119 --> 01:07:02.480
<v Speaker 1>train you.

1162
01:07:03.119 --> 01:07:07.960
<v Speaker 3>I have trained quite a few bats. I can train

1163
01:07:08.039 --> 01:07:12.440
<v Speaker 3>them to go where I point. And primatologists tell me

1164
01:07:12.480 --> 01:07:14.639
<v Speaker 3>that they haven't even been able to train primates to

1165
01:07:14.679 --> 01:07:17.159
<v Speaker 3>do that. They've been able to train domestic dogs to

1166
01:07:17.199 --> 01:07:18.960
<v Speaker 3>go where you point, but not primates.

1167
01:07:19.280 --> 01:07:19.559
<v Speaker 1>Wow.

1168
01:07:19.800 --> 01:07:22.320
<v Speaker 3>And so when I was talking to a primatologists one time,

1169
01:07:22.400 --> 01:07:25.800
<v Speaker 3>she was really excited when when I said that I

1170
01:07:25.800 --> 01:07:29.039
<v Speaker 3>could train baths to go where I pointed. In fact,

1171
01:07:29.079 --> 01:07:32.119
<v Speaker 3>I've trained them to a point where I wanted them

1172
01:07:32.119 --> 01:07:35.960
<v Speaker 3>to come, catch pray, take my hand back. And then

1173
01:07:36.000 --> 01:07:39.360
<v Speaker 3>a camera film crew would start with a high speed camera,

1174
01:07:39.440 --> 01:07:41.239
<v Speaker 3>and the bat would wait and wouldn't come until I

1175
01:07:41.280 --> 01:07:43.360
<v Speaker 3>heard the high speed camera come, and then he would come.

1176
01:07:43.679 --> 01:07:47.119
<v Speaker 1>Oh my gosh, that's better than most actors in LA

1177
01:07:47.679 --> 01:07:49.039
<v Speaker 1>can hit a mark on time.

1178
01:07:49.159 --> 01:07:52.239
<v Speaker 3>I mean I had one of those baths that just

1179
01:07:52.480 --> 01:07:56.039
<v Speaker 3>new field assistant overtamed. I told him how important it

1180
01:07:56.119 --> 01:07:57.880
<v Speaker 3>was to get these baths over their fear of us

1181
01:07:57.920 --> 01:08:01.199
<v Speaker 3>and everything, and he just overdid it. So the next night,

1182
01:08:02.559 --> 01:08:06.760
<v Speaker 3>my colleague Mike Ryan and I went out to do experiments,

1183
01:08:06.840 --> 01:08:08.760
<v Speaker 3>and we couldn't do experiments because the bat wanted to

1184
01:08:08.760 --> 01:08:12.280
<v Speaker 3>come sit on our shoulders wait to be fed. I

1185
01:08:12.320 --> 01:08:14.719
<v Speaker 3>finally just gave up, didn't want to rough the bat up,

1186
01:08:14.800 --> 01:08:17.159
<v Speaker 3>just gave up and went and turned it. Our lab

1187
01:08:17.239 --> 01:08:19.920
<v Speaker 3>was in the jungle, so I just went turned it

1188
01:08:19.960 --> 01:08:23.880
<v Speaker 3>loose back in the jungle, and at least half an hour,

1189
01:08:24.000 --> 01:08:27.600
<v Speaker 3>maybe forty five minutes later, I don't remember exactly, we

1190
01:08:27.760 --> 01:08:30.560
<v Speaker 3>had come out of the forest, walked back to where

1191
01:08:30.600 --> 01:08:33.479
<v Speaker 3>I was staying, and we're standing under a floodlight talking

1192
01:08:34.079 --> 01:08:37.640
<v Speaker 3>and this bat came back and started coming for my hand,

1193
01:08:38.079 --> 01:08:40.560
<v Speaker 3>and I actually, for a second thought I was seeing

1194
01:08:40.600 --> 01:08:43.800
<v Speaker 3>my first bet attack. I couldn't believe this thing had

1195
01:08:43.800 --> 01:08:45.760
<v Speaker 3>followed us back out of the jungle and was just

1196
01:08:45.800 --> 01:08:46.960
<v Speaker 3>wanting another hand out.

1197
01:08:48.600 --> 01:08:49.760
<v Speaker 1>Did you have anything to feed it?

1198
01:08:51.039 --> 01:08:55.159
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, we had some leftover minnows and and my assistant

1199
01:08:55.479 --> 01:08:57.720
<v Speaker 3>had kind of become better acquainted with that bath than

1200
01:08:57.760 --> 01:09:02.560
<v Speaker 3>I had. The bat had had one. They have big ears,

1201
01:09:02.560 --> 01:09:05.840
<v Speaker 3>this species does, and one of his ears half of

1202
01:09:05.880 --> 01:09:11.760
<v Speaker 3>it was missing. So my assistant noticed that and said, oh,

1203
01:09:11.840 --> 01:09:13.399
<v Speaker 3>that's a bat. We just turned loose.

1204
01:09:14.199 --> 01:09:16.439
<v Speaker 1>Do you ever miss bats when you have to leave

1205
01:09:16.600 --> 01:09:18.319
<v Speaker 1>a certain field site? Are you like I'm going to

1206
01:09:18.359 --> 01:09:18.960
<v Speaker 1>miss that? Bet?

1207
01:09:20.279 --> 01:09:24.720
<v Speaker 3>I have at times practically died of curiosity wondering what

1208
01:09:24.720 --> 01:09:26.720
<v Speaker 3>would have happened if I'd have had another week or

1209
01:09:26.760 --> 01:09:29.479
<v Speaker 3>another month or something to work with that bat? How

1210
01:09:29.520 --> 01:09:33.279
<v Speaker 3>smart would it have turned out to be? I mean,

1211
01:09:33.359 --> 01:09:38.239
<v Speaker 3>I normally don't work with the same bat. A week

1212
01:09:38.279 --> 01:09:40.600
<v Speaker 3>would be a long time for me to work with one. Bet.

1213
01:09:40.880 --> 01:09:45.600
<v Speaker 1>So, Yes, bats can be trained. Boy, howdy can they? So?

1214
01:09:45.640 --> 01:09:48.079
<v Speaker 1>Sarah I and Ichi who asked this question had no

1215
01:09:48.359 --> 01:09:50.920
<v Speaker 1>idea how much I thought that that was going to

1216
01:09:50.960 --> 01:09:54.560
<v Speaker 1>be a big No? I had no idea. Oh that

1217
01:09:54.640 --> 01:09:56.680
<v Speaker 1>was a great question, then, Oh my gosh.

1218
01:09:56.800 --> 01:10:00.319
<v Speaker 3>And after all these years of studying bats, I am

1219
01:10:00.399 --> 01:10:05.000
<v Speaker 3>still discovering really cool, neat new things about their intelligence.

1220
01:10:05.399 --> 01:10:07.359
<v Speaker 3>I am amazed at their intelligence.

1221
01:10:07.720 --> 01:10:10.119
<v Speaker 1>Oh and quick aside, In the wild, bats can use

1222
01:10:10.239 --> 01:10:15.720
<v Speaker 1>echolocation at precise angles to detect insects. Hiding still in leaves.

1223
01:10:16.000 --> 01:10:18.960
<v Speaker 1>And also they'll spy on other species to see where

1224
01:10:18.960 --> 01:10:22.039
<v Speaker 1>they get their food sources. Also, per our discussion earlier,

1225
01:10:22.239 --> 01:10:24.960
<v Speaker 1>they talk. They talk to each other. They're talking to

1226
01:10:25.000 --> 01:10:27.600
<v Speaker 1>each other and they're bitches and I love it. I

1227
01:10:27.640 --> 01:10:31.239
<v Speaker 1>have another question from Catherine Hatcher, who herself is an ologist.

1228
01:10:31.279 --> 01:10:33.560
<v Speaker 1>She's a first time question asker. She said, I want

1229
01:10:33.560 --> 01:10:35.800
<v Speaker 1>to know all about bat babies. How are they born,

1230
01:10:36.079 --> 01:10:39.239
<v Speaker 1>what does bat birth like? Can they fly? Right away?

1231
01:10:40.119 --> 01:10:44.159
<v Speaker 1>Tell me all the bat baby facts, depending.

1232
01:10:43.760 --> 01:10:47.119
<v Speaker 3>On whether you're a species that bears twins or singletons.

1233
01:10:47.479 --> 01:10:52.439
<v Speaker 3>Twins are born much smaller than singletons, but most bass

1234
01:10:52.439 --> 01:10:55.840
<v Speaker 3>produced just one puppy year, and that one pup is

1235
01:10:56.439 --> 01:10:59.119
<v Speaker 3>about a third mother's white. That'd be like a thirty

1236
01:10:59.159 --> 01:11:02.640
<v Speaker 3>or forty pound baby born by a human mother.

1237
01:11:02.800 --> 01:11:03.560
<v Speaker 1>That's the big one.

1238
01:11:04.000 --> 01:11:08.680
<v Speaker 3>Where I've watched them in caves here in Texas, and

1239
01:11:08.720 --> 01:11:12.640
<v Speaker 3>I might say normally I would be very upset if

1240
01:11:12.640 --> 01:11:15.039
<v Speaker 3>somebody told me they were going in watching mothers give

1241
01:11:15.079 --> 01:11:17.960
<v Speaker 3>birth in a cave, because that would be very disturbing

1242
01:11:18.000 --> 01:11:21.479
<v Speaker 3>to the mother's and probably cause mortality. But our freetail

1243
01:11:21.560 --> 01:11:25.239
<v Speaker 3>bats here in Texas live in such a heavy duty

1244
01:11:25.239 --> 01:11:28.880
<v Speaker 3>ammonia environment in the caves that most people wouldn't think

1245
01:11:28.920 --> 01:11:32.600
<v Speaker 3>of going in, And when I went in for long

1246
01:11:32.640 --> 01:11:35.359
<v Speaker 3>periods and photographed them, I had to wear an ammonia

1247
01:11:35.439 --> 01:11:38.159
<v Speaker 3>respirator and at one point it leaked and I was

1248
01:11:38.199 --> 01:11:41.840
<v Speaker 3>hospitalized for eleven days with thirty five percent lung capacity left.

1249
01:11:41.960 --> 01:11:42.760
<v Speaker 1>Oh my god.

1250
01:11:44.720 --> 01:11:47.199
<v Speaker 3>So these bats are kind of like animals on the

1251
01:11:47.199 --> 01:11:51.000
<v Speaker 3>Galopagos Islands. They're not very frightened of people because people

1252
01:11:51.000 --> 01:11:53.520
<v Speaker 3>don't usually come in and bug with them. Yeah, and

1253
01:11:53.600 --> 01:11:56.199
<v Speaker 3>so I, over a period of a week or so,

1254
01:11:57.880 --> 01:12:00.840
<v Speaker 3>would get bats along one wall a custom to my presence.

1255
01:12:01.039 --> 01:12:03.640
<v Speaker 3>I could walk back and forth and photograph them without

1256
01:12:03.680 --> 01:12:07.479
<v Speaker 3>them panicking and dropping their young or anything, and it

1257
01:12:07.560 --> 01:12:11.399
<v Speaker 3>was really cool. The pup when it's first born, has

1258
01:12:11.720 --> 01:12:14.560
<v Speaker 3>what appears to be like a safety line, like an

1259
01:12:14.560 --> 01:12:19.079
<v Speaker 3>astronaut getting out of a vehicle in space. The placenta

1260
01:12:19.359 --> 01:12:22.520
<v Speaker 3>acts as its anchor to its mother. Oh wow, And

1261
01:12:22.560 --> 01:12:25.880
<v Speaker 3>the umbilical cord is like a leash, so if he falls,

1262
01:12:25.920 --> 01:12:28.840
<v Speaker 3>he can't really go very far, and so he stays

1263
01:12:28.880 --> 01:12:31.720
<v Speaker 3>attached for a fair while. I don't know exactly, it's

1264
01:12:31.720 --> 01:12:34.880
<v Speaker 3>probably not exactly the same for each bat, but they

1265
01:12:34.960 --> 01:12:39.359
<v Speaker 3>stay attached for a fairwhile, and then the mother and

1266
01:12:39.399 --> 01:12:43.159
<v Speaker 3>the young quickly learn each other's sent and voice. And

1267
01:12:43.239 --> 01:12:48.479
<v Speaker 3>after that, this pup joins a cluster of up to

1268
01:12:48.640 --> 01:12:52.359
<v Speaker 3>five hundred pups in a square foot and there are

1269
01:12:52.560 --> 01:12:55.239
<v Speaker 3>thousands of square feet covered by pups in a cave

1270
01:12:55.359 --> 01:12:56.239
<v Speaker 3>like bracking cave.

1271
01:12:56.399 --> 01:12:57.399
<v Speaker 1>Oh my god.

1272
01:12:58.439 --> 01:13:02.159
<v Speaker 3>Now you can you imagine being a mom trying to

1273
01:13:02.199 --> 01:13:03.680
<v Speaker 3>find your baby.

1274
01:13:05.439 --> 01:13:08.239
<v Speaker 1>This is like like a music festival like Coachella, but

1275
01:13:08.319 --> 01:13:11.159
<v Speaker 1>it's like sixty thousand babies and you'd have to find

1276
01:13:11.239 --> 01:13:13.479
<v Speaker 1>your baby, right, that's a nightmare.

1277
01:13:14.079 --> 01:13:18.359
<v Speaker 3>Well, and you got all these other pups calling saying,

1278
01:13:18.760 --> 01:13:21.399
<v Speaker 3>you know, calling their moms, and all these moms calling

1279
01:13:21.439 --> 01:13:24.319
<v Speaker 3>back to their pups. I mean, when I was watching

1280
01:13:24.359 --> 01:13:28.359
<v Speaker 3>these things happen, there would be thousands of adults flying by,

1281
01:13:29.439 --> 01:13:32.439
<v Speaker 3>and all of a sudden you'd see one puff rear

1282
01:13:32.560 --> 01:13:36.600
<v Speaker 3>up and vocalize, and then you'd see one of the

1283
01:13:36.680 --> 01:13:40.359
<v Speaker 3>adults turn and come back and come back to that one.

1284
01:13:40.760 --> 01:13:43.000
<v Speaker 1>Wow. I know, you want to know what a f

1285
01:13:43.000 --> 01:13:51.319
<v Speaker 1>retail bat sounds like. So also, Merlin says that they

1286
01:13:51.359 --> 01:13:54.359
<v Speaker 1>produce more milk for their size than a Jersey cow

1287
01:13:54.399 --> 01:13:57.279
<v Speaker 1>would because the pups need to grow fast, and they're

1288
01:13:57.319 --> 01:14:00.479
<v Speaker 1>burning up so much energy clinging to a coal cave

1289
01:14:00.640 --> 01:14:04.159
<v Speaker 1>wall when their moms are out munching mosquitoes. Can you

1290
01:14:04.199 --> 01:14:07.960
<v Speaker 1>imagine having a forty pound baby and then the next

1291
01:14:08.039 --> 01:14:11.479
<v Speaker 1>day that baby was able to cling to a rock face, Well,

1292
01:14:11.520 --> 01:14:15.279
<v Speaker 1>you maneuvered like a fighter pilot in the sky using

1293
01:14:15.359 --> 01:14:20.520
<v Speaker 1>only your hands. Bats make humans look like earthbound, leaky

1294
01:14:20.800 --> 01:14:23.920
<v Speaker 1>bags of garbage. How long does it take a bat

1295
01:14:24.039 --> 01:14:25.119
<v Speaker 1>to learn how to fly?

1296
01:14:25.640 --> 01:14:31.760
<v Speaker 3>Well, it's believed that I know for gray bats they

1297
01:14:31.760 --> 01:14:35.399
<v Speaker 3>can probably start flying in within nineteen days or so.

1298
01:14:35.640 --> 01:14:40.279
<v Speaker 3>Oh okay, But the free tail bats have longer, narrower wings.

1299
01:14:40.680 --> 01:14:43.479
<v Speaker 3>They're more like little jets. As I point out, they

1300
01:14:43.479 --> 01:14:47.119
<v Speaker 3>can go cruise at one hundred nearly one hundred miles

1301
01:14:47.119 --> 01:14:50.319
<v Speaker 3>an hour with tail winds. So with those jet like

1302
01:14:50.399 --> 01:14:55.520
<v Speaker 3>narrow wings, it undeadly takes longer to learn to fly.

1303
01:14:55.960 --> 01:14:59.640
<v Speaker 3>But just imagine the problems faced by a young bat

1304
01:15:00.119 --> 01:15:03.720
<v Speaker 3>as it learns to fly. You're down in a pitch

1305
01:15:03.800 --> 01:15:07.720
<v Speaker 3>dark cave. There are thousands, probably tens of thousands of

1306
01:15:07.760 --> 01:15:11.000
<v Speaker 3>other bats flying at the same time. Many of those

1307
01:15:11.039 --> 01:15:13.119
<v Speaker 3>are beginners like you. How would you like to go

1308
01:15:13.159 --> 01:15:15.000
<v Speaker 3>out to the airport and learn to fly with a

1309
01:15:15.000 --> 01:15:18.600
<v Speaker 3>whole bunch of other beginner pilots trying to take practice

1310
01:15:18.640 --> 01:15:19.800
<v Speaker 3>takeoffs and landings.

1311
01:15:21.199 --> 01:15:23.000
<v Speaker 1>Is that why they say bad out of hell? Just

1312
01:15:23.039 --> 01:15:24.159
<v Speaker 1>to get me out of that?

1313
01:15:25.520 --> 01:15:30.119
<v Speaker 3>And here's the thing. A pilot gets to practice on

1314
01:15:30.199 --> 01:15:33.359
<v Speaker 3>a nice long horizontal runway where you know if even

1315
01:15:33.399 --> 01:15:36.079
<v Speaker 3>if he's one hundred yards off, he's probably still okay

1316
01:15:37.680 --> 01:15:41.560
<v Speaker 3>these bats. From the moment a pup first drops from

1317
01:15:41.560 --> 01:15:45.079
<v Speaker 3>the ceiling to practice its first flight, it's going to

1318
01:15:45.079 --> 01:15:48.840
<v Speaker 3>be moving at ten to thirty feet per second. Gravity

1319
01:15:48.920 --> 01:15:52.640
<v Speaker 3>sucks in that first flight. The cave is only about

1320
01:15:52.640 --> 01:15:56.039
<v Speaker 3>sixty feet wide, so within a couple of seconds he's

1321
01:15:56.039 --> 01:16:00.800
<v Speaker 3>on a direct collision course with a proverbial brick wall.

1322
01:16:00.960 --> 01:16:02.239
<v Speaker 1>Is poor little.

1323
01:16:01.960 --> 01:16:08.319
<v Speaker 3>Pups, and he has to make that flight while avoiding

1324
01:16:08.800 --> 01:16:12.840
<v Speaker 3>multiple potentially fatal collisions per second. He has to do

1325
01:16:12.880 --> 01:16:18.199
<v Speaker 3>a perfectly tying barrel roll and with millimeter split second precision,

1326
01:16:18.239 --> 01:16:21.520
<v Speaker 3>get his feet out front to grab the wall and

1327
01:16:21.560 --> 01:16:22.920
<v Speaker 3>not bash his head on the wall.

1328
01:16:23.079 --> 01:16:26.199
<v Speaker 1>That brings me to a question a lot of listeners had.

1329
01:16:27.159 --> 01:16:29.560
<v Speaker 1>Do they sleep upside down? How do they sleep? Wall

1330
01:16:29.640 --> 01:16:33.760
<v Speaker 1>clinging to things? Chet Kenny One, Pedro Martinez, Amber Cooper,

1331
01:16:33.760 --> 01:16:37.439
<v Speaker 1>Heather Circle and Laura Dosbobeck all wanted to know about

1332
01:16:37.560 --> 01:16:39.520
<v Speaker 1>this hanging from the feet situation.

1333
01:16:40.319 --> 01:16:46.199
<v Speaker 3>They have a real cool system where the tendons lock.

1334
01:16:46.960 --> 01:16:50.319
<v Speaker 3>When you pull down on the claws hanging to the ceiling.

1335
01:16:50.920 --> 01:16:53.479
<v Speaker 3>That tends to lock the tendons, so they don't use

1336
01:16:53.520 --> 01:16:54.920
<v Speaker 3>any energy hanging.

1337
01:16:54.680 --> 01:16:58.439
<v Speaker 1>On Wow, So it takes energy for the bat to

1338
01:16:58.479 --> 01:17:01.960
<v Speaker 1>open its talent, so opens them, finds the spot to grip,

1339
01:17:02.159 --> 01:17:05.239
<v Speaker 1>and then when it relaxes hanging by its own weight,

1340
01:17:05.399 --> 01:17:08.600
<v Speaker 1>clamps those talents closed, and then it's upside down night

1341
01:17:08.680 --> 01:17:10.800
<v Speaker 1>night for the sky fuzzies. So it's kind of like

1342
01:17:10.840 --> 01:17:13.159
<v Speaker 1>putting a remember those things you put on your car

1343
01:17:13.239 --> 01:17:15.359
<v Speaker 1>steering wheel of the club, You just like lock it

1344
01:17:15.359 --> 01:17:18.800
<v Speaker 1>on and there it is. I didn't I always wondered

1345
01:17:18.800 --> 01:17:21.920
<v Speaker 1>that because it always seems like once you relaxed and slept,

1346
01:17:21.960 --> 01:17:22.760
<v Speaker 1>you just goho.

1347
01:17:23.319 --> 01:17:26.920
<v Speaker 3>Well, and people also ask a lot why doesn't the

1348
01:17:27.079 --> 01:17:28.560
<v Speaker 3>blood all rush to their heads?

1349
01:17:29.079 --> 01:17:30.199
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, why doesn't it?

1350
01:17:31.119 --> 01:17:33.840
<v Speaker 3>The better case is why doesn't the brood the rush

1351
01:17:33.880 --> 01:17:34.439
<v Speaker 3>to our feet?

1352
01:17:35.279 --> 01:17:36.199
<v Speaker 1>That's a good question.

1353
01:17:37.279 --> 01:17:39.439
<v Speaker 3>What happens when all of a sudden you feel faint?

1354
01:17:40.319 --> 01:17:44.920
<v Speaker 3>Get your head down right? So, so we're the ones

1355
01:17:44.960 --> 01:17:47.000
<v Speaker 3>that ought to be explaining what the problem is.

1356
01:17:46.920 --> 01:17:50.359
<v Speaker 1>That that's very good. Yeah. And when you lose enough

1357
01:17:50.479 --> 01:17:53.239
<v Speaker 1>blood to your head, such as, for example, by being

1358
01:17:53.279 --> 01:17:56.880
<v Speaker 1>spun in a giant centrifuge, your noggin is like, yeah, nope,

1359
01:17:57.000 --> 01:17:59.640
<v Speaker 1>I can't brain right now and things go dark. But

1360
01:17:59.640 --> 01:18:02.560
<v Speaker 1>that's like watch this. I have so much blood and

1361
01:18:02.640 --> 01:18:05.319
<v Speaker 1>my smash face. Right now, I'm headed to dreamtown to

1362
01:18:05.359 --> 01:18:08.000
<v Speaker 1>get some z's with four hundred thousand of my closest

1363
01:18:08.000 --> 01:18:12.159
<v Speaker 1>friends farting grasshoppers on me. Speaking of large populations, a

1364
01:18:12.199 --> 01:18:15.199
<v Speaker 1>few of you, including ab seven point zero, wanted to

1365
01:18:15.239 --> 01:18:18.119
<v Speaker 1>know how big these pajama parties get. Bailey Good wants

1366
01:18:18.159 --> 01:18:20.239
<v Speaker 1>to know where in the world is the largest population

1367
01:18:20.319 --> 01:18:21.479
<v Speaker 1>of bats.

1368
01:18:22.600 --> 01:18:29.800
<v Speaker 3>The largest remaining known population is it Bracken Cave, just

1369
01:18:29.880 --> 01:18:32.680
<v Speaker 3>twenty miles from the center of San Antonio.

1370
01:18:32.239 --> 01:18:33.439
<v Speaker 1>Oh So, Texas.

1371
01:18:33.920 --> 01:18:37.279
<v Speaker 3>And I'm very proud to report that, after some twenty

1372
01:18:37.359 --> 01:18:41.039
<v Speaker 3>years of working with many others to do it, I

1373
01:18:41.159 --> 01:18:45.039
<v Speaker 3>managed to laid the charge that got that cave protected

1374
01:18:45.079 --> 01:18:49.159
<v Speaker 3>with hundreds of actually several thousand acres around it as

1375
01:18:49.199 --> 01:18:50.039
<v Speaker 3>a nature reserve.

1376
01:18:53.000 --> 01:18:56.840
<v Speaker 1>That is amazing to think that there are so many

1377
01:18:56.920 --> 01:18:59.479
<v Speaker 1>bats in existence that wouldn't be here without you.

1378
01:18:59.840 --> 01:19:02.199
<v Speaker 3>It's still one of my all time favorite places on

1379
01:19:02.239 --> 01:19:07.079
<v Speaker 3>the planet. It is just an incredible experience to see

1380
01:19:07.279 --> 01:19:10.359
<v Speaker 3>that many bats come out of anything.

1381
01:19:10.520 --> 01:19:15.000
<v Speaker 1>I mean how many bats. Some estimates are around fifteen

1382
01:19:15.159 --> 01:19:19.199
<v Speaker 1>million bats. That's like the population of humans in Los Angeles,

1383
01:19:19.560 --> 01:19:22.319
<v Speaker 1>all in one cave system. And when they emerge at

1384
01:19:22.439 --> 01:19:25.760
<v Speaker 1>night to feed, it's like a winged commute hour on

1385
01:19:25.840 --> 01:19:29.119
<v Speaker 1>the four h five, but flappier, way more beautiful and

1386
01:19:29.199 --> 01:19:33.319
<v Speaker 1>no honking. Speaking of what about urban bats, oj Carrosco,

1387
01:19:33.600 --> 01:19:37.520
<v Speaker 1>Brin Bell, Joyce, Ski, liv and Michelle L. Pagraham all

1388
01:19:37.560 --> 01:19:40.159
<v Speaker 1>asked how bats live in cities, and a bunch of

1389
01:19:40.239 --> 01:19:43.079
<v Speaker 1>Austin based, or at least Austin loving folks such as

1390
01:19:43.079 --> 01:19:47.640
<v Speaker 1>Anna Thompson, Nathan Wilgaroth, Jonathan Hard and Ruby Ostrich, Chelsea Craft,

1391
01:19:47.680 --> 01:19:51.239
<v Speaker 1>Courtney Ross, Brian Wharton, Jackie and Ian friend to bats

1392
01:19:51.279 --> 01:19:54.880
<v Speaker 1>Derek Allen High first time question Samitter, Gail Rosen, Michelle

1393
01:19:54.960 --> 01:19:58.159
<v Speaker 1>Lee and Sarah Hewitt wanted to know about the Congress

1394
01:19:58.199 --> 01:20:01.600
<v Speaker 1>Bridge and why it's so great for bat watching, particularly

1395
01:20:01.880 --> 01:20:03.840
<v Speaker 1>in the spring and the late summer.

1396
01:20:04.720 --> 01:20:07.760
<v Speaker 3>It's really spectacular. Just come to our bridge if Congress

1397
01:20:07.800 --> 01:20:08.479
<v Speaker 3>Avenue Bridge.

1398
01:20:08.760 --> 01:20:14.119
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Julie Noble, who I believe Julie Noble said, OMG,

1399
01:20:14.439 --> 01:20:16.640
<v Speaker 1>talk about the bat bridge. Please that us all.

1400
01:20:17.159 --> 01:20:19.199
<v Speaker 3>If you go to the Congress, if you go to

1401
01:20:19.279 --> 01:20:23.479
<v Speaker 3>my website again Merlin Tuttle dot org. Go to my

1402
01:20:23.520 --> 01:20:27.880
<v Speaker 3>photo gallery. It's divide into catching prey, rearing young, all

1403
01:20:27.960 --> 01:20:32.760
<v Speaker 3>those kind of things. Go to the subsection called emergencies

1404
01:20:33.800 --> 01:20:36.479
<v Speaker 3>and you'll see some of my pictures of the huge

1405
01:20:36.560 --> 01:20:38.600
<v Speaker 3>numbers coming out of the Congress a new bridge, and

1406
01:20:38.640 --> 01:20:41.720
<v Speaker 3>how close they are to people without anybody ever being harmed.

1407
01:20:42.560 --> 01:20:45.039
<v Speaker 1>One of the reasons Austin is known as the largest

1408
01:20:45.159 --> 01:20:49.640
<v Speaker 1>urban batcolony is because of Merlin Tuttle. Because of Merlin.

1409
01:20:49.880 --> 01:20:52.960
<v Speaker 1>So when the Congress Avenue Bridge was reconstructed in nineteen eighty,

1410
01:20:53.199 --> 01:20:57.000
<v Speaker 1>the underside happened to be perfect for roosting, but the

1411
01:20:57.000 --> 01:21:00.319
<v Speaker 1>city was not into having millions of bats in its

1412
01:21:00.399 --> 01:21:03.720
<v Speaker 1>midst and Merlin, who was a founder of Bat Conservation

1413
01:21:03.800 --> 01:21:08.039
<v Speaker 1>International until his retirement, thought that Austin was perfect for

1414
01:21:08.199 --> 01:21:12.520
<v Speaker 1>a perceptual makeover of the b leaguered bat. Now over

1415
01:21:12.560 --> 01:21:14.359
<v Speaker 1>a million, maybe up to a million and a half

1416
01:21:14.439 --> 01:21:18.520
<v Speaker 1>Mexican freetail bats emerge from the bridge during peak bat season.

1417
01:21:18.880 --> 01:21:22.479
<v Speaker 1>They eat ten to thirty thousand insects a day. They

1418
01:21:22.520 --> 01:21:25.960
<v Speaker 1>bring in millions of dollars a year from bat tourism.

1419
01:21:26.399 --> 01:21:30.960
<v Speaker 1>Merlin Tuttle, Ladies and gents, Merlin Tuttle. One kid brings

1420
01:21:30.960 --> 01:21:34.880
<v Speaker 1>a dead back to school, and the world is forever changed. Now.

1421
01:21:34.960 --> 01:21:37.760
<v Speaker 1>This next question was asked by my pal, doctor Johanson

1422
01:21:37.800 --> 01:21:43.880
<v Speaker 1>of PBS fame. Doctor Johnson wanted to know about the Chiropdorium.

1423
01:21:43.960 --> 01:21:49.840
<v Speaker 3>Yes, David Bamberger built that out toward Johnson City in Texas.

1424
01:21:50.159 --> 01:21:50.640
<v Speaker 1>He was.

1425
01:21:52.159 --> 01:21:58.760
<v Speaker 3>A rancher who joined my board directors years ago when

1426
01:21:58.800 --> 01:22:05.000
<v Speaker 3>I first got involved in conservation, and he worked helping

1427
01:22:05.079 --> 01:22:10.039
<v Speaker 3>us with protect Bracken Cave. And one day he said, Marily,

1428
01:22:10.159 --> 01:22:12.479
<v Speaker 3>you know I don't have any caves on my ranch,

1429
01:22:12.520 --> 01:22:15.039
<v Speaker 3>but I'd sure like to have something, you know, where

1430
01:22:15.079 --> 01:22:17.960
<v Speaker 3>I could show people baths on my ranch. You think

1431
01:22:18.039 --> 01:22:21.399
<v Speaker 3>we could build a cave or something that baths would

1432
01:22:21.399 --> 01:22:23.119
<v Speaker 3>come to. And I said yeah. I said, you know,

1433
01:22:23.800 --> 01:22:27.279
<v Speaker 3>there are abandoned mines and railroad tunnels and things all

1434
01:22:27.319 --> 01:22:30.920
<v Speaker 3>across America that big bat colonies had moved into. If

1435
01:22:30.960 --> 01:22:34.159
<v Speaker 3>we build it right, to come up with a proper

1436
01:22:34.239 --> 01:22:36.319
<v Speaker 3>range of temperature the baths will probably come.

1437
01:22:36.720 --> 01:22:39.600
<v Speaker 1>If you build it, he will come.

1438
01:22:40.359 --> 01:22:46.119
<v Speaker 3>So he hired a really good engineer architect whatever the

1439
01:22:46.159 --> 01:22:51.399
<v Speaker 3>combo should be, and I designed what it should be

1440
01:22:51.600 --> 01:22:54.840
<v Speaker 3>like to get the right temperature and darkness for the baths,

1441
01:22:55.399 --> 01:23:00.880
<v Speaker 3>and the engineer architect designed something that wouldn't fall down,

1442
01:23:01.880 --> 01:23:07.439
<v Speaker 3>and so then he named it the car Uptorium. And

1443
01:23:09.039 --> 01:23:12.880
<v Speaker 3>it's interesting. I told him to watch out that when

1444
01:23:12.880 --> 01:23:14.960
<v Speaker 3>the baths first came, don't go run in to see

1445
01:23:14.960 --> 01:23:18.000
<v Speaker 3>them because they might give you a bad report and

1446
01:23:18.000 --> 01:23:22.520
<v Speaker 3>not come back for a while, because those persons be scouts. Well,

1447
01:23:22.520 --> 01:23:26.600
<v Speaker 3>he ran in to see them and they left, didn't

1448
01:23:26.600 --> 01:23:27.520
<v Speaker 3>come back for a while.

1449
01:23:28.079 --> 01:23:30.560
<v Speaker 1>To be side, it turned out okay.

1450
01:23:30.800 --> 01:23:34.800
<v Speaker 3>But he now has between half a million and a

1451
01:23:34.840 --> 01:23:38.239
<v Speaker 3>million baths there and that it's totally artificial cave.

1452
01:23:38.520 --> 01:23:41.000
<v Speaker 1>Wow does he get to claim them as dependents on

1453
01:23:41.039 --> 01:23:44.680
<v Speaker 1>his taxes or pets?

1454
01:23:45.239 --> 01:23:48.199
<v Speaker 3>I'll tell you what he does do now. He goes

1455
01:23:48.239 --> 01:23:51.119
<v Speaker 3>in once one At least last time I talked to him,

1456
01:23:51.159 --> 01:23:53.439
<v Speaker 3>he was going to start this, going in once a

1457
01:23:53.520 --> 01:23:58.359
<v Speaker 3>year with a front endloader on a uh small tractor

1458
01:23:58.520 --> 01:24:01.479
<v Speaker 3>and harvesting the guada on using it on his ranch.

1459
01:24:01.760 --> 01:24:06.479
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, so a ton of people had questions about that. Okay,

1460
01:24:06.520 --> 01:24:08.399
<v Speaker 1>So when it came to bats, a lot of folks

1461
01:24:08.439 --> 01:24:10.880
<v Speaker 1>on Patrion wanted to talk shit and but that I

1462
01:24:10.920 --> 01:24:13.920
<v Speaker 1>mean they had guano questions, such as Julie Bear, who

1463
01:24:13.960 --> 01:24:16.119
<v Speaker 1>brought it to my attention that back guano is used

1464
01:24:16.159 --> 01:24:20.000
<v Speaker 1>as a sculptural medium. Thank you, juliber Wow okay wow.

1465
01:24:20.239 --> 01:24:23.880
<v Speaker 1>Also there were other questions about guano's safety and uses

1466
01:24:24.000 --> 01:24:29.439
<v Speaker 1>asked by Squirk, Teresa Bassanova and Valerie Tarren Hawk, Devin Robertson,

1467
01:24:29.560 --> 01:24:34.239
<v Speaker 1>Aaron Ryan Morgan Shulty, and Emmanuel Sanchez wants to know

1468
01:24:34.600 --> 01:24:37.760
<v Speaker 1>how dirty and unsafe is guano really? And is that

1469
01:24:37.840 --> 01:24:40.319
<v Speaker 1>a myth that guano is unsafe?

1470
01:24:41.560 --> 01:24:46.880
<v Speaker 3>Well, I don't know that anything can be said to

1471
01:24:46.920 --> 01:24:52.159
<v Speaker 3>be safe, right. For example, I point out when people

1472
01:24:52.199 --> 01:24:54.680
<v Speaker 3>tell me how dangerous bats are because one and a

1473
01:24:54.760 --> 01:24:57.439
<v Speaker 3>half people persons a year in the US and Canada

1474
01:24:57.520 --> 01:25:01.720
<v Speaker 3>combined die of bat rabies, I point out that twenty

1475
01:25:01.760 --> 01:25:05.239
<v Speaker 3>to forty times that number die of dog attacks every year.

1476
01:25:06.199 --> 01:25:10.039
<v Speaker 3>And then I say, but before anybody thinks I'm prejudiced

1477
01:25:10.039 --> 01:25:12.880
<v Speaker 3>and advocating against dogs, let me just point out that

1478
01:25:12.960 --> 01:25:16.159
<v Speaker 3>we still love our wives and spouses, but our spouses

1479
01:25:16.199 --> 01:25:18.640
<v Speaker 3>kill us off at the rate of over a thousand times.

1480
01:25:18.800 --> 01:25:20.640
<v Speaker 3>What die of bat rabies?

1481
01:25:20.760 --> 01:25:22.239
<v Speaker 1>Oh man, that's a good point.

1482
01:25:22.479 --> 01:25:27.279
<v Speaker 3>So I mean anything we do has some risk. Probably

1483
01:25:27.319 --> 01:25:29.439
<v Speaker 3>the biggest risk we all take every day is getting

1484
01:25:29.439 --> 01:25:31.000
<v Speaker 3>in our car and driving to work, but we don't

1485
01:25:31.000 --> 01:25:32.359
<v Speaker 3>think of it as a risk because we do it

1486
01:25:32.359 --> 01:25:37.000
<v Speaker 3>every day. And so if you ask if something you

1487
01:25:37.039 --> 01:25:39.920
<v Speaker 3>know has any risk, I have a hard time with

1488
01:25:40.039 --> 01:25:43.479
<v Speaker 3>that because there's nothing that doesn't have a risk. What

1489
01:25:43.560 --> 01:25:48.000
<v Speaker 3>I can say is I personally have more than once

1490
01:25:49.640 --> 01:25:52.239
<v Speaker 3>sat and ate and lunch on an old ride up

1491
01:25:52.279 --> 01:25:56.399
<v Speaker 3>guanopile in a cave in the in a winter cave,

1492
01:25:56.680 --> 01:25:59.720
<v Speaker 3>that's the warmest place to seat yourself because it insulates

1493
01:25:59.760 --> 01:26:01.760
<v Speaker 3>you for the hard rock that's colder.

1494
01:26:02.039 --> 01:26:04.920
<v Speaker 1>Would Indiana Jones be tough enough to sit on a guanopile?

1495
01:26:05.199 --> 01:26:06.119
<v Speaker 1>No freaking way.

1496
01:26:06.479 --> 01:26:10.359
<v Speaker 3>I rarely think about needing to take extra precautions to

1497
01:26:10.399 --> 01:26:12.800
<v Speaker 3>sterilize my hands when I come out of a bat cave.

1498
01:26:13.399 --> 01:26:15.840
<v Speaker 3>But I can tell you I'm almost religious about coming

1499
01:26:15.880 --> 01:26:19.319
<v Speaker 3>home and washing my hands carefully after I've been to

1500
01:26:19.359 --> 01:26:22.840
<v Speaker 3>see a doctor in a hospital. Yeah, I mean, the

1501
01:26:22.840 --> 01:26:25.600
<v Speaker 3>most dangerous animal on this planet for you to meet

1502
01:26:25.800 --> 01:26:27.479
<v Speaker 3>and get a disease from is another.

1503
01:26:27.319 --> 01:26:30.399
<v Speaker 1>Human going on a date is probably way more dangerous

1504
01:26:30.399 --> 01:26:33.640
<v Speaker 1>than sitting on a pile of Dright, one, what about

1505
01:26:33.640 --> 01:26:36.840
<v Speaker 1>what kind of boots do you need if you're mucking

1506
01:26:36.880 --> 01:26:39.239
<v Speaker 1>through caves? What kind of boots? You must have? A

1507
01:26:39.279 --> 01:26:39.920
<v Speaker 1>favor kind?

1508
01:26:40.399 --> 01:26:43.000
<v Speaker 3>No, not just any sturdy hiking boot.

1509
01:26:43.079 --> 01:26:46.039
<v Speaker 1>All right, I figured you'd need some kind of need

1510
01:26:46.279 --> 01:26:48.079
<v Speaker 1>high rubber waiters.

1511
01:26:48.399 --> 01:26:50.640
<v Speaker 3>Now, if I'm going in bracking cave or one like

1512
01:26:50.680 --> 01:26:54.760
<v Speaker 3>that that has millions of free tail bats living near

1513
01:26:54.840 --> 01:26:59.720
<v Speaker 3>the entrance where they attract ormested beetles, then I'll wear

1514
01:27:00.399 --> 01:27:04.520
<v Speaker 3>rubber almost almost knee high boots to keep the domestic

1515
01:27:04.800 --> 01:27:06.560
<v Speaker 3>insects from climbing up and buying me.

1516
01:27:06.960 --> 01:27:10.000
<v Speaker 1>Okay, let's talk about bats inside your house, which was

1517
01:27:10.039 --> 01:27:12.479
<v Speaker 1>on a lot of your minds Lauren Kelly, first time

1518
01:27:12.560 --> 01:27:18.520
<v Speaker 1>question asker Evan Jude donas Sue Oregonian, Wesley Winks, Enrique Sarmiento,

1519
01:27:18.760 --> 01:27:21.359
<v Speaker 1>and Julie Noble who side note Julie Noble dressed as

1520
01:27:21.439 --> 01:27:23.800
<v Speaker 1>me for Halloween week at her office and carried a

1521
01:27:23.920 --> 01:27:26.399
<v Speaker 1>number one dad mug and I saw a picture and

1522
01:27:26.479 --> 01:27:28.760
<v Speaker 1>it made my whole damn day. Anyway, this is a

1523
01:27:28.760 --> 01:27:31.479
<v Speaker 1>hot topic, bats inside your house. Michelle Lee and a

1524
01:27:31.520 --> 01:27:34.520
<v Speaker 1>few other people had this question, which was so great. Recently,

1525
01:27:34.520 --> 01:27:36.399
<v Speaker 1>a bat found its way into a friend's living room

1526
01:27:36.439 --> 01:27:38.000
<v Speaker 1>and a lot of time was spent trying to chase

1527
01:27:38.039 --> 01:27:39.920
<v Speaker 1>it out of door window. My question, what is the

1528
01:27:39.960 --> 01:27:42.840
<v Speaker 1>best way to guide a bat outside without hurting it?

1529
01:27:43.720 --> 01:27:52.640
<v Speaker 3>Jesus, there's two minutes, I guess. The first thing I'd suggest,

1530
01:27:52.640 --> 01:27:55.039
<v Speaker 3>if it's not too difficult, would be to open the

1531
01:27:55.079 --> 01:27:57.600
<v Speaker 3>doors and windows to the outside and shut off all

1532
01:27:57.720 --> 01:28:01.079
<v Speaker 3>doors to the rest of the house. Lower the lights

1533
01:28:01.119 --> 01:28:05.760
<v Speaker 3>to a level where it's not real bright, but don't

1534
01:28:05.760 --> 01:28:08.159
<v Speaker 3>turn them out where you can't see the bat. One

1535
01:28:08.159 --> 01:28:11.279
<v Speaker 3>of the worst mistakes people make. I can't tell you

1536
01:28:11.319 --> 01:28:14.359
<v Speaker 3>how many times I've had this call where somebody calls

1537
01:28:14.399 --> 01:28:17.960
<v Speaker 3>me in and they saw a bat, and they fled

1538
01:28:18.000 --> 01:28:21.640
<v Speaker 3>the house to go get out. They come back and

1539
01:28:21.720 --> 01:28:24.000
<v Speaker 3>nobody can find the bat, so they have no idea

1540
01:28:24.039 --> 01:28:26.800
<v Speaker 3>if it left on its own, they have no idea

1541
01:28:26.800 --> 01:28:30.039
<v Speaker 3>if it's still there. And I've seen people move out

1542
01:28:30.079 --> 01:28:32.319
<v Speaker 3>of their house for a week because they didn't know

1543
01:28:32.359 --> 01:28:35.239
<v Speaker 3>if the bat was still there. The bat is not

1544
01:28:35.359 --> 01:28:38.199
<v Speaker 3>going to attack you if you're in the room with

1545
01:28:38.279 --> 01:28:41.680
<v Speaker 3>a bat, you will have the feeling that it might

1546
01:28:41.720 --> 01:28:42.880
<v Speaker 3>be trying to attack you.

1547
01:28:42.920 --> 01:28:46.680
<v Speaker 1>Because here's why aeronautics nerds open your big bat ears,

1548
01:28:46.680 --> 01:28:47.880
<v Speaker 1>because this is some good stuff.

1549
01:28:48.199 --> 01:28:52.720
<v Speaker 3>Picture yourself is piloting a small aircraft and you fly

1550
01:28:52.960 --> 01:28:58.279
<v Speaker 3>up to a dead end corner. You have to turn

1551
01:28:58.319 --> 01:28:59.960
<v Speaker 3>around to a U turn to get out of it.

1552
01:29:00.520 --> 01:29:02.880
<v Speaker 3>When you do that, you drop your airspeed to just

1553
01:29:02.920 --> 01:29:06.079
<v Speaker 3>about zero and you start falling. So you have to

1554
01:29:06.279 --> 01:29:09.000
<v Speaker 3>swoop down at a fairly sharp angle to regain flight

1555
01:29:09.079 --> 01:29:12.720
<v Speaker 3>speed and be able to continue flying. So if you're

1556
01:29:12.720 --> 01:29:14.479
<v Speaker 3>in the middle of that room and the bat's going

1557
01:29:14.680 --> 01:29:17.000
<v Speaker 3>back and forth the corners trying to find a way out,

1558
01:29:17.439 --> 01:29:20.359
<v Speaker 3>and he's swooping down each time to regain flight speed,

1559
01:29:22.039 --> 01:29:25.880
<v Speaker 3>you know this happens in a room like that. It

1560
01:29:25.960 --> 01:29:30.800
<v Speaker 3>happens with mosquitoes and things. Let's say you're outside. Used

1561
01:29:30.840 --> 01:29:34.199
<v Speaker 3>to happen here in Austin. People used to report all

1562
01:29:34.239 --> 01:29:37.359
<v Speaker 3>the time about being attacked and barely escaping a bat.

1563
01:29:38.039 --> 01:29:41.399
<v Speaker 3>And my first question, did he actually get you?

1564
01:29:41.439 --> 01:29:41.600
<v Speaker 2>No?

1565
01:29:41.600 --> 01:29:44.199
<v Speaker 3>No, I was real lucky. Well, how do you know

1566
01:29:44.239 --> 01:29:46.960
<v Speaker 3>he wasn't chasing a mosquito? And you flew before and

1567
01:29:47.000 --> 01:29:49.319
<v Speaker 3>you ran away before you found out that he wasn't

1568
01:29:49.359 --> 01:29:54.600
<v Speaker 3>after you. Oh, could that be possible? And I've even

1569
01:29:54.640 --> 01:29:57.520
<v Speaker 3>investigated cases where they got scratched on a rose bush

1570
01:29:57.600 --> 01:30:00.960
<v Speaker 3>on the way to their house fleeing the bat, and

1571
01:30:01.000 --> 01:30:03.800
<v Speaker 3>then went and got their raby shots because the bat

1572
01:30:03.880 --> 01:30:08.159
<v Speaker 3>actually got them. Oh no, I've investigated maulings.

1573
01:30:09.399 --> 01:30:11.760
<v Speaker 1>Get ready for the story. Oh my word, on my word.

1574
01:30:12.359 --> 01:30:17.319
<v Speaker 3>A Tennessee Valley authority DAMN in Alabama shut down one

1575
01:30:17.399 --> 01:30:20.279
<v Speaker 3>time because the workers wouldn't go to work because the

1576
01:30:20.319 --> 01:30:24.079
<v Speaker 3>guy had been mauled by a bat in the dam mauled.

1577
01:30:25.840 --> 01:30:29.319
<v Speaker 3>They called, and I had a consulting contract with him

1578
01:30:29.319 --> 01:30:31.720
<v Speaker 3>at the time. They insisted on me coming down and

1579
01:30:31.760 --> 01:30:34.680
<v Speaker 3>settling problems, and I said, there's no need for me

1580
01:30:34.720 --> 01:30:38.119
<v Speaker 3>to come down. It's inconceivable that this guy got mauled

1581
01:30:38.119 --> 01:30:38.640
<v Speaker 3>by a bat.

1582
01:30:39.159 --> 01:30:40.000
<v Speaker 1>Conceivable.

1583
01:30:40.479 --> 01:30:43.279
<v Speaker 3>You know, there's another explanation. You don't need me to

1584
01:30:43.600 --> 01:30:46.640
<v Speaker 3>come up with that. Oh no, no, nobody's going to

1585
01:30:46.680 --> 01:30:49.199
<v Speaker 3>believe this until we get somebody, an expert down here.

1586
01:30:50.199 --> 01:30:55.000
<v Speaker 3>So I get down there and the guy has very

1587
01:30:55.039 --> 01:30:57.960
<v Speaker 3>little real skin left from about his elbow halfway to

1588
01:30:58.039 --> 01:31:01.039
<v Speaker 3>his wrist down his arm. I mean, it's just almost

1589
01:31:01.199 --> 01:31:05.000
<v Speaker 3>raw flesh. Is really a mess. Obvious something did a

1590
01:31:05.039 --> 01:31:07.720
<v Speaker 3>bad hell of a job on him. But at a

1591
01:31:07.760 --> 01:31:09.920
<v Speaker 3>glance I knew there was no bat in the world

1592
01:31:10.399 --> 01:31:14.920
<v Speaker 3>could or would have done that. So I wanted to

1593
01:31:14.920 --> 01:31:16.840
<v Speaker 3>get somebody to take me down to show me the

1594
01:31:16.840 --> 01:31:19.800
<v Speaker 3>scene of the crime. And oh god, it was terrible

1595
01:31:19.800 --> 01:31:22.159
<v Speaker 3>trying to get somebody to volunteer to go with, even me,

1596
01:31:23.239 --> 01:31:26.079
<v Speaker 3>But finally we went down. What happens. They had lockers

1597
01:31:26.840 --> 01:31:28.720
<v Speaker 3>and when they come to work, they'd put their private

1598
01:31:28.760 --> 01:31:31.880
<v Speaker 3>things in a locker. Well, this guy had left his

1599
01:31:31.920 --> 01:31:34.880
<v Speaker 3>locker open while he didn't hang in during the night.

1600
01:31:35.600 --> 01:31:39.119
<v Speaker 3>The bat ended up going into finding the locker and

1601
01:31:39.159 --> 01:31:42.119
<v Speaker 3>going to sleep in there. The guy comes in the morning,

1602
01:31:43.159 --> 01:31:47.159
<v Speaker 3>reaches in to do something. The bat panics and tries

1603
01:31:47.199 --> 01:31:51.640
<v Speaker 3>to fly out. The guy thinks he's being attacked, yanks

1604
01:31:51.720 --> 01:31:53.960
<v Speaker 3>his arm out, and the top of that locker looked

1605
01:31:54.000 --> 01:31:58.439
<v Speaker 3>like a damn saw blade. It hadn't been finished properly,

1606
01:31:58.800 --> 01:32:01.039
<v Speaker 3>and you could still see his again, hanging on the

1607
01:32:02.279 --> 01:32:06.880
<v Speaker 3>on the top of the locker. No, and the funny

1608
01:32:06.880 --> 01:32:10.279
<v Speaker 3>thing was, after all that, you know, at first they

1609
01:32:10.279 --> 01:32:12.520
<v Speaker 3>had to practically restrain him. He's so mad he was

1610
01:32:12.560 --> 01:32:16.159
<v Speaker 3>going to attack me for dying his story, and then

1611
01:32:16.520 --> 01:32:19.800
<v Speaker 3>when it was even clear to him what had happened,

1612
01:32:20.359 --> 01:32:25.920
<v Speaker 3>then he was really blankety blanked off and his medical

1613
01:32:25.960 --> 01:32:28.079
<v Speaker 3>doctor for being so stupid as to believe his story

1614
01:32:28.079 --> 01:32:29.319
<v Speaker 3>and give him rabies shots.

1615
01:32:32.840 --> 01:32:36.039
<v Speaker 1>Did they finish his locker properly, put some duct tape

1616
01:32:36.039 --> 01:32:37.399
<v Speaker 1>on it or something? Well?

1617
01:32:37.439 --> 01:32:40.479
<v Speaker 3>I left at that point, I'd solve the immediate.

1618
01:32:40.119 --> 01:32:48.199
<v Speaker 1>Problem Batman out. One question was understandably echoed over and

1619
01:32:48.239 --> 01:32:51.479
<v Speaker 1>over by folks such as had Their Circle, Elizabeth Illian,

1620
01:32:51.640 --> 01:32:56.399
<v Speaker 1>Elizabeth McLachlan, Amanda Rivera, Deep Nervisen, Raymond J. Deutsche, Hail Holings,

1621
01:32:56.439 --> 01:33:01.439
<v Speaker 1>Bob Clark, Georgia, Hattie Stouschnoff, Karina Peterson, Gwenn Bode, Melissa Cowen,

1622
01:33:01.560 --> 01:33:05.760
<v Speaker 1>Tangi Goat, Erica Smith, and Katie Thronberg, who asked variations

1623
01:33:05.800 --> 01:33:08.640
<v Speaker 1>of why on Earth are they so darn cute? Why

1624
01:33:08.680 --> 01:33:11.319
<v Speaker 1>are bats so stink and cute? Are bats not the cutest?

1625
01:33:11.479 --> 01:33:14.079
<v Speaker 1>Why are bats so darn cute? Why are they so

1626
01:33:14.319 --> 01:33:17.359
<v Speaker 1>dang cute? And Katie's question, why do they look so

1627
01:33:17.520 --> 01:33:21.319
<v Speaker 1>cute in diapers? Slash little blanket burritos? Bats? You want

1628
01:33:21.319 --> 01:33:23.680
<v Speaker 1>to know whether they're cute? It's a great question. A

1629
01:33:23.680 --> 01:33:26.399
<v Speaker 1>few people ask why they look so cute when they're

1630
01:33:26.439 --> 01:33:29.520
<v Speaker 1>wearing little blanket burritos, and just why in general bats

1631
01:33:29.520 --> 01:33:30.279
<v Speaker 1>are so cute.

1632
01:33:30.800 --> 01:33:33.520
<v Speaker 3>Well, the bats are thinking, look so cute. Those are

1633
01:33:33.760 --> 01:33:38.880
<v Speaker 3>baby flying foxes. And remember we talked about whether fly

1634
01:33:39.079 --> 01:33:42.600
<v Speaker 3>whether some bats might be primates or not. Flying foxes

1635
01:33:42.640 --> 01:33:45.439
<v Speaker 3>have faces that look just like lemiers that are primates.

1636
01:33:46.840 --> 01:33:52.640
<v Speaker 3>In fact, leading experts have it before mistaken bat flying

1637
01:33:52.680 --> 01:33:54.439
<v Speaker 3>fox skulls for lamier skulls.

1638
01:33:54.560 --> 01:33:57.760
<v Speaker 1>Oh my gosh. So we're seeing baby primates and we're

1639
01:33:57.800 --> 01:33:58.560
<v Speaker 1>identifying with.

1640
01:33:58.560 --> 01:34:01.920
<v Speaker 3>Them, and they've got big eyes and fox like faces,

1641
01:34:01.960 --> 01:34:05.479
<v Speaker 3>and you know, most most flying fox post mind, they're

1642
01:34:05.720 --> 01:34:08.439
<v Speaker 3>just about as cute as anybody thinks they're not cute,

1643
01:34:08.560 --> 01:34:13.279
<v Speaker 3>just as a hard time seeing cuteness. I mean, they's

1644
01:34:13.319 --> 01:34:16.159
<v Speaker 3>cute as any panda gotta be. But they wrap those

1645
01:34:16.159 --> 01:34:18.760
<v Speaker 3>in little towels because they're more comfortable that way. Their

1646
01:34:18.800 --> 01:34:22.680
<v Speaker 3>mama normally keeps them wrapped in her wing, and they

1647
01:34:22.680 --> 01:34:25.119
<v Speaker 3>actually feel more comfortable when they're wrapped in a towel

1648
01:34:25.279 --> 01:34:28.479
<v Speaker 3>like that, and so that's the way they keep them.

1649
01:34:28.560 --> 01:34:32.840
<v Speaker 1>That baby burritos. Polity Semon's that a great question. Is

1650
01:34:32.880 --> 01:34:37.720
<v Speaker 1>there any evidence in our modern technological environment with its noise, electromagnetism,

1651
01:34:37.840 --> 01:34:40.560
<v Speaker 1>radar is messing with the bat's ability to navigate.

1652
01:34:43.399 --> 01:34:47.159
<v Speaker 3>We don't know. There are so many things we don't

1653
01:34:47.199 --> 01:34:50.560
<v Speaker 3>know that it's just absolutely terrifying, and some of them

1654
01:34:50.800 --> 01:34:55.119
<v Speaker 3>pertain equally or more to us. One thing that hasn't

1655
01:34:55.119 --> 01:34:58.800
<v Speaker 3>come up here is what we don't know about what's

1656
01:34:58.800 --> 01:35:00.920
<v Speaker 3>happening with all the pest is sides were spraying on

1657
01:35:00.960 --> 01:35:04.279
<v Speaker 3>the world because we're losing bats and other insectivorous animals

1658
01:35:04.279 --> 01:35:10.159
<v Speaker 3>that once kept insects in check. In the United States alone,

1659
01:35:10.239 --> 01:35:16.479
<v Speaker 3>we now use approximately a billion tons of pesticides annually.

1660
01:35:16.960 --> 01:35:20.840
<v Speaker 3>That's all coming back into our food and water. And

1661
01:35:21.000 --> 01:35:25.239
<v Speaker 3>I tell people, you know, it's start paying a lot

1662
01:35:25.319 --> 01:35:30.039
<v Speaker 3>more attention to natural controls like bats. If you don't

1663
01:35:30.039 --> 01:35:33.239
<v Speaker 3>want to spend a whole lot more risk on pesticides

1664
01:35:33.319 --> 01:35:33.800
<v Speaker 3>killing you.

1665
01:35:34.439 --> 01:35:38.720
<v Speaker 1>Will people having bat boxes in their backyard or in

1666
01:35:38.760 --> 01:35:40.720
<v Speaker 1>their you know, the top of their house. Will that

1667
01:35:40.920 --> 01:35:42.479
<v Speaker 1>help the bat population at all?

1668
01:35:42.960 --> 01:35:47.840
<v Speaker 3>Yes, it will. In fact, where we mentioned the fungus

1669
01:35:47.880 --> 01:35:51.880
<v Speaker 3>whiteness that causes white no syndrome, where that has already

1670
01:35:51.960 --> 01:35:54.600
<v Speaker 3>passed through and killed off a large number of bats.

1671
01:35:54.960 --> 01:35:59.560
<v Speaker 3>Several states are using relying on people's backyard bath houses

1672
01:35:59.600 --> 01:36:01.720
<v Speaker 3>tom under recovery of the species.

1673
01:36:02.079 --> 01:36:05.560
<v Speaker 1>Oh wow. And so if you have that, you know,

1674
01:36:05.640 --> 01:36:08.159
<v Speaker 1>as a hospitable measure, then researchers can come and take

1675
01:36:08.199 --> 01:36:10.159
<v Speaker 1>a look and see how many people are, how many

1676
01:36:10.159 --> 01:36:11.439
<v Speaker 1>little bats are nesting in there.

1677
01:36:11.560 --> 01:36:14.279
<v Speaker 3>I mean, I personally help monitor a site in New

1678
01:36:14.359 --> 01:36:18.880
<v Speaker 3>York where we know that for like five or ten

1679
01:36:19.000 --> 01:36:22.039
<v Speaker 3>years at least they this family had at least twelve

1680
01:36:22.119 --> 01:36:26.680
<v Speaker 3>hundred bats every year in their bath houses, and then

1681
01:36:27.399 --> 01:36:30.840
<v Speaker 3>as after white nose syndrome passed, they only had forty.

1682
01:36:31.239 --> 01:36:31.840
<v Speaker 1>Oh wow.

1683
01:36:32.199 --> 01:36:36.640
<v Speaker 3>But now they're abuilding, and I believe I can't remember

1684
01:36:36.640 --> 01:36:39.000
<v Speaker 3>this year they're up toward two hundred.

1685
01:36:39.279 --> 01:36:42.159
<v Speaker 1>I bet. And now, what about someone who wanted to

1686
01:36:42.199 --> 01:36:48.399
<v Speaker 1>go see a bat or go bat scooping, or what's

1687
01:36:48.439 --> 01:36:51.239
<v Speaker 1>the best time to see a bat and just enjoy

1688
01:36:51.319 --> 01:36:54.199
<v Speaker 1>a bat? What kind of what kind of good binoculars

1689
01:36:54.279 --> 01:36:56.520
<v Speaker 1>or night vision? Or where should you sit? How do you?

1690
01:36:57.119 --> 01:36:59.960
<v Speaker 1>And my mom and dad have some bats. They've named

1691
01:37:00.079 --> 01:37:02.880
<v Speaker 1>them flad. They call them all blad. But they come

1692
01:37:02.920 --> 01:37:05.800
<v Speaker 1>out at dusk and they wait and watch on the porch,

1693
01:37:05.840 --> 01:37:07.800
<v Speaker 1>and they're they're so excited to see them. When they

1694
01:37:07.800 --> 01:37:11.239
<v Speaker 1>come out. But if maybe you don't even realize your

1695
01:37:11.239 --> 01:37:14.239
<v Speaker 1>neighborhood has bats because you think they're night sparrows, Like,

1696
01:37:14.640 --> 01:37:16.239
<v Speaker 1>how do you see a bat?

1697
01:37:16.680 --> 01:37:19.640
<v Speaker 3>I have spoken to so many people who will tell

1698
01:37:19.680 --> 01:37:22.680
<v Speaker 3>me with amazement. You know, I've lived in my neighborhood

1699
01:37:22.720 --> 01:37:25.720
<v Speaker 3>for twenty years and I've never seen a bat. And

1700
01:37:25.760 --> 01:37:27.359
<v Speaker 3>then I heard you speak the other night, and now

1701
01:37:27.359 --> 01:37:31.319
<v Speaker 3>I see bat. Sometimes it's just a matter of looking

1702
01:37:31.319 --> 01:37:33.800
<v Speaker 3>at the right time. Give me a break. I got

1703
01:37:33.840 --> 01:37:34.479
<v Speaker 3>to run to the door.

1704
01:37:34.560 --> 01:37:36.680
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, yeah, no worries. Thank you so much for

1705
01:37:36.720 --> 01:37:44.000
<v Speaker 1>talking to me. I love that. Okay, okay, So at

1706
01:37:44.000 --> 01:37:47.479
<v Speaker 1>this point two hours in, we both needed a little intermission,

1707
01:37:47.680 --> 01:37:49.920
<v Speaker 1>a bathroom break, a sip of water. So I figured

1708
01:37:49.960 --> 01:37:52.159
<v Speaker 1>this is a good time to stop and make you

1709
01:37:52.399 --> 01:37:55.520
<v Speaker 1>wait a week for more Merlin. In the meanwhile, ask

1710
01:37:55.600 --> 01:37:59.600
<v Speaker 1>the smartest people the stupidest questions. Not only will you

1711
01:37:59.680 --> 01:38:04.359
<v Speaker 1>know more about what's snoozing in crevices and fluttering overhead,

1712
01:38:04.600 --> 01:38:08.199
<v Speaker 1>he'll also come away with some pretty boss life advice. Now,

1713
01:38:08.319 --> 01:38:10.840
<v Speaker 1>this conversation was so great it warranted a follow up,

1714
01:38:10.840 --> 01:38:13.000
<v Speaker 1>and so next week we will continue Part two of

1715
01:38:13.079 --> 01:38:16.680
<v Speaker 1>Chiropterology with Merlin Tuttle. I swear he has more stories

1716
01:38:16.920 --> 01:38:20.680
<v Speaker 1>from the field that will boggle you and dazzle you. Meanwhile,

1717
01:38:20.720 --> 01:38:23.600
<v Speaker 1>you can find him at Merlin Tuttle dot org. He

1718
01:38:23.720 --> 01:38:26.600
<v Speaker 1>is on Instagram, he is on Twitter. The links will

1719
01:38:26.600 --> 01:38:29.760
<v Speaker 1>be in the show notes. Follow him immediately. He is

1720
01:38:29.800 --> 01:38:33.399
<v Speaker 1>one of my favorite presences on social media. Bats for

1721
01:38:33.560 --> 01:38:36.760
<v Speaker 1>days and literally the best pictures that anyone has ever

1722
01:38:36.800 --> 01:38:39.239
<v Speaker 1>captured of them. Okay, links in the show notes now.

1723
01:38:39.239 --> 01:38:41.119
<v Speaker 1>If you need any Ologies merch you can find it

1724
01:38:41.159 --> 01:38:43.720
<v Speaker 1>at Aliward dot com. Thank you Shannon Feltis and Bonnie

1725
01:38:43.760 --> 01:38:46.560
<v Speaker 1>Dutch for helping manage that, and do check out their

1726
01:38:46.560 --> 01:38:50.239
<v Speaker 1>comedy podcast You Are That. I am their guest this

1727
01:38:50.319 --> 01:38:55.520
<v Speaker 1>week talking all things Halloween, making some confessions I'll probably regret,

1728
01:38:55.720 --> 01:38:58.880
<v Speaker 1>so that is You Are That. Also another wonderful podcast

1729
01:38:59.000 --> 01:39:03.359
<v Speaker 1>started by anologist is sports and performance psychologist doctor Sari

1730
01:39:03.479 --> 01:39:06.840
<v Speaker 1>Shepherd's brand new Manage the Moment podcast, which you can

1731
01:39:06.880 --> 01:39:09.720
<v Speaker 1>find anywhere you get podcasts. I'll be her guest on

1732
01:39:09.760 --> 01:39:12.960
<v Speaker 1>November twenty fifth, so subscribe to that now. Thank you

1733
01:39:13.000 --> 01:39:16.000
<v Speaker 1>to Aaron Talbert, who admin the Facebook Ologies podcast group.

1734
01:39:16.239 --> 01:39:18.960
<v Speaker 1>Hello to the non Facebook folk sub editors out there.

1735
01:39:19.239 --> 01:39:22.279
<v Speaker 1>Thank you to Emily white and all the ologies transcribers

1736
01:39:22.319 --> 01:39:25.279
<v Speaker 1>and that Facebook group helping to make transcripts available. Those

1737
01:39:25.359 --> 01:39:29.640
<v Speaker 1>are at aliward dot com slash ologies dash extras link

1738
01:39:29.680 --> 01:39:31.920
<v Speaker 1>in the show notes. Thank you to Jared Sleeper for

1739
01:39:32.000 --> 01:39:34.359
<v Speaker 1>all the assistant editing, and of course to the human

1740
01:39:34.399 --> 01:39:37.439
<v Speaker 1>equivalent of a batt burrito, Stephen Ray Morris, who puts

1741
01:39:37.439 --> 01:39:40.000
<v Speaker 1>all the pieces together Each week. Nick Thorburn wrote and

1742
01:39:40.000 --> 01:39:42.800
<v Speaker 1>performed the theme music, and stay tuned next week for

1743
01:39:42.920 --> 01:39:47.640
<v Speaker 1>more Adventures in Bats with Doctor Merlin Tuttle. You know,

1744
01:39:47.680 --> 01:39:49.119
<v Speaker 1>if you stick around to the end of the episode, though,

1745
01:39:49.119 --> 01:39:50.760
<v Speaker 1>I tell you a secret, and this week the secret

1746
01:39:50.840 --> 01:39:54.319
<v Speaker 1>is I was once dating this musician who had like

1747
01:39:54.399 --> 01:39:57.000
<v Speaker 1>long musician hair, and we were hanging out at dusk

1748
01:39:57.359 --> 01:40:00.000
<v Speaker 1>near a lake, just admiring the view. All this sudden,

1749
01:40:01.039 --> 01:40:04.279
<v Speaker 1>this huge butterfly flew close to his long musician hair

1750
01:40:04.319 --> 01:40:06.800
<v Speaker 1>and he was like, whoa, that was the big ass butterfly.

1751
01:40:06.960 --> 01:40:09.880
<v Speaker 1>And I was like, bro, that was bat. And he

1752
01:40:09.960 --> 01:40:13.960
<v Speaker 1>did not like that information. But bats in general are

1753
01:40:14.000 --> 01:40:16.319
<v Speaker 1>not trying to eat anyone's hair. There was probably just

1754
01:40:16.359 --> 01:40:19.840
<v Speaker 1>a bug over his head. But anyway, later on this

1755
01:40:19.960 --> 01:40:22.720
<v Speaker 1>boyfriend didn't like that. At parties, I would bounce around

1756
01:40:22.760 --> 01:40:25.279
<v Speaker 1>and say hello to various friends. And so once we

1757
01:40:25.279 --> 01:40:27.600
<v Speaker 1>were in a fight, and he wrote a scathing song

1758
01:40:27.640 --> 01:40:31.239
<v Speaker 1>about me called social Bat, because I was like a

1759
01:40:31.239 --> 01:40:34.880
<v Speaker 1>social butterfly, but larger because I talked to too many

1760
01:40:34.920 --> 01:40:37.600
<v Speaker 1>people at parties. Anyway, I think he wanted me to

1761
01:40:37.640 --> 01:40:40.720
<v Speaker 1>be offended, but you know, jokes on him, because bats

1762
01:40:40.800 --> 01:40:43.439
<v Speaker 1>are cool as hell. All right, Okay, stay tuned for

1763
01:40:43.520 --> 01:40:46.399
<v Speaker 1>next week. It's so good, all right, by bye. Pacaderman

1764
01:40:46.520 --> 01:40:56.199
<v Speaker 1>College Homeology, crypto zoology, lithology and Technology, meteorology, batology, athology,