HUGE FREAKING BATS! Besieging the highways! Twisted newslink!

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

Armadas of freaking Bats!
Giant, hairy Bats!

Like wow.

http://www.newsdaily.com/Quirks/UPI-1-20080126-01314600-bc-us-bats.xml


Bats cause Florida traffic backups

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla., Jan. 26 (UPI) -- A colony of 20,000 bats living below two interstate bridges in Port St. Lucie, Fla. is expected to cause four extra months of traffic backups.
What jabbering freak planned this?! Cazart!

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive..." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: "Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?"~~~Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas

[Winston Smith]

Fear & Loathing in LV sprang to mind the instant I read the thread title. I have bats in my belfry... um... I mean swamp... but they're not really big, though. My bats are only the size of crows and hardly ever fly off with anything larger than my (three year old) son. On the bright side, it's handy having the winged spawn of hell at your bidding.

[OtakuLoki]

Looking over the article, I don't see where the OP is getting "HUGE FREAKING BATS" from - both species mentioned are speicifically insectivorous bats, which puts them in the microchiroptera classification.

Per Wikipedia: The Mexican Free-tailed Bat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Free-tailed_Bat) is fairly small. "Their bodies are about 9 centimeters in length, and they weigh about 15 grams."

And while there are some larger evening (or Vesper (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evening_bat)) bats, most of them lean towards being the same size, or smaller, than the Mexican Free-tailed bats. (And I believe that the larger representatives of the group are the Fisher bats.)

Of course, I'll admit, I happen to think that bats are neat critters, so that may be coloring my view. Not that I want to share a house with them...

Which doesn't change that any decent sized colony of bats is going to be a pretty freaky mass of small, squeeking, furry things. :eek:

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

Looking over the article, I don't see where the OP is getting "HUGE FREAKING BATS" from - both species mentioned are speicifically insectivorous bats, which puts them in the microchiroptera classification.
:

It is derived from the works of the late Dr Hunter S. Thompson, & meant to humorous.

Or, in your case, ironic.
:rolleyes:

[OtakuLoki]

Yeah, I was whooshed. I've never read any Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.

But I don't like seeing my little, infected, flying buddies getting dissed. ;)

[Johnny L.A.]

It is derived from the works of the late Dr Hunter S. Thompson, & meant to humorous.
I've seen the bats.

I think it was the last trip up from L.A. I'd wasted a day waiting for a trucker to pick up my MGB. All of my belongings were packed into the Jeep, with a few things in the open trailer with my motorcycle. I couldn't very well sleep in the empty apartment and leave my stuff exposed to whomever might decide to take it, so after getting up at some early hour I hit the road about 1800 for my 1,250 mile drive. Somewhere along the way, and I don't remember if it was day or night, but I think it was day, I saw the black flecks flying in the sky ahead of me. 'We can't stop here, this is Bat Country!' I eventually unrolled the Therma-Rest at a rest stop (no room in the Jeep) and slept for an hour under my peacoat. And I slept upright in the driver's seat at another rest stop down the road.

But I saw the bats! ;) :D

[Xema]

It is derived from the works of the late Dr Hunter S. Thompson, & meant to humorous.
I think Dr. Gonzo would have found 15-gram bats downright risible.

[Ale]

Looking over the article, I don't see where the OP is getting "HUGE FREAKING BATS" from - both species mentioned are speicifically insectivorous bats, which puts them in the microchiroptera classification.

Per Wikipedia: The Mexican Free-tailed Bat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Free-tailed_Bat) is fairly small. "Their bodies are about 9 centimeters in length, and they weigh about 15 grams."

[Crocodile Dundee]That`s not a bat, THIS is a bat. (http://s155.photobucket.com/albums/s282/sawasdee_che/Similan/?action=view&current=IMG_1026.jpg) [/Crocodile Dundee]

I took the picture last month in the Similan islands. Those buggers were up to 5 or 6 feet in wingspan. For some reason the island staff put the camping tents directly under a small colony of this bats, they made an inerving screeching all day long, thank goodness I stayed in the bungallows.

[carnivorousplant]

From link:

Bats make up 50 percent of the total mammal population of Florida, and each one eats 2,000 to 3,000 flying insects every night

I'll take 'em.

[whiterabbit]

I thought this was going to be a thread about Austin.

Bats are way cool. Ale, I'm jealous, though maybe not of the noise.