The Urban Pantheist

Someone pointed out to me that Disney's Animal Kingdom is more of a theme park than a zoo. It's true--the park is divided into Asia and Africa (and dinosaur) sections with lots of cultural architecture and signs like this one. Just not much information about the animals. And most of the animals are a little hard to find.

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New spider species discovered in Vietnam. Vietnam is like the new species discovery capitol of the world these days. Now, a new spider's nothing too exciting, they probably find new little ones all the time. But this one's REALLY BIG.

I've seen this picture before:

But Cracked.com finally gave me context: a Chinese circus. What do you suppose are the intermediate steps to training that little trick?

The same Cracked article posted the famous photos of the lightning storm caused by volcanic ash. If you haven't seen it, you should go look at it, because as their writer puts it, "It’s like every single AC/DC album cover came to life and punched your eyeballs right in the dick."

Throw Shoes at Bush!

I got the annual newsletter from The Antigua and Barbuda Humane society, which I put in one slim day of volunteering at, back in January. One of the more interesting animals there was a sheep that was missing most of one front leg. He hobbled around awkwardly, getting around better than you might expect, but still kind of painful to watch. The staff there told me they were waiting on a prosthesis. He got it!

(Donated by Or-Pro Medical, of San Juan Puerto Rico!)

My happy thing from yesterday was when I went to the Tropical Forest exhibit at the end of the day, to bring them back their frog. That's nice in itself (recovered patient) but the cool thing was being in that building at dusk. It's basically a dome with a translucent cover, so natural light can filter into it. There are a number of individual exhibits throughout the building, cleverly arranged so that incompatible animals are separated (the ocelots can't eat the tamarins etc) but most of them share an open top. The upper area of the building is a free-flight zone, and tropical birds are free to fly from planting to planting. If you look up from the monkeys and snakes and stuff you see tropical trees and vines with birds moving around in them. BUT ALSO there are fruit bats, which are usually pretty difficult to see. Yesterday in the waning gray light of dusk coming through the roof, straw-colored bats flew overhead; I could see the webbing of their wings lit through as they flapped and soared with more room than I've ever seen in a bat exhibit. I stared in wonder with a dumb grin on my face. Not many people come to the zoo in winter, but this is a clear advantage of the early sunset hours--big beautiful bats. (Note to AmyZoo: we have straw-colored bats Eidolon helvum and Ruwenzori bats Rhinolophus ruwenzorii)

Edited to add: I thought I posted this this morning, but it's been sitting here unposted all day.

Photos by urbpan. Location: Congress Ave. Bridge, Austin.
The bat on the far left shows the "free tail," protruding past the membrane between the back legs.

Urban species #253: Mexican free-tailed bat Tadarida brasilensis

According to Bat Conservation International, one and a half million Mexican free-tailed bats emerge from Austin's Congress Avenue Bridge each night, between March and November. These mammals are migratory, and spend winter in Mexico. When I learned about the Congress Avenue Bridge, I assumed it was a highway bridge at the margin of settled Austin, on a remote piece of desert. Visiting it in person, I was amazed to find myself on the main street of downtown Austin, a few blocks from the Texas Capitol building, surrounded by skyscrapers. The bridge is one of several that cross the Colorado River, which winds through the city (this section of the river is dammed, and is known as Town Lake). When the bridge was renovated in 1980, changes in the structure proved to be attractive to roosting bats, and the most remarkable urban nature attraction in the country was born. I was thrilled to see, not just the swirling mass of flying mammals, but the huge crowds of people gathered for the experience. It's similar to the regular eruptions of a geyser in a National Park, only this is an artificial serendipity. Every human activity potentially creates habitat: skyscraper ledges provide nest space for pigeons, subways shelter mice, garbage provides a year-round food for skunks and many other animals. But this was one of the only places I've seen where the fact that the construction accidentally created wildlife habitat was celebrated. Future engineers should study this example, to encourage the wildlife that we, collectively, want to share our city with.

Mexican free-tailed bats are welcomed, in large part, because they eat insects. While many people like to think that bats control mosquito populations, the truth is that mosquitoes are paltry sustenance. While some mosquitoes are probably eaten by bats, the greater bulk of their food consists of beetles and moths. The larvae of many moths are serious pests of the vast Texan agricultural fields surrounding the city. Migrating bats stopover in open buildings, abandoned mines, and in tunnels and bridges. Before there were man-made structures in the bats' range, they roosted entirely in caves. These bats are encountered more frequently than any other species in Texas, and are often seen hunting insects attracted to streetlights.


The water of Town Lake is visible in this picture. In both photos, we are looking down at the bats, as they stream out from under the bridge.

( More, including a video. )

Urban Species #114 Big brown bat Eptesicus fuscus

The most urban of all North American bats, the big brown bat roosts almost exclusively in man-made structures. A few colonies have been found in hollow trees or caves, but for the most part, these animals prefer attics, barns, and belfries. As they are among the most cold-tolerant of bats, they will roost in more open places, such as under bridges and in chimneys. They are the first bats seen awake in late winter, and the most commonly seen bats in our area. They feed on insects over still water and open areas, and are also frequently observed taking advantage of the bug-attracting properties of streetlights.

Perhaps the most famous urban bats are those that make up the colony of Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiensis) in Austin. Someday I dearly wish to see the spectacle of more than a million bats (the largest urban colony in the world) stream out from underneath the Congress Avenue bridge.

( photos of a sleeping bat, by cottonmanifesto )

Days like yesterday are why I need to bring a camera to work with me every day.

( Cut for bats and snakes )