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Post by BlueAndGold on Oct 31, 2020 22:07:38 GMT
Oh, Maggie! It is relaxing and peaceful to watch the bats on their nightly feeding! They are beautiful, delightful things to watch!
By the way, you can bet there are plenty of bats in Montreal (and just about everywhere else) too! You just have to be outside at the right time on summer evenings. You'll see them if you watch for them!
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Post by tasmanianartist on Nov 1, 2020 2:32:43 GMT
I like bats (loved watching them at summer sunsets), but: "Anyone who is injured (scratched or bitten) by a bat in Tasmania should seek prompt medical attention". I'm sure that goes for bats elsewhere, as the "Lyssavirus is transmitted when open wounds come into contact with infected saliva or blood. [...] If you must handle a bat then ensure you are wearing leather gloves. Hold the bat with its wings folded."
Remember that bats are implicated concerning the present world-wide mayhem.
I also like snakes, sharks, spiders, as well as elephants, tigers, and the cute panda. But all animals require respect, not only for their existence, but also for their peculiarities that could become dangerous for humans.
A house not far from a plantation forest was condemned when the bats infested it, living in walls and ceilings. Because when the trees were harvested, the bats had nowhere else to go ... the dust from their droppings is not an ideal living environment for humans.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2020 5:46:17 GMT
"Anyone who is injured (scratched or bitten) by a bat in Tasmania should seek prompt medical attention".
Yes, they will bite but only when they are provoked, otherwise they are completely harmless. This is similar to bees who will only sting if provoked. Bees like bats perform a valuable service. Honey bees are one of the world's most important pollinators of food crops. It is estimated that one third of the food that we consume each day relies on pollination mainly by bees, but also by other insects, birds and bats. However 13 bee species have become extinct in the UK since 1900 and a further 35 are on the threatened species list. I bought some seeds of flowers that would attract bees and planted them in my garden. Bats too are threatened and it's good to hear that so many people care for them. I was at a reading group a few years back and a bee flew into the room. The hostess panicked and yelled, "I'll get my fly swatter." I jumped up and said "O please don't, I'll get it out." I then managed to get the bee out of the window. The hostess was very angry with me. "Now that darn bee will go and make a nest in my garden and I'll have bees all over the piace stinging me to death," she whined. The bee was small and not a queen bee. "It's a worker bee and can't make a nest," I said quietly. It wasn't malice on her part just ignorance.
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Post by tasmanianartist on Nov 1, 2020 6:02:13 GMT
larika - correct - but while that is true, having to peel one out of a curtain, because it followed someone inside, attracted by the light, unfailingly results in scratches and bites. The bites and scrates are harmless - a tiny bat does not have the tools to bite your finger off - but what it carries on its saliva can be very dangerous. I won't try to grab a honeybee, either, but will readily pick up a bumblebee by letting it climb onto my finger. For a while I had a pet bumblebee. Unfortunately, bats in Australia carry the Lyssavirus, a relative of the rabies virus. It is also unfortunate that some people can have a bad allergic reaction to the bee venom, resulting in anaphylaxis, and even death. A school friend of mine died after having been stung by a bee during school recess (many decades ago now). It is also unfortunate that some very dangerous bees and wasps have made their way onto other than their native continents, where they displace the native ones - but that's a story for another day.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2020 10:10:21 GMT
That's so true tasmaniansrtist. I guess one can be bitten if one is prying a bat off the curtain, that's why its important to wears gloves when doing that.(if that's possible.) However the bat perceives that as dangerous to them and I suppose that's why they scratch or bite. The bat doesn't die, unlike the honeybee which will leave it's stinger in you along with part of it's digestive tract, muscles and nerves. Then it dies. I read that a person in Florida died from rabies after being bitten by a bat. "The individual died after a bat carrying the disease bit him and he didn't immediately seek medical treatment, the Florida Department of Health confirmed. "A series of four doses of the rabies vaccine can protect people after they've been exposed to rabies, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, but only if they receive the first dose soon after they are exposed.-----If you believe you may have been exposed to rabies, including any physical contact with a bat, contact your health care provider and your county health department right away." www.livescience.com/60835-how-rabies-kills-florida-bat.html
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2020 10:17:53 GMT
Some sadness there so I'll give you a happy poem.
Extract from Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet
And now you ask in your heart, "How shall we distinguish that which is good in pleasure from that which is not good?" Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower, But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee. For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life, And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love, And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.
People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2020 18:37:31 GMT
I like bats (loved watching them at summer sunsets), but: "Anyone who is injured (scratched or bitten) by a bat in Tasmania should seek prompt medical attention". I'm sure that goes for bats elsewhere, as the "Lyssavirus is transmitted when open wounds come into contact with infected saliva or blood. [...] If you must handle a bat then ensure you are wearing leather gloves. Hold the bat with its wings folded." Remember that bats are implicated concerning the present world-wide mayhem. I also like snakes, sharks, spiders, as well as elephants, tigers, and the cute panda. But all animals require respect, not only for their existence, but also for their peculiarities that could become dangerous for humans. A house not far from a plantation forest was condemned when the bats infested it, living in walls and ceilings. Because when the trees were harvested, the bats had nowhere else to go ... the dust from their droppings is not an ideal living environment for humans. I heard about Australian creatures, mostly to discourage me from going. I am closer than I was two weeks ago.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2020 18:42:23 GMT
Oh, Maggie! It is relaxing and peaceful to watch the bats on their nightly feeding! They are beautiful, delightful things to watch!
By the way, you can bet there are plenty of bats in Montreal (and just about everywhere else) too! You just have to be outside at the right time on summer evenings. You'll see them if you watch for them!
My friend, I gave up on Montreal and driving through North America. Took a plane to Amsterdam and then to Greece. One way. It's still hot hear. At my aunt's hotel for now, 20 feet from the beach. The pictures don't do it justice. You must come. No bats.although they may be beautiful I don't think they're for me. The idea of rabies. .
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Nov 1, 2020 18:55:26 GMT
There are a few species of bats living on Corfu, mostly unseen by people due to coming out around dusk to hunt their meals. They tend to roost in caves or under a building's roof tiles.
If someone is doing caving or traveling to remote areas a rabies shot is a good idea, but for people doing the city thing the odds of getting rabies are higher from a dog than a bat.
Since rabies hasn't been seen in Greece since 2014 [per records], it's not considered a threat there.
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Post by tasmanianartist on Nov 2, 2020 3:23:17 GMT
I like bats (loved watching them at summer sunsets), but: "Anyone who is injured (scratched or bitten) by a bat in Tasmania should seek prompt medical attention". I'm sure that goes for bats elsewhere, as the "Lyssavirus is transmitted when open wounds come into contact with infected saliva or blood. [...] If you must handle a bat then ensure you are wearing leather gloves. Hold the bat with its wings folded." Remember that bats are implicated concerning the present world-wide mayhem. I also like snakes, sharks, spiders, as well as elephants, tigers, and the cute panda. But all animals require respect, not only for their existence, but also for their peculiarities that could become dangerous for humans. A house not far from a plantation forest was condemned when the bats infested it, living in walls and ceilings. Because when the trees were harvested, the bats had nowhere else to go ... the dust from their droppings is not an ideal living environment for humans. I heard about Australian creatures, mostly to discourage me from going. I am closer than I was two weeks ago.
Hahaha! Mag2024 ! Australia has 4 of the world's deadliest snakes, with spiders, scorpions, ants that can all kill you. Our Tasmanian ant, the jackjumper, put me in hospital with anaphylaxis! The venom is cumulative, but has left your system after 10 years (or thereabouts) - I haven't been bitten in over 10 years. I lived in New Zealand (as a naturalized New Zealander would), and one can walk barefoot all over the islands there - no venomous anything - and across the Tasman Sea all the deadly creepy crawlies you can think of.
Mind you, I got used to it and will stop to take photos of the critters if safe to do so. Took a photo of the curled up tiger snake in the grass when I walked through the farm one last time last year before relocating to the north of the state.
Then there are the Yowies, of course; they'll get you in the woods and drag you into the swamp; or the drop bear - a type of Koala that will ambush you from above, and sink its fangs into you, much like dracula would; Bunyips hiding in the shadows and jump at the weary travelers ... we have them all, including the hoop snake - it will grab its own tail and form a wheel to go after you - you'll never outrun it.
Bunyip
Drop Bear
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Post by BlueAndGold on Nov 2, 2020 12:37:34 GMT
We have our problems with Jackalopes around here. Bloodthirsty beasts!
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Nov 2, 2020 13:11:48 GMT
Don't forget the chupacabra.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2020 14:38:29 GMT
I heard about Australian creatures, mostly to discourage me from going. I am closer than I was two weeks ago.
Hahaha! Mag2024 ! Australia has 4 of the world's deadliest snakes, with spiders, scorpions, ants that can all kill you. Our Tasmanian ant, the jackjumper, put me in hospital with anaphylaxis! The venom is cumulative, but has left your system after 10 years (or thereabouts) - I haven't been bitten in over 10 years. I lived in New Zealand (as a naturalized New Zealander would), and one can walk barefoot all over the islands there - no venomous anything - and across the Tasman Sea all the deadly creepy crawlies you can think of.
Mind you, I got used to it and will stop to take photos of the critters if safe to do so. Took a photo of the curled up tiger snake in the grass when I walked through the farm one last time last year before relocating to the north of the state.
Then there are the Yowies, of course; they'll get you in the woods and drag you into the swamp; or the drop bear - a type of Koala that will ambush you from above, and sink its fangs into you, much like dracula would; Bunyips hiding in the shadows and jump at the weary travelers ... we have them all, including the hoop snake - it will grab its own tail and form a wheel to go after you - you'll never outrun it.
Bunyip
Drop Bear
Hmmm...I'll look up the weather in New Zealand. Australia is out.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2020 14:43:27 GMT
We have our problems with Jackalopes around here. Bloodthirsty beasts! Fudge, you guys. Montreal is starting to look good, with its frozen lakes and it's frozen people. How is anyone still alive?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2020 14:45:57 GMT
There are a few species of bats living on Corfu, mostly unseen by people due to coming out around dusk to hunt their meals. They tend to roost in caves or under a building's roof tiles. If someone is doing caving or traveling to remote areas a rabies shot is a good idea, but for people doing the city thing the odds of getting rabies are higher from a dog than a bat. Since rabies hasn't been seen in Greece since 2014 [per records], it's not considered a threat there. What? Corfu? I slept outdoors the one night I was there.
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