Tryst with Bats! Tequila stories! Bats are in the news for so many reasons!

Bats are intriguing mammals and we’ve all been intensely interested in bats….right? But there is more to bats than meets the eye. Join me on this podcast as I share more on Bats, Bat Theory, Echolocation, Covid19 and Tequila! yes, Tequila !!! and then how all of this ties up with life and some exciting futuristic inventions.

Transcript

Tryst with Bats! Tequila stories! Bats are in the news for so many reasons!

Hello Everyone and welcome to the podcast of the Ordinary Maverick. This is Ajey, your host, an ordinary Maverick sharing real life thoughts and experiences and Maverick tips. If you haven’t hit the subscribe button yet, please do so, and you’ll not miss another episode.

The Maverick spirit is going strong…..now exploring Austin and it’s surroundings. Today’s episode is about Bats. You know, we’ve all been intensely interested in bats….right? ha ha…The origins of the COVID 19 virus has been intensely debated, investigated…and the ‘bat theory’ has been discussed and shared widely. Well, I’ve been in Austin, a couple of weeks now, and got to know about the Austin BATS. Intrigued? Well, I was too…what was this fascination with bats? Austin also hosts the Bat Fest -the biggest bat viewing party of the year. Yes, Austonites, as the residents of Austin are called…have adopted the bats as they make their home under the South Congress bridge, these handle the city’s bug mitigation and provide an amazing night show! Some interesting facts, Austin's resident bats are Mexican free-tailed bats, which migrate each spring from central Mexico to various roosts all over the southwestern U.S. On their nightly flights the bats eat anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of insects, including mosquitoes and harmful agricultural pests. Austin's bats are almost all female. In early June each bat gives birth to one single baby bat (known as a pup). It takes about five weeks after birth for the pups to learn to fly and hunt insects on their own. In the meantime, the mommy bats nurse their babies and you know what, each can locate her own pup among the thousands under the bridge. Isn’t that amazing….well, will come back to this particular skill of bats in a bit. Now at the end of the season, you can see roughly 1.5 million bats ascending into the summer sky. It’s like a dark envelope across the Austin skyline. Quite a sight. 

Well, it’s something not to be missed, right? And so we did just that one evening. Went up to the South Congress bridge, and waited with hundreds of other bat watchers, some on the bridge, some below the bridge and some in the water, on boats, kayaks, paddle boards to see these nocturnal creatures. And as dusk settled, we saw the bats flying out from under the bridge, buzzing, circling and then flying out East, seeing tiny dots against the sky. The Mexican free tailed bats are the fastest flying in the world with speeds upto 100 mph.

Bats are intriguing mammals. They are the only mammals capable of true flight. Bracken Cave in San Antonio is the world’s largest bat colony. It’s a summer maternity colony for about 20 million Mexican free tailed bats. However, currently, it’s a dangerous time for bats. Due to climate change, urbanization, and other factors, several species of bats are on the brink of extinction. They are also the slowest reproducing mammals on earth for their size, on average, most species only give birth to one pup per year and this contributes to the risk of extinction.

Growing up in India, we saw bats often. Most often, they generated fear and there are many misconceptions, stories that make people afraid of bats. In actuality, out of the 1400+ species of bats in the world, only 3 of them are vampire bats that drink blood. Bats are so essential and vital to the balance in the world, very essential to pollination and insect control and left alone, they are harmless creatures. Terribly misunderstood and unappreciated. Now, am sure many of you have enjoyed a tequila…right? Well, you know what, without bats, we may not have tequila! Yes, Tequila is produced from the agave plant, which primarily relies on bats to pollinate its flowers and reproduce. So, it’s the pollinating bat that we have to thank for the next time we raise a toast with our tequilas! Do remember that!

However, we do know that the convergence of people, animals, and our environment means that we are all inextricably interlinked and our health is interconnected too. Zoonotic diseases are those that are communicable from animals to humans and bats are also part of this and we see some diseases where bats are most likely the reservoir for infection. Recently with the COVID 19 virus too, there was intense speculation about bats being the reservoir. However, till date, there is no conclusive evidence and until that happens, we cannot and should not link bats with COVID 19. It is these misconceptions that further contribute to fear and destruction and ultimately leading to extinction of species. We know that the COVID 19 virus is part of the lineage of the generalist viruses that affect many mammal species. So the question remains as to how much evolutionary adaptation was needed for the jump to humans….well, as of now, we do not know. Time will tell as research continues in this area. Chireptology, that’s what it’s called – the study of bats. And the person who does this is called a Chireptologist. Aren’t these interesting facts….

Well, I’ve spoken about the ‘falling forward’ element of the Maverick formula, where we always always keep moving ahead. Well, what if one could see our path in fast forward vision? The ability to focus on where we will be in the near future, rather than where we are at the present, is an amazing in-built navigation feature in a mammal’s brain. And this was recently seen in bats. Bats move at amazing speeds and it was seen that during flight, the bat’s brain is actually navigating where the bat will be in the near future, rather than where it was currently! This is an amazing finding and one from which we can learn about navigation and the trajectory into the future. It’s controlled from an area in the brain called the hippocampus. And as some diseases like Alzheimer’s affect a person’s sense of location and memory, more insights can help prevent as well as treat patients in the future.

You know…come to think of it, we are actually doing this! Particularly, while driving. Think about it….when you drive up to a busy intersection, you probably pay more attention to where you will be in the near future than where you are at that moment. After all, knowing when you will arrive at the intersection -- and whether you need to stop or slow down to avoid a collision with a passing car, pedestrian or cyclist -- is usually much more important than knowing your current location. Right? So we are focusing on the navigation path a few steps ahead.

Now here’s another interesting aspect…on sound and echolocation. Bats navigate through echolocation. As they fly and hunt during the night, they are not using their vision primarily but relying on sound and echolocation to navigate and that too…navigating their path ahead than where they actually are!. These findings are helping design drones that can navigate in dark places, like tunnels, or in the night. Using echolocation sensors opens up an entire realm of possibilities.

Being true to our Maverick spirit, as we navigate through the journey of life, let’s see how we could use these skills, keeping ourselves focused in the near future. Knowing where you would like to be in a few weeks, few months, few years down the line is a strong skill towards successfully reaching your destination. One can foresee the pitfalls, change course, avoid obstacles…..wow! think about it for a moment. How many of us actually sit down and spend time charting this path. Each of us has the ability…it’s inbuilt. Chireptology has shown us that….we just need to hone in and use these skills. We often hear the saying ‘Blind as a bat’, right…but I would like to remember the saying ‘to the Batcave’ from the famous movie, Batman. To all Mavericks out there, find YOUR batcave…hone in your navigation skills and zero in to the right batcave – you don’t need light, you just need to listen to the sound, yes, echo location. It’s just that you’re listening to yourself AND you’ll hear for sure. Be mindful, go with your gut, another component of the Maverick formula and the rest is a breeze.

Write your comments, share your feedback, I would love to hear from you. This is Ajey, signing off and wishing you have an amazing day. Keep well.