Eek a Bat!

After we found a bat in our kitchen last night, we all did nature study in great depth and with great interest! We needed to find out if it was a vampire bat!! It seems that we have a bat colony living in the roof over our kitchen (we live in the jungle in Peru). Javen was afraid to go to sleep, not because of the bat, but because he was afraid I would kill it! My policy living here is, I appreciate the role that the yuckies (snakes, spiders, toads, bats, etc) play in bug control; as long as they are performing that role OUTSIDE. They come inside...they will die.

We searched our field guide and online for pictures to compare... today we'll do more research using HONS... hopefully, there's a section on bats?! I haven't looked yet. I was too concerned about the rabies factor ;) But, I must say I know WAY more about bats than I did the day before!

I think it's a black bonnet bat (not a vampire).

From Nature Study

Even though I don't think I could bring myself to kill the thing, I am very much against the idea of encouraging it to live in my roof!

**UPDATED - 5/20/09** The bat did die on its own the following day. We had another bat visitor several days later, whom we did not retain for study, but after a few pictures, immediately released to his outdoor happiness. Though he too seemed sick and did not fly off, but squobbled. We are hoping not to have any more surprise guests of this nature any time soon. :)


Amy
Tarapoto, Peru


Links to bat pages online:

Oh my word! Did you know there were ever so many bats?! Order Chiroptera
Keeping bats out is harder than it seems it would be... Bat Conservation tips
This page has a mini bio on the black bonnet bat - Mammals of Iwokrama