| The bat is a marvel of evolutionary
adaptation. Most of them roost during the day, and are active at night or
twilight for they can avoid objects in the dark. I have seen this phenomenon at
work. In my youth I used to explore old mining shafts in the Randsburg district.
Sometimes my intrusion disturbed clans of bats that were hanging upside down in
the dark caves. They would fly about to evident panic, but the panic was mine, not theirs. Some flew crazily out into the daylight but some merely returned to their perches. None ever touched me, much to my relief. They may exist but I have never seen a stuffed nylon bat. To children, bats may not be as lovable as koala bears. Perhaps manufacturers do not regard them as marketable. It is not so much their hideous faces and winged bodies that have caused us to get rid of bats, but rather the ancient myths in which dead humans, such as Count Dracula, leave their graves at night in the form of bats to suck blood from human victims, especially fragile young woman. As we know from some movies these vampires must return to their graves before daylight. Endangered young women can frustrate vampire by sleeping with a string of garlic around their necks. There are actually three species of bloodsucking bats. They are called vampire bats after the ancient legends, and their tactics are indeed frightful. Like Count Dracula, they feed at night. They make a small cut in their sleeping victim with sharp incisor teeth, usually not even awakening their prey. Then they suck the blood that sustains them. Should that discourage children from wanting them as pets? As Mitchell notes from the New Yorker ad, bats are clean and intelligent. Most of them are insect-eaters, and they serve nature by destroying crop-damaging insects. They also pollinate (传授花粉) flowers and spreading seed. Bat Conservation International claims that without bats a host of insects/pests would multiply unchecked and many of our planet's most valuable plants would go unpollinated. It is clear that the bat is our friend, and that, despite its appearance, it is here to serve humanity. I'd be the first to buy a stuffed nylon bat. Children's hearts are big, and bats need love, too. |