My wife has developed a methodology for catching bats that find their way into the house. It’s sound and efficient, though not as elegant as this guy’s approach. Despite their name in so many languages (letuchaya mysh, fledermaus, etc.), bats are not rodents. In fact, order Chiroptera appears to be more closely related to primates than to mice. By process of elimination, I believe that the recently released critter below is a little brown bat, Myotis lucifugus. I also believe (though I can’t find the reference) that bats are the only known reservoir of rabies in the Laurentians.
August 30, 2008
Bats!
What smells with it’s tongue, gives live birth, and loves a sun bath?
My 4-year old kept an eye on this guy while I went into the house for my camera. It’s flicking its tongue to get a smell of the surroundings; it’s tongue is forked to enable it to smell in stereo. It is Thamnophis sirtalis, the common garter snake, one of only a handful of species of reptile that give live birth.
What!? I thought live birth (and lactation) was the very definition of being a mammal. But, according to Wikipedia, the current definition of mammals is “sweat glands, including sweat glands modified for milk production, hair, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex region in the brain.”
What a tangled web we weave when we try to classify life on earth!