The senior author of this wonderful book has been a friend since the 1960s, when we met amid a swirl of bats in the attic of an abandoned farmhouse. He was a young scientist sharing his passion for bats and I was a young naturalist, eager to learn. But I have no doubt that my enthusiasm for the book, and bats, would be there had we never met.
It is not just that A Miscellany of Bats provides facts and figures, it is that there is so much more to know about bats than most of us realize, and both Brock Fenton and the late Jens Rydell convey that knowledge to the lay audience, the text filtering the multifaceted and often highly technical aspects of bat study through the lens of accessibility to the non-scientist.
Beautifully illustrated with outstanding colour photos, Miscellany addresses the personal journeys of the co-authors’ fascination with bats and then takes readers on a tour of how technological advances led them and fellow researchers to knowledge previously cloaked in the darkness bats favor, and the multitude of secret, at times mysterious, places so many, but not all, bats occupy. What is of greatest interest to me is that apart from the fact that all bat species can fly on wings that share a basic, highly functional anatomical structure created from the same set of bones we all possess, there is very little generalizing that can be done about them, so varied are they in so many ways. Their use of vocalizations, alone, could occupy lifetimes of study to start to understand. Not only do most (but not all) species echolocate – emitting high-pitch vocalizations whose echoes guide them through darkness, often with incredible precision, they communicate among themselves and even interact with their prey in the endless give-and-take of evolutionarily-driven changes.
Not only flying insects and other arthropods but fruit and nectar (some species are crucial to pollination of many plant species), with some species consuming birds, other bats, fish, sugar-water from hummingbird feeders, and, of course, blood, the exclusive diet of neotropical vampires who, in turn, may feed the hungry among themselves by sharing the blood they consume with those in need. Bats can eat half their weight in food per night, thus have high metabolic needs with a subsequent need to significantly reduce their metabolism, even if just resting between other activities. They are true mammals who suckle their young, and often carry them out into the night, clinging tightly.
Bats face a variety of threats, many beyond our ability to easily resolve, but one threat we can fight is ignorance, and the fear that it too often generates. It is better now than back when Brock and I first met and fear of bats too often led to their cruel persecution, but still, there is need for more understanding, which this book provides, and for that we, in the animal protection movement, and the bats, are grateful.
And for kids ages 8 to 12, don’t forget another great bat book – by another long time and valued friend (and I did the interior art work but have no financial interests involved) – Bat Citizens: Defending the Ninjas of the Night, by Rob Laidlaw, published by Pajama Press, 2018. Bats rock!
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