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[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

So, the wife and I are camping at our favorite lake where we go boating. Laurel Lake in Kentucky... absolutely beautiful.

Preparing dinner one night, just dusk, we hear a plop, plop.

"What's that?", my lovely wife asks.

"Well, some acorns, I guess." This was a few weeks ago when acorns were dropping like crazy in the forest.

That was my guess.

"No... what's that?", she asks pointing.

Upon looking down I notice a small winged creature balled up on the ground.

"Aww, it's a bat! I guess it got knocked out of the sky". Me.

I'm a nature kinda guy, so I try to see if I can help.

Oh... I notice three wings. Birth defect or some thing.

Finally grab a flashlight as it's progressively getting darker by this point.

"Damn, there's two bats having sex right here!" Me.

"Oh, hold on... wait... uhh... they are not having sex."

Documented, but rarely seen, and perhaps never photographed according to Fish and Wildlife agencies.
Territorial killing of one bat species upon another species.

Eastern red bat attacking a pipestrelle.





I have many more detailed pictures if anyone is interested.

[Hallams]

........so much for the anti bullying laws!

[KB_S1]

It is a brutal thing that nature business.
Ia anyone able to make use of your photos for scientific benefit?

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

Hi Keith.

I have turned over the photos to Kentucky Fish & Wildlife.
They were pretty excited, but I don't know what scientific value they may have.

I will relate more of the story, and more pictures, when I get home.

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

Hallams wrote on Thu, 28 October 2010 19:40

........so much for the anti bullying laws!

Good one, Chris!

[Skullsessions]

Pardon my ignorance....

But which one is winning?  First glance tells me the darker one, but looking closer...maybe the lighter colored one has the darker one by the neck.

Super cool!  Especially since no one has captured this before on film!

Yes....more photos!!


Reminds me of when I was a kid in Kansas.  I caught a full-grown albino garter snake.  It was much bigger than any garter snake I hade ever seen.  Big, fat, strong as hell...white with a purple hue...with the classic red eyes.  We called the local Zoo because we figured it was pretty rare.  They told us, in fact, that it was extremely rare that it had made it to adulthood in the wild because of its inability to blend with the environment and the diseases it was prone to.

They wanted it...so we took it to them.  They setup a display where he lived out the rest of his life.  It was pretty cool as a kid to go to the zoo and see an animal that I had caught.

[bblackwood]

Skullsessions wrote on Fri, 29 October 2010 06:36

Reminds me of when I was a kid in Kansas.  I caught a full-grown albino garter snake.  It was much bigger than any garter snake I hade ever seen.  Big, fat, strong as hell...white with a purple hue...with the classic red eyes.  We called the local Zoo because we figured it was pretty rare.  They told us, in fact, that it was extremely rare that it had made it to adulthood in the wild because of its inability to blend with the environment and the diseases it was prone to. They wanted it...so we took it to them.  They setup a display where he lived out the rest of his life.  It was pretty cool as a kid to go to the zoo and see an animal that I had caught.

That's really cool.

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

Skullsessions wrote on Fri, 29 October 2010 07:36

Pardon my ignorance.... But which one is winning?  First glance tells me the darker one, but looking closer...maybe the lighter colored one has the darker one by the neck.

Oh, the lighter colored one definately wins. More photos will reveal the horror.

Your story is awesome!

[Skullsessions]

Fiasco wrote on Fri, 29 October 2010 09:23

Skullsessions wrote on Fri, 29 October 2010 07:36 Pardon my ignorance.... But which one is winning?  First glance tells me the darker one, but looking closer...maybe the lighter colored one has the darker one by the neck. Oh, the lighter colored one definately wins. More photos will reveal the horror. Your story is awesome!

Yeah...I was just showing a buddy your photo and we googled both animals in question.  That Eastern Red just LOOKS tougher!

So...what happened?  Why TWO plops?  Did one knock the other out of the air, sending them both crashing down?  Or were they already tangled up like that when they landed?

REALLY too bad you didn't get video.

I assume the Eastern Red finished the deed and went on his way?

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

Skullsessions wrote on Fri, 29 October 2010 10:29

So...what happened?  Why TWO plops?  Did one knock the other out of the air, sending them both crashing down?  Or were they already tangled up like that when they landed? REALLY too bad you didn't get video. I assume the Eastern Red finished the deed and went on his way?

James, I'm not sure if the Eastern red grabbed the pipistrelle from the air and went to the ground together,
or if it was knocked from the sky and landed separately.

I think they both fell to the ground in a ball and one plop was an acorn.

The eastern red did indeed finish it's business and went on it's merry way.

I wish I had gotten some video because it's hard to really convey what was happening.
This aggressive bat was not f*ckin' around.
The whole episode lasted for a good 10 minutes, and much of that time I was manipulating the two bats around with a stick to try and get better pictures.

The demon bat did not care!

It was in fact biting the stick in between chewing the other bat's head almost clean off. Hopefully you can make out some of this in the photos.

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

Some information.

The eastern red bat is a solitary, territorial bat which roosts in the trees,
appearing almost indistinguishable from a dead leaf.

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

Notice the way the aggressor bat is cocooned around it's victim.

Dracula.

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

I vant to suck your blood...

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

The little spawn of Satan was actually clinging to this stick enough that I was able to lift them both up!

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

"Get that stick out of my face or I'll bite yours!"

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

Attacking the stick inbetween gnawing it's victim.

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

Notice the redness around the red bat's face. Blood.

Creepy.

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

The end result.

[Skullsessions]

Wow.  That's just amazing!  That little guy just looks mean.

Looking closely at the loser's ears....a couple of those shots looks like you can see some sort of eggs, or lice or something?  Maybe seeds of some sort?
-->  http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/fa/15735/13978/


And this one...now that's just not right.  Insult to injury if you ask me...now we know what it's like in "bat prison".  
-->  http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/fa/15742/13978/


Awesome shots!  I'm sure there a lots of happy scientist types loving this series of photos!

[Taproot]

Skullsessions wrote on Fri, 29 October 2010 05:36

Reminds me of when I was a kid in Kansas.  I caught a full-grown albino garter snake.  It was much bigger than any garter snake I hade ever seen.  Big, fat, strong as hell...white with a purple hue...with the classic red eyes.  We called the local Zoo because we figured it was pretty rare.  They told us, in fact, that it was extremely rare that it had made it to adulthood in the wild because of its inability to blend with the environment and the diseases it was prone to. They wanted it...so we took it to them.  They setup a display where he lived out the rest of his life.  It was pretty cool as a kid to go to the zoo and see an animal that I had caught.

Wow, Fiasco! Awesome photos! Reminds me of the time I witnessed a King Snake eating a Cottonmouth that was as big as him.   I was probably 8 years old, so no pics. Sorry.

I caught an albino Catfish a couple of years ago. I kept him long enough to go get my kids, so I could show them and take a couple of pics. He's swimming happily again in my favorite getaway lake.

[Tom L]

That's just batty!

[bjornson]

Being an audio forum and all, what did it sound like?

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

bjornson wrote on Sun, 31 October 2010 14:57

Being an audio forum and all, what did it sound like?

I was not recording at 192Hz, so something was lost in translation.

[ssltech]

Recording at 192Hz, I don't think you'd get anything other than a subwoofer signal!

[Samc]

Is this actually "very rare behavior" on the part of the bats, or is it rather just a very rare photo opportunity?

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

ssltech wrote on Mon, 01 November 2010 07:43

Recording at 192Hz, I don't think you'd get anything other than a subwoofer signal!

Oopsie!

[ssltech]

 

[fiasco ( P.M.DuMont )]

Samc wrote on Mon, 01 November 2010 10:58

Is this actually "very rare behavior" on the part of the bats, or is it rather just a very rare photo opportunity?

From what I gathered, being a solitary, migratory bat makes it a somewhat hard animal to study.

So as far as rare behavior... I'm not sure.
Rare photo opportunity... Absolutely!