Tootfinder

The University of Wisconsin Department of Entomology has a nice primer on why so many people think bats (and purple martins) control mosquitoes. #bats #mosquitoes https://mosquitosite.russell.wisc.edu/preventing-mosquito-bites/bats-and-birds/

"The bat that weighs the same as a teaspoon of salt – and the biologist who rediscovered it"
#Bats #Animals

Was hoping this article in the New York Times would be about bats eating mosquitoes but I was wrong. Headline and a single sentence in the article were there to make bats seem like friends (they are, but not because of how many mosquitoes they eat, which is very few). Digital version [follow gift link] has a different headline. #bats #chiroptera #mosquitoes #nyc #newyork #insects #nature #biology #journalism #nytimes https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/18/nyregion/bats-nyc-highline-prospect-park.html?unlocked_article_code=1.zFA.CO8C.VYStaJ_P2guq&smid=url-share

'Bat and double happiness' matchbox label (Japanese export for the Chinese market). Woodblock print on paper, c. 1910
#art #bats #BatArt #DoubleHappiness

A Spanish ecologist, Pedro Romero-Vidal, was looking at a 1611 painting by Jan Brueghel and noticed what is likely a greater noctule bat (Nyctalus lasiopterus) snacking on a bird while in flight. So cool. #ArtHistory #bats #art #brueghel #birds #biology #chiroptera https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2536525123