Belize bats

Over the next few days I will be finalizing my preparations to head off for a quick (5 day) trip to the field.  Specifically, I will be going to the bat species-rich country of Belize with a group of other bat biologists for a collaborative batting effort!  I hope to sample a few bats others are working with as well as get some great photos of less common species.  I'll admit that I am excited to catch my old friend from my dissertation: the Jamaican fruit bat (Artibeus jamaicensis).  Strange how a species you work with extensively can become like a dear-friend you miss when you don't see it for awhile and that you look forward to catching up with.

My mad dash to pick up essentials included:
Bug spray (DEET included unfortunately a must for the mosquito-prone in the tropics),
batteries for headlamps (*a important item for hours of bat work- I also have 3 headlamps packed 'just in case'),

black velvet for photography of tissues/bats etc.,
duct tape (just case you don't recall why see this post).

I also had to grab a suite of lab supplies as well.  Of course these you cannot just pick up at Target!  A favorite that will surely last the duration of my Postdoc tenure?  Parafilm!  Parafilm is a fun tape-like wax that you can use to seal tubes and other containers and is extremely useful and fun to use!  Really I would suggest that Parafilm is the scientific version of duct tape.  It is incredibly useful.

I leave Monday and look forward to sharing information about the bats we catch!   With any luck I will have many an update during my trip (we should have internet access making this possible)!  Meanwhile tomorrow will consist of packing the rest of my lab supplies: calipers, pesolas (a spring-based scale used to weigh bats), leather gloves (for handling bats) among other things.

Meanwhile- as I sit and write this- a song (Tropical Iceland by the Fiery Furnaces to be exact) came to mind.  Really this song is a little silly but I've always loved how catchy it is and well as you might suspect leaving the North East for the tropics made it come to mind again.  Give it a listen!  If nothing else the cartoons are both strange and cute.  Yes and 'strange and cute' makes me think of some of the bats I hope to catch (see? full circle)!   Now feel free to weigh in on the image below is it strange and cute or just strange?

'Don't hate me because I am beautiful!l' an image of Centurio senex the Wrinkle-Faced bat (image by Laval from the American Society of Mammalogists image library).