Is there an Ethologist in the House?

I don’t know whether one of you polymaths may be one. But here’s my question: Did you know bats can take off in flight from the ground?
I had always read that they can’t, they hafta fall at least a few feet to launch into flight, but: I saw one do it today!

We trapped him in the bathroom last night and today I found him hanging in a fold of the curtains. Took him outside and put him at the base of a tree, so he could climb and thus take off.
But: into the air he went, from the ground, just like a bird!
Fortunately, he wasn’t vindictive; I wouldnta stood there, expecting him to waddle toward the tree, if I had known he could just fly up at me and gore me. Have you ever looked at a bat’s teeth? What do they need those rows of tiny razor sharp incisors for, if all they eat is insects?

If you look this up, the articles say “most” bats can’t take flight from the ground. I thought that meant that only certain species can do it. But maybe it means some individuals can do it? Anybody know?

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This is TOO fascinating! ( Well, anything is if you delve into it. ) After looking at pictures of bat teeth (I’ve seen them firsthand, it’s like looking into a red-velvet-lined box of ivory toothpicks, but I wanted to make sure I had accurately described them to you) I moved on to pictures of bats entire. There are big ones the faces of which look just like a fox. The little ones we have around here look like a tiny pig, a flat snout, exposed nostrils, but with much bigger ears (the better to echolocate,) And of course, fur.
Y’know…you don’t even know what question to pose first. What a world.

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Insectivores, all over the animal kingdom, tend to have sharp conical teeth which often fit into matching depressions in the opposing teeth to break up the tough, chitinous bodies of insects. Among mammals, you can see these in hedgehogs, shrews, and moles, all of which eat a lot of bugs. Further out in the Federation, there are the Ferengi.

According to this article, which looks rather tacky, vampire bats and burrowing
bats spend time on the ground and have legs and feet adapted for doing so, and may take off from the ground.

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Yes but I don’t think this one was a vampire nor a burrowing bat.
Learning about the big fruit bats with a 6’ wingspan really freaked me out! If there can be “flying foxes” why not flying WOLVES!?!?!

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Hey, why not gut wolves?


(xkcd #1471)

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What do they need those rows of tiny razor sharp incisors for?

To give you rabies:

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So are all of those Californians who fall for Klaus’s gimmick going to evolve to have teeth like this?

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Whether via teeth or otherwise, the “leaders” of CA are adept at sucking the life’s blood out of every warm-blooded productive creature. As to the digestive processing of said fluids - they are also bat s^#t crazy.

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