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Running for Bats It’s no secret that Austin, Texas, residents have embraced the bat colony that spends its summers under the downtown Congress Avenue Bridge. The 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats have become a symbol of what makes the city unique and a source of pride for Austinites.
Nowhere is that more evident than in the streets of downtown, where hotels display bat logos, a prominent street sculpture depicts a bat in flight and hundreds of people line up each summer night to witness wildlife in an urban setting as the bridge bats emerge to eat up to 20,000 pounds of pesky insects.
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Bats in the House BCI receives more requests for public information about bats that have slipped into homes and other buildings than any other topic. And most of those telephone calls wind up with our resident expert, Science Officer Barbara French, who also lectures on the topic to groups ranging from public health officials and veterinarians to police officers.
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Bats in the News Most people assume that bats fly much as birds do, by flapping fairly rigid, airplane-style wings. Now, BBC News reports, scientists using a computerized imaging system to study bats in wind tunnels have demonstrated that bats and birds have very little in common when it comes to flying.
The research team, led by Anders Hedenström of Lund University in Sweden, studied Pallas’ long-tongued nectar bats
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Species Profile |
Myotis lucifugus The little brown myotis is abundant throughout forested areas of the U.S. as far north as Alaska....more
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