firefly kids at Grenadier Pond

I managed to squeeze in two loads of laundry before racing over to High Park for “Bat Night”, an educational nature walk sponsored by various community recreation groups. There were plenty of vocal kids in attendance, enough to flush out most of the native bat colonies to the other side of Lake Ontario, but somehow we spotted a few deaf bats in the dwindling light.

lights from the Queensway over Grenadier Pond

If anything, what everyone learned about bats tonight should dispel most — if not all — bat myths and make everyone sleep a little easier at night. For one thing, only three of the 800-1,000 species live on blood and they get it from cows, not people. And the cows wouldn’t even feel it since the bat injects an anti-coagulant agent (rather than suck), lets one teaspoon drain away, and is full enough to take off again.

The other tidbit of information that may surprise people is that the megabats (the group which include the fruit bats or flying foxes) are not colour-blind — they see in full colour and hunt with their eyes and sense of smell… like humans.

When I lived in Australia, I first spotted fruit bats in the palm trees in Sydney, but I couldn’t make out what they were. My Aussie friend Neville told me they were bats and I stopped in my tracks because they were SO BIG. That’s also when I learned that fruit bats and flying foxes were the same creatures.

About a year later I was living in northern Queensland, in Cairns, and there I got up close and personal with Hayley, a tame flying fox. Somewhere in my stuff is a picture I took of her on someone’s arm, after she climbed over my arm. If I can locate the picture, I’ll scan it and post it. I remember thinking how bizarre it was to see bat wings on what looked to be a small fox — she had big eyes and big ears… and big wings!

light the way