Halloween Fun

[Little Brown Fox]

Oh please, that's a myth about the hair thing. They can still tell you're a person, and are usually trying to actively avoid you, from my understanding. Most species of bats are tiny compared to humans- the kinds that you usually find in your house or around outside, anyway- so to them, we must be absolutely terrifying. I'm sorry; I just really like bats (even the kind of ugly ones, to a limited extent).

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

The word for bat in German is fledermaus, which literally means "flying mouse". I think that bats are rodents, just like mice. Most are harmless, though some species do carry rabies (like some mice or rats). The only kind of bat I'd really be scared of are the Vampire bats, and I don't think there are any of those indigenous to North America.

If you've ever had a pet bird, and let it fly around the house, that would be sorta like having a bat loose in the building. I suppose most people are afraid of bats because of the Dracula connection, and the existence of the Vampire variety.

(They don't actually suck your blood. They make a small byte and inject an anticoagulant into the wound from their saliva. The victim then slowly bleeds , and the bats lap up the resulting pool of blood from the ground. (TMI I know)).

[Anime Girl]

I went to school with nekomimi (kitty ears), and I ended most of my sentences with "meow"! Oh I also learned an important lesson. Never ever ever play Slender Man in the dark, especially on Halloween night!

[Earthshine]

Oh please, that's a myth about the hair thing. They can still tell you're a person, and are usually trying to actively avoid you, from my understanding. Most species of bats are tiny compared to humans- the kinds that you usually find in your house or around outside, anyway- so to them, we must be absolutely terrifying. I'm sorry; I just really like bats (even the kind of ugly ones, to a limited extent).

I adore bats as well. I also really like spiders too and try to never squish them if I find them in my house. But bats are pretty good at avoiding people and more than likely will NEVER run into someone or get tangled in your hair unless something startled them, they were injured or there was just not enough space to avoid (your hair, like a huge swarm).

[Little Brown Fox]

Did you know that there is a variety of bat that's colored like Halloween? It's called the Orange Leaf-Nosed Bat.

[Earthshine]

Did you know that there is a variety of bat that's colored like Halloween?

I would like to see this bat

[Little Brown Fox]

Um, I couldn't find a very good picture through Google Image Search; the first I saw of this bat was a few pictures of the bat on Tumblr, which included a few pictures of a young bat, on which the contrast is most obvious.

[Earthshine]

The only bat that I can think of off the top of my head that is remotely colored like Halloween (orange and black) is the flying fox or fruit bat.

Interesting though. My internet connection right now is not the best (borrowing from a school I live across the street from so the signal varies) and I'll try to remember to search for it if a picture never pops up here.

[Little Brown Fox]

Well, you could search for "Orange Leaf-Nosed Bat" and see what comes up.

[AprilSeven]

Just so you might understand where my bat-fear comes from . . .

When I was about 14 my mother and I were swimming one evening at dusk, when the bats came out. They started diving repeatedly at the surface of the water, and we both decided it was time to leave the pool (but were on the opposite side from the ladder).

These guys were swooping all around us, honestly a foot or less from our heads, and we ended up against the wall of the pool. We shrunk down into the water so only our faces were above and waited. And waited.

The "flying mice" were NOT going away, so we decided to just stand up, shut our eyes and move as quickly to the ladder as possible.

Upon standing up, one of the bats flew directly at us, mouth open - we could see its TEETH - the darned thing swooped up at the very last instant from hitting our faces.

The good news is we were so terrified, we screamed and scuttled safely from the pool.

As for hair, sorry but I have to strongly defend my observation that when bats are present and I'm with other people, they tend to fly towards me, as I tend to be the only person with very curly hair (like Mirida in "Brave"). I figured their sonor might be reading my "frizzies" as gnats! Others have commented on how they "favor" me.

And I don't care if it's a bat, bird, dog, cat, horse -- anything charging at my face/head is NOT a thing I like!

And yes, they are rodents (which I actually like, as critters), and YES our visitor last night came from the church's belfry (we've been working on the steeple - which opens right into the sanctuary).