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- Aug 8, 2005
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Had an unusual opportunity to watch bats in action last night.
Under the street light only about 20 feet from our upstairs porch the termites were swarming. A pretty good mass of maybe 500. We've had a group of bats around here recently. About 8 of them became attracted to the termites and started working on the swarm. At first it was impossible to detect what was going on but when the swarm lessened to about 100 it was possible to watch the individual action. A bat would zoom in towards the swarm and one less termite. Watching individual bats coming in their aim was uncanny. A swerve and one less termite without ever missing. Slowly the swarm diminished until I could pick out individual aerial acrobatics. The bats weren't just taking the large ponderous termites but making several swerves as they circled about. Each swerve was another bug gone. I made a very rough count of 8 bats doing that swerve, a tiny alternation in their flight path, about 100 to 250 times a minute. Around 20 bugs per bat per minute.
After about 10 minutes the termites were gone. The bats worked on the smaller bugs and mossies for another minute or so then moved off to the next street light. I wonder what kind of camera would be able to catch action like that. Probably looking at 6 figures I suppose.
For the mechanically inclined... We all know how hard it is to catch a bug in mid air with your hand. Or even just touch one with a back hand slap. The you are with the fastest motion your body can come up with, a high speed third class lever. Now take into account an entire body with dozens of levers, neurological, sensory and mechanical functions interacting, detecting and moving into the path of the same flying insect, hitting every time. Bats are next to unreal.
Under the street light only about 20 feet from our upstairs porch the termites were swarming. A pretty good mass of maybe 500. We've had a group of bats around here recently. About 8 of them became attracted to the termites and started working on the swarm. At first it was impossible to detect what was going on but when the swarm lessened to about 100 it was possible to watch the individual action. A bat would zoom in towards the swarm and one less termite. Watching individual bats coming in their aim was uncanny. A swerve and one less termite without ever missing. Slowly the swarm diminished until I could pick out individual aerial acrobatics. The bats weren't just taking the large ponderous termites but making several swerves as they circled about. Each swerve was another bug gone. I made a very rough count of 8 bats doing that swerve, a tiny alternation in their flight path, about 100 to 250 times a minute. Around 20 bugs per bat per minute.
After about 10 minutes the termites were gone. The bats worked on the smaller bugs and mossies for another minute or so then moved off to the next street light. I wonder what kind of camera would be able to catch action like that. Probably looking at 6 figures I suppose.
For the mechanically inclined... We all know how hard it is to catch a bug in mid air with your hand. Or even just touch one with a back hand slap. The you are with the fastest motion your body can come up with, a high speed third class lever. Now take into account an entire body with dozens of levers, neurological, sensory and mechanical functions interacting, detecting and moving into the path of the same flying insect, hitting every time. Bats are next to unreal.
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