Going Batty for Bats!

This looks like a very odd contortion, right? For you, it might look crazy, but to a bat, it's perfectly normal! They even sleep upside-down! 

Bats are nocturnal, meaning that they hunt at night and rest during the day. They hunt moths, mosquitoes, and other small flies. How do they see their prey in the dark? The answer is, they don't see it! Instead, they use echolocation. This  the pattern of sound waves that result from an extremely high-pitched noise. Bats send out a noise too high for our own ears to hear, and judge by the way the sound waves bounce off of their surroundings to see if prey is there. This also helps determine whether there is a tree intercepting the bat's path so it doesn't crash. 

However, not all bats rely on echolocation. The majority of them do, but some locate prey by hearing. Not surprisingly, they have huge ears! Here is a picture of one:

These bats can perfectly detect the sound of a moth's wingbeats, but what if the moth is stationary? It can't hear the moth if it doesn't make a sound, so it cannot locate it. Even if it is on a leaf and moves, the bat will hear it but fail to find which side of the leaf it is on. 

Not all bats prey on moths and other insects. Some have the most surprising diet--- fruit! The fruit bats, also known as flying foxes eat fruit(hence the name fruit bat). They do not use echolocation to find fruit. These bats will also drink nectar from flowers. In fact, they serve as pollinators for specific plants. This symbiosis between plants and bats is known as chiropterophily. 

These bats are sharing a slice of watermelon!

Seeing the fact that they have wings, you may assume that bats are a type of bird. In fact, they are mammals--- the only mammals to develop wings. Observing closely, you shall notice that bats possess fur instead of feathers. Bats, like all other mammals, produce milk for their young. The fingers that humans possess grew webbed on bats, to make them be able to fly. The thumb grew elongated, to protrude from the wing. The same happened to the other fingers, forming a support for the wings. 
Notice the elongated fingers(yes, fingers)!

However, not all bats use their wings for flying! Some use them for---crawling! Instead of hunting moths and mosquitoes in the air, they hunt other insects on the ground. They fold up their wings and walk on their 'knuckles' to find terrestrial prey. Here is a picture:

SPIDERS!!!

What is this? An alien from outer space? No! It's an ordinary jumping spider, no larger than the size of your the fingernail on your thumb! Here are more facts about spiders:

Spiders are very different from insects in a few different ways. Insects have three body segments: head, thorax, and abdomen. Spiders have only two: cephalothorax and abdomen. Also, while insects have six legs, spiders have eight. Spiders are not considered insects! They are Arachnids. 

Count the legs! There are eight! 

In the front image, you must have noticed the multitude of EYES! Most spiders have four pairs of eyes on the top-front area of the cephalothorax, arranged in patterns that vary from one family to another. The pair at the front are of the type called pigment-cup ocelli ("little eyes"), which in most arthropods are only capable of detecting the direction from which light is coming, using the shadow cast by the walls of the cup. However,  the main eyes at the front of spiders' heads are pigment-cup ocelli that are capable of forming images. All these eyes help the spider see all around its head for prey and predators. 

Close up of a spider's eye! 

One unique quality of most spiders is their ability to spin webs. Their abdomens bear appendages that have been modified into spinnerets that extrude silk from up to six types of silk glands within their abdomen. Spider webs vary widely in size, shape and the amount of sticky thread used. It is a spider's instinct to spin the particular web that allows it to successfully catch an insect in its bonds. However, some patterns in webs appear in only certain species of spiders. Take, for instance, the yellow-and-black garden spider. In its webs, it weaves a zigzag line. Here is an image. 

A different sort of web pattern

Every spider can bite, will bite, and contains a tiny bit of venom in it. However, some species are more dangerous than others. For example, the black widow. If you see something like this(below), STAY AWAY!!

You can recognize a black widow from an ordinary spider by the distinctive triangle hourglass patterning in red on the abdomen. 

Now, here is an example of an almost-harmless type of spider: the harvestman, also known as daddy-long-legs. This spider is almost all legs, and in fact, does not spin webs. Here is a picture of one:

In this image, you probably noticed that this spider lacks all eight legs. These spiders have flimsy legs, so they easily break off the body.

Ways to Help Goldfinches!

What is this vividly colored bird? It's a goldfinch! Here is how you can help them:
Make a birdfeeder! Goldfinches love seeds, and in fact, will eat seeds exclusively, with insects not making up any fraction of their diet. You can add a twist to the customary bird-feeder by making them into Christmas tree ornaments! Goldfinches are most common in early fall, but you can hang up bird-seed ornaments(you don't need to have a pine tree)! Here is how to make them:
1. Purchase a bag of classic bird-seed from your local supermarket, and pour it into a bowl, OR use plain, unsalted sunflower seeds(they LOVE those!)
2. Now, take 1 cup (250 milliliters) coconut oil and mix it thoroughly in the birdseed(USE your HANDS, coconut oil is perfectly harmless!)
3. Mold the mixture into some baking molds(cookie-cutters, clay molds)
4. Let it sit in the refrigerator overnight, and pop them out of the mold. If they break, still hang it up! It's bird food! 

If you want, you can even plant sunflowers! When sunflowers begin to produce their seeds, goldfinches immediately find them and eat them with great relish. 


Male goldfinches are colored in a vivid yellow and have black wings, while females are a duller shade of yellow almost all over. Goldfinches breed in late summer, so that is when you are most likely to see them. However, they grow their plumage in spring.  Here is a picture of a female:

Do you see the difference?

Perhaps you noticed the conical shape of the goldfinches' beak. Goldfinches eat seeds exclusively, so the beak must be well suited for cracking them. Thus, it is very thick and strong-appearing, but also short. Goldfinches are also adapted to collecting seeds from plants in the way that their bodies are very light and flexible. The birds are capable of twisting their necks backwards to reach for a seed! Goldfinches are also very small, around five inches long, which helps them weave around in fields of flowers and balance on a thin stem. 

This is a photo that I took of a goldfinch taking off, and if you look closely. you can see the female behind it.