northern yellow and velifer

Northern yellow bats are awesome creatures.  At 28.3 grams, she is three times the weight of the velifer in the upper right of the photo.  Check out those beautiful broad wings.   We’re so lucky to have them in Austin!  Let’s help them out by not trimming the skirt of dead fronds under the green crown of our palm trees.  They have evolved to blend in perfectly with that habitat.  They feel so secure there, that they are slow to awaken from torpor, and often plummet to the ground when the dead fronds are trimmed.


Wild Austin yellow       (click on link to left for video)

This northern yellow bat (Lasiurus intermedius) was blown out of an Austin palm tree in yesterday morning’s cold gusty winds. In the video, we see her using her feet to help control her “prey”, in this case, hand-fed mealworms. Although it’s hard to hear in the video, the yellow bats in our care have been the noisiest chewers imaginable.  We can hear them down the hall in another room as they demolish their dinner!

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