and THAT is where the name postdoctoral scholar came from!

PhD comics nails it again!

Here is a gem from Jorge Cham

www.phdcomics.com by Jorge Cham

Trinidad bats

Hello from Trinidad where the bats are flying and the rain (today) is falling!  Here are a few photos to enjoy including my first observation of a bat-lizard interaction!

Ok so the bat and lizard are NOT actually 'interacting' but rather the bat is flying past the lizard.  The bat and lizard were living in the same roost. 

Trinidad and Tobago bats

I am back home from a recent trip to Trinidad where the bats were abundant and from what I could see roosting in almost any and every abandoned house/garage/store on the island.  That may be a bit of an exaggeration but there are certainly many amazing bats in Trinidad.  Trinidad itself is beautiful, while the people are fun, kind and diverse.  The island country just off the coast of Venezuela is home to amazing animals, plants as well as food!  Just a word or two about the bats follow but I would suggest you read more about this interesting country if you find time.

Together with researchers from several different institutions we captured many species of bats but here are some of the more photogenic:

The greater spear-nosed bat (Phylostomus hastatus)

This very large bat makes very interesting vocalizations, roosts in groups and is known by bat biologists to have a forceful bite.  That said these are fairly sweet bats and amazingly beautiful.  Phylostomus eats fruits.

The ghost-faced bat (Mormoops megalophylla)

This is the 'oh my gosh what happened to it's face!' bat.  Mormoops is an insect eater and comes in beautiful shades of orange- in case you can peel your eyes away from its strange face long enough to appreciate its fur color.  Why the weird face?  well that's a story for another time but may have something to do with it's use of echolocation to find insect prey.

The short-tailed fruit bat (Carollia perspicillata)

This tough looking little nose-leafed bat is the main bat studied on the island and lives in a variety of habitats.  These little fruit-eating bats are quite small but are also famously good mothers and will take great care of a baby despite possible risks to the mother.

The Disk-winged bat (Thyroptera tricolor)

Another insect-eater, these tiny little bats roost head-up (which is unusual for bats who usually hang upside down) inside of leaves as they unroll.  Read more about how other sucker footed bats don't suck here. 

I hope to post more about T&T in the future but meanwhile I refer you to Trinibats.com which has amazing photos and information about a suite of other bats.

another graduate student graduating... cartoon

I have to admit I loved this recent PhD Comic:

bat sperm!

Post-field update: I've returned home, almost caught up on sleep and grocery shopping but most importantly I am happy to report that I've been able to find and photograph BAT SPERM!  While I have a lot of work to do with my samples this seemed like news worth sharing.

So here is is- my first successful bat sperm sample! Join with me to marvel at this tiny wonder (below).

This particular sample is from an Artibeus jamaicensis (the Jamaican fruit bat).  The sperm is as of yet unstained but at least here it is in all of it's glory for a quick glimpse!

A Eumops by any other anem- howlers and prehensile-tailed porcupines (oh my)!!

Busy busy busy! 

We've been busy processing lots of great bats here.  Last night was a bit of a mess with a massive storm that rained us all out and forced us to close nets down.  Winds were strong enough to rip down branches - some of which almost hit several people!   Despite this we did catch some bats (pre-rain).

Also- this morning a big surprise was that two big bats were knocked down from a nearby palm tree and found by workers here where we are staying.  We thought these guys were Mollosida rufus but it turns out they were Eumops sp.!  Pretty exciting!

In other news- howler monkeys have decided that they like being closer to our cabins! 

Tonight an exciting discovery came in the form of a NEOTROPICAL porqupine!

Sorry for the brief blog but I have to hit the hay to get up and check a harp trap in the am... photos to be uploaded soon/next!

Bats bats bats! Belize bats!

It has been extraordinary, wonderful, exciting, thrilling, lovely, great AND awesome to be here in Belize catching bats and working in the field with wonderful scientists such as Nancy Simmons, Sharon Swartz and the 'leader of the pack' Brock Fenton (that is a short list of those who are in attendance- let me say LOTS of other great people!)  Lots of nets, harp traps and echolocation recording as well as radio telemetry is happening all around as we speak!

As things are so busy I only have time to mention a few of the most exciting species we've caught so far!  Photos and information on each will follow soon.

Belize bats (May 2013):

>Carollia perspicillata- common name: Seba's short-tailed bat

(a male shown here eating a piece of papaya)

Artibeus lituratis
 *image/info coming soon

Eptesicus furnalis
 *image/info coming soon
 
Myotis keaysii
  *image/info coming soon

Desmodus rotundus
 *image/info coming soon

Rhynchonycteris naso
 *image/info coming soon
 
and MORE (I think we have ~19 species so far)!