6th August 2012

Marion Boyars Publishers is currently receiving email updates from Bat Conservation News. Why this new Inbox event is happening will become apparent very soon, but in the meanwhile I thought I would share some fascinating facts with you.

The newsletter starts in quite a peppy way. It boldly states:

"Sex can be a risky business if you're a fly," carrying a snippet from the New South Wales, Australia, Great Lakes Advocate, an eminent news journal, I am led to believe. It goes on, 'Scientists have demonstrated that a bat callled a Natterer myotis locates and attacks mating flies by listening to the buzzing sound made by the males", when in a state of passion, I assume, brought on by the presence of female flies. The result is a supersised meal for the bats. The mind boggles. And those clever bats simply ignored the shy, chaste flies simply walking on the ceiling in their roosting shed.

(Additonal info from Wikipedia, the publisher's secret friend:
Natterer's bat (Myotis nattereri) is a European bat with pale wings. It has brown fur, also seen on the leg wing membrane, tending to white on its underside. It is found across most of the continent, but is considered scarce.)