Things Have Changed...

Joan of Arc by Albert Lynch (1851-1912)

The Joy of Bats

Bats are good neighbors, and the bat biologist Merlin Tuttle is their public-relations man. He calls them “sophisticated, beautiful, even cute.” 

In the late seventies, Tuttle was asked to write a chapter about bats for the National Geographic book “Wild Animals of North America.” When looking at photographs with his editor, he came to realize that many existing photographs of bats, which often showed them “snarling in self-defense, with bared teeth,” perpetuated their unpleasant image. He decided to take bat photographs himself, so that people could see bats eating, sleeping, and hunting insects.

Read more about Tuttle’s bat-centric adventures on newyorker.com.

Horn Players. 1983