#flittermice

Flittermice

I like the old English colloquial name 'flittermice' as a way to describe bats, although I don't think I need to tell you guys that bats aren't actually flying mice, nor any kind of rodent for that matter.  Just Wikipedia 'Bats' and read a few paragraphs down and it will tell you that the bats' closest living genetic relatives are thought to consist of hoofed mammals (like our friend the llama), hippopotamuses, and dolphins.  

This post is in response to a request I got from tumblr user FlamingoCroquet for some bat photos, I hope you enjoy them!

The second photo of the orange bat with extended wing is Noctilio leporinus, a Greater Bulldog Bat native of South America.  It has been a longtime favorite of mine because of the expertise and care taken towards its preservation.  Its wings are thinner than tissue paper!  That specimen in particular is from 1956, a fact which has always impressed me.  

The one underneath it of the specimen so elegantly mounted onto a piece of heavy card stock is Nyctalus noctula, a Common Noctule.  The locality given on the card is this spelling exactly: "Kirobobad, Azerbaidzhan, S.S.R. U.S.S.R." and the date is 1939.  I guess I can't be judgmental about its somewhat unusual mounting technique if it has lasted more than 70 years. 

In the next three photos I decided to try my hand at cleaning a tiny brown bat skeleton that had been pulled out of the beetles some time ago and was due for a cleaning (sorry Tess!).  I had to work with two sets of very small, pointed tweezers to pull off what little hair was left on the skeleton, and a few shed shells of dermestid larvae.  I opted to leave the wings attached to the bone in fear of breaking any of the digits in the process.  I didn't even know if I should attempt to soak it in peroxide in fear the bones would get lost in the bubbles -- I am not joking.  To give you a sense of scale, look at it in comparison to the weasel skeleton. Its ribs were smaller than fingernail clippings, I swear it. 

The last three photos in the set are of random shelves from the bat cabinet.  I really enjoy them displayed with their wings out -- it makes it look like they are all flying around in the drawers.