This Shy Straw-colored Fruit Bat Kept Snatching Fruit Off The Table And Scuttling Back Underneath To

“ come on guys we have to follow the magical trail trough the leaves !!! " 

Survival Tip

Pay attention to where the Trump flags are flying. Note the lawn signs, especially in front of businesses. Those places may not be safe to enter over the next four years, especially if you are in any way not cis/white/Christian-hetero-standard.

They like Trump because he says the quiet part (hate) out loud. Many will feel entitled to follow in his footsteps. They voted him to get the right to discriminate. So please be careful and don't feel bad about changing up your habits to avoid openly hostile people and places.

The fucking posts i see from people all like "why is the federal government funding research about snail sex this is stupid" piss me the fuck off. There's lots of reasons, Harold.

1. Understand how snails reproduce so we can learn more about the world around us and maybe learn more about ourselves or how things work.

2. You literally never know what could spark the next great scientific advancement. Snail sex hormones could be a miracle cure for cancer but you won't fucking know that unless you study the snail sex.

3. Hate to break it to ya pal but snails are still worth researching even if you think they're "useless animals." They feed larger animals, they eat plants and shit, they exist and quite frankly that's marvelous. Just because they are useless TO YOU does not mean they aren't worthy of attention.

Like genuinely quit focusing on going "ew!! Icky useless animal having icky sex!!" or whatever, you sound like the people who demonized Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics, for wanting to study how plants reproduce.

I’ve decided that all bats fall somewhere on this horrid little graph I’ve devised. Here are some prime examples of the various Creature Varieties found in nature.

Just a lil' guy

I don't know who needs to hear this but anyone saying "Just stop- You sound like Trump voters after he lost in 2020" in regards to those considering asking for a recount are either psyops or woefully ignorant of the situation.

You don't sound like a sore loser for taking note of the well documented cases of burned ballot boxes in at least three states, and multiple bomb threats to polling places in heavily democrat-populated areas in swing states, which shut them down for hours on election day.

Or taking note of other alleged voting interferences such as mail-in ballot tampering, or the case where a mail carrier has been arrested for stealing and forging mail-in ballots in Colorado.

Or for taking note of the fact that Trump constantly told us he "had a secret plan" to win the election on election day.

Or the fact that conservatives (and Trump) have a long history of cheating, and the fact that there's literally evidence that they meddled in at least the last two elections.

And no, I won't be linking sources, because I want you to look this up yourself instead of just taking my word for it.

My point is that it's reasonable to be suspicious and want to double check, especially given all that I listed above.

The reason we called Trump voters sore losers wasn't because they asked for a recount- they had every right to do so, just as we do now.

They were called sore losers because not only had there been no evidence of tampering or fraud (unlike this election), they didn't stop at asking for a recount- they got violent and started not only multiple riots, but also an attempted fucking coup where they stormed the capitol and chanted that they were going to hang Mike Pence because he refused to overturn the election.

Ask for the damn recounts if you want them. Every party has the right to ask for a recount.

Is there a good chance it changes nothing? Of course!

The worst that might happen when asking for a recount is just finding out that the count was accurate and needing to accept that and move forward.

But that still doesn't make it stupid for someone to ask for one given the fact we saw in real time several reports of election tampering. Besides, even if it doesn't change the outcome of the presidential election there's still a chance it might influence the outcome of the local elections, which are also very important!

This obsession with the left needing to appear constantly stoic and poised and unbothered, to the point of being too embarrassed to stand up for ourselves or even ask questions in fear of "looking as bad as them" is going to be the death of all of us.

The bats of Pokémon through the eyes of a bat nerd (who also used no references so they're a tiny bit iffy)

Forgot to bring my tablet so I'm playing with dad's rainbow markers and pens. I kinda dig it actually but my phone cannot take proper photos of them lol

Nerdy stuff about design choices and lots of bat facts under the cut if you're interested in that!

Zubat is mainly modelled after Vespertillionidae and Natalidae species, inheriting both families' pointy faces and dense fur that often covers their eyes, making them appear blind (except zubat actually is blind). Their wings are broad, more akin to a Megadermatidae species, which was just a choice based off of the original design. Broader wings allow for increased manoeuvrability at the cost of speed in real species. Their legs are long and spindly, another trait borrowed from Natalidae.

Golbat still has zubat's woolly fur to keep its rounded appearance but has narrower wings as well as stumpy ears and a large mouth, all traits gleaned from free-tailed bats, the latter a trait specifically of the genus Otomops. They really do look like that sometimes yes. Its large feet are borrowed from the fish-eating myotis (Myotis vivesi) who frankly has even bigger feet than this guy. Bats are wacky lol

Crobat has a mostly furred face similar to Pteropid, Rhinolophid or Phyllostomid bats. Its ears are more fantasy and not modelled after any existing species. I had hairy-tailed bats of the genus Lasiurus on the mind while interpreting the little tufts on its bum, here they're meant to be fluff hanging off the uropatagium. It has very narrow wings similar to Molossid bats, and it fits for such a speedy Pkmn! (Fun fact: a Molossid bat was the fastest recorded vertical flight of any animal)

Woobat is inspired by Desmodus species, more commonly known as vampire bats. While their cousins the Honduran white bat (Ectophylla albus) is more commonly the interpretation, I chose Desmodus instead for its flat, heart-shaped noses and similar dental structure. The excess in fur is more attributed to the same families as in zubat, but with some more Lasiurine influence.

Swoobat's choice in inspiration was pretty obvious to me at first: the heart-nosed bat (Cardioderma cor)! The furred face and ears joined at the base is indeed inspired by Megadermatid bats but otherwise it has probably the most mixed influences of all these designs. I once again took the flat, heart-shaped nose from Desmodus species like I did with its pre-evo, and then its tail was adapted from Rhinopoma species (fittingly known as mouse-tailed bats!) as well as Molossid (free-tailed) bats. From an entirely nerdy perspective swoobat is easily my favorite, it really highlights a lot of chiropteran diversity whether intentional or not.

Noibat has joined ears like swoobat, inherited from Megadermatid bats (and sometimes Molossids) and is the first to have an actual nose-leaf, partially influenced by trident bats of the genus Asellia. I was kind of imagining that the bare patch between the tufts of black fur were present because they housed scent glands like in Emballonurid (sac-winged) bats who have similar bald patches. (I don't know a ton about Emballonurid bats unfortunately, so I'm not sure whether this is a family-wide occurrence or attributed to certain genii, lol. If anybody knows feel free to tell! I think some Molossids have scent glands too so heck throw them in as well)

Noivern is easily the most fantastical of the bunch, more dragon than bat, but it wouldn't feel right not to include him. He's got the same design choices on the face that its pre-evolution has (joined ears and nose-leaf) but otherwise doesn't have any more specific influences in batty terms. However, I turned the tragus into that little protrusion under the ear of the original design which I thought was kind of clever ;)

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

What's better than one eastern red bat? Three eastern red bats! Female Lasiurus borealis give birth to litters of 2 or 3 pups, with some outgoing mothers giving birth to as many as 5! This is highly unusual amongst bats, as most other species typically only give birth to one pup per season.

(Image: An eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) by Merlin Tuttle)

Hoary Bat, unknown photographer, (source)