How do bat biologists perceive BATS? A new PLOS One article

Bats and Academics: How Do Scientists Perceive Their Object of Study?

This is the title of a new article that was just published in PLOS One (here) by Christophe Boëte and Serge Morand.  The article (based on results from an international survey of bat biologists) suggests that many bat biologists have reached certain conclusions about what the risks to bats worldwide due to environmental change are and that the key next step is communicating this information to the public.

I think this is the key point (see below) that is worth consideration. This conclusion is not surprising but is extremely important. However, what is the most effective way to communicate this information? Reaching out to school-aged children (k12) seems to be one of the focal groups as are students in classrooms of bat biologist but is this the ideal way forward? Twitter and other online forums are great but I think people usually communicate with like-minded people.

I highly suggest giving the article a look and I would be keen to know what people might suggest a proper response to the author's 'call to action' might be!

Educational poster on bats from Bat Conservation Trust in the UK (here).

Abstract (Boëte and Morand 2016)

Bats are associated with conflicting perceptions among humans, ranging from affection to disgust. If these attitudes can be associated with various factors among the general public (e.g. social norms, lack of knowledge), it is also important to understand the attitude of scientists who study bats. Such reflexive information on the researchers community itself could indeed help designing adequate mixed communication tools aimed at protecting bats and their ecosystems, as well as humans living in their vicinity that could be exposed to their pathogens. Thus, we conducted an online survey targeting researchers who spend a part of their research activity studying bats. Our aim was to determine (1) how they perceive their object of study, (2) how they perceive the representation of bats in the media and by the general population, (3) how they protect themselves against pathogen infections during their research practices, and (4) their perceptions of the causes underlying the decline in bat populations worldwide. From the 587 completed responses (response rate of 28%) having a worldwide distribution, the heterogeneity of the scientists’ perception of their own object of study was highlighted. In the majority of cases, this depended on the type of research they conducted (i.e. laboratory versus field studies) as well as their research speciality. Our study revealed a high level of personal protection equipment being utilised against pathogens during scientific practices, although the role bats play as reservoirs for a number of emerging pathogens remains poorly known. Our results also disclosed the unanimity among specialists in attributing a direct role for humans in the global decline of bat populations, mainly via environmental change, deforestation, and agriculture intensification. Overall, the present study suggests the need for better communication regarding bats and their biology, their role within the scientific community, as well as in the general public population. As a consequence, increased knowledge regarding scientists’ perceptions of bats should improve the role scientists play in influencing the perception of bats by the general public.

Boëte C, Morand S (2016) Bats and Academics: How Do Scientists Perceive Their Object of Study? PLoS ONE 11(11): e0165969. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0165969

New White Nose Syndrome fact sheet out (2015)

*Hot off the press--

You can read the new White Nose Syndrome (WNS) fact sheet here.

Impacted : 7 species including of which are 2 endangered 

Still no disease has been seen in tree bats and a few others that have been found with the fungus (Pseudogymnoascus destructans).


(*I will  try to look into this last aspect more for future blogs as understanding how/why certain species may not be exhibiting disease is key for ascertaining the impacts of the fungus).

Human echolocation - 'seeing' like a bat

An intersting podcast/article on human echolocation and 'What is it like to be a bat' was published in Nature News recently (here). 

"

What is it like to be a bat?

Bat ecologists have made it their life’s work to find out, philosophers argue we may never understand, and one blind woman knows better than anyone. In the first episode of Audiofile, Nature’s new sound science series, find out how much we can really know about what it’s like to be a bat, and what it tell us about the limits of human perception.

• Thomas Nagel: What is it like to be a bat?
• David Papineau, KCL
• Simmons lab, Brown University
• Lore Thaler, Durham University

"

 

This is the first podcast from the new Audiofile - and is quite nice.  I except if you check back there will soon be more podcasts relating to sound (here).

Secrets and Mysteries of Bats (documentary)

I though that putting a link to this nice documentary about bats was long overdue.

Enjoy!

Can bats run? Part II of 'The bats that vamp... VAMPIRES'

Last year when I went to Belize to do field work we caught many vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) which happen to be more cute and fascinating then they are scary.  I've written about these lovely bats before. 

As I prepare for another trip to Belize with the same great group of bat biologists I thought this might be a good time to write a bit about bats that don't just fly... but also WALK and even RUN*!  (*Technically we might define their gait as bounding not running but in any case (see below) they move quite quickly on the ground).

I don't study vampire bats so while I write here might sound like I am trying to convience readers that they are the coolest bats around (sure they might be...) there are many other fascinating bats.  The problem is that people tend to not LIKE vampires very much.  In many cases this is because some people are afraid of them for one reason or another probably mostly due to their diets.  However, perhaps by taking a closer look- people might learn to like them a bit more.

(Ho / AFP/Getty Images)

In that spirit- Bounding Vampires...

Bats are highly evolved to fly.  So much so that their body shapes including legs and feet have changed to accommodate flying and as a result they are generally bad at walking!  A bat that is on the ground will very often crawl up whatever it can find to gain some height before attempting to fly.  However, some bats need to crawl around because of what they eat.  Two particular species that are good at crawling around are the common vampire: Desmodus rotundus and the New Zealand short-tailed bat Mystacina tuberculata.  Desmodus as true vampire bat eats blood of animals which involves crawling around them to find a good spot to feast.  The New Zealand short-tailed bat on the otherhand is a leaf-litter forager but also lives in a place with no real native mammalian predators.

Wanting to understand more about how these bats are able to move on the ground as efficiently as they do Riskin et al. undertook a study on the biomechanics of both species.
(Riskin et al. 2006, Journal of Experimental Biology, 209, 1725-1736).

Stride cycles of Desmodus on a treadmill.  Figure 1 from Riskin et al. 2006.

This work resulted in the video you saw of vampires running on a treadmill (above) and a better understanding of bat kinematics during walking.  They were thus able to determine that the gait of the short-tailed bat is more of a 'walk' and that of the vampire is more like a 'bounding gait' as seen in other small mammals.

Below is another Figure from Riskin et al. 2006.  This illustrates stride frequency (how fast a foot is hitting the ground) plotted against how fast the bat is moving.  This figure compares the kinematics of the two species and also places them withing the different gait definitions.

Another great paper I'd also recommend is this one (citation below, clip to the right).

(Riskin & Hermanson 2005 Nature, 434. 292)

 To keep reading it go here.


















I hope that these cool behaviors/modes of locomotion illustrate how amazing these bats are and how much they can teach us about the evolution of locomotion.  Vampire bats have suffered a great deal of mistreatment and violence due to what people 'think' they know about them.  I hope that we can learn to live with these amazing bats, learn from them and marvel at how Natural Selection has led to what we see today in these beautiful,fascinating, intelligent and locomotion-wonders.

One way that bats are depicted... Focusing on the scary and 'horrible' impression that many people have...

Another way that bats are depicted.  Also- sorry that this is showing fruit bats... I would love to have put a picture of some book for kids illustrating how vampire bats are 'strange and wonderful' but they generally don't make the cover and if they do... well the images are almost always illustrating them as scary.  Below is one exception.