In light of the many national holidays that occur during the month of October, I decided to have a mixed grab bag of themes for tonight's event:
For example, I will no longer be supplying a penny for your thoughts or asking you for your two cents worth tonight since it is "Free Thought Month"! Of course, that also means that you are free to think whatever you'd like about this event. ;>) However, since it is also "Sarcastic Awareness Month", you might need to think twice about just how free you want to be with your thoughts!
In all seriousness though, it is "Bat Appreciation Month" and I'd like to celebrate the only mammal capable of true and sustained flight and the amazing work they do for us! They are one of the most misunderstood and under appreciated animals that we have, yet they perform a huge environmental service for us that we couldn't live without. Although there won't be a test on this, please keep reading for some facts to quiz your friends about as Halloween approaches:
- Bat can fly at speeds reaching 60 mph.
- Bats can find their food in total darkness. They locate insects by emitting inaudible high-pitched sounds, 10-20 beeps per second and listening to echoes.
- There are 1,100 species of bats worldwide – making up one-quarter of the world’s mammal population!
- There are forty different species of bats living in the United States.
- There are only three species of "vampire bats" – bats that live off the blood of animals. None of those species lives in the United States.
- Bats can eat up to 1,200 mosquitoes in an hour, and often consume their body weight in insects every night.
- More than half of the bat species in the United States are in severe decline or listed as endangered.
- Bats can live to be more than 30 years old.
- Some bats migrate south for the winter, while others hibernate through the cold winter months. During hibernation, bats can survive in freezing temperatures, even after being encased in ice.
- Most bats have only one pup a year, making them extremely vulnerable to extinction.
- Bat mothers can find their babies among thousands or millions of other bats by their unique voices and scents.
- Austin is a seasonal home to North America’s largest urban population of Mexican free-tailed bats, which live beneath the Congress Avenue Bridge. Approximately 1.5 million bats reside there!
- Bat droppings, called guano, are one of the richest fertilizers. Bat guano was once a big business. Guano was Texas largest mineral export before oil!
- The world’s largest bat is the "flying fox" that lives on islands in the South Pacific. It has a wingspan of up six feet.
- The world’s smallest bat is the bumble bee bat of Thailand, which is smaller than a thumbnail and weighs less than a penny.
Time: 1730-2000 (come hang out with us instead of sitting in traffic and trying to cross the Occoquan during rush hour!)
Location: Antonelli's Pizza, 8212 Gunston Corner Ln, Lorton, VA 22079, http://antonellis-pizza.com/
Bonus: we'll have a drawing for an unactivated trackable at 1900! (must be present to win, congratulations to TrexM8s for winning in September!)
Please note: If you do not think you will arrive until after 8:00pm please post this with your attend log. Sometimes the group breaks up early, if we know you are coming late we will be sure to wait for you. Thanks! (shamelessly borrowed from Nemo's cache pages)
A note about trackables: Feel free to bring them. I'll bring two boxes, one to discover and one to trade. Just please don't leave them unattended on the tables, they can be accidentally lost when the tables are cleaned.
