Cyrilee and I went to the "Truth about bats" talk at Devil's Den State Park last night. It was a very informative talk. The state parks in Arkansas have a pretty extensive educational program. Go to http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/ to learn more about the programs in a park near you.
The presentation was given just after dark and was aimed at dispelling a lot of the myths and untruths about bats. I've always been fond of bats since I found out they were primarily responsible for the pollination of the agave cactus...source of all things tequila.
One of the myths dispelled was that bats have a tendency to get tangled up in people's hair...one look at the picture to the right of this should show why I would be interested in that not being true.
I have never had a bat get tangled up in my hairiness. I did have a small incident with a spider one time though. When we lived in Panama, one of the things I did in my spare time was help train folks to be Girl Scout leaders. My favorite activity for this was to conduct "leader hikes", I would take a bunch of Girl Scout leaders on a hike to they could in turn take their troops.
There was a short, one mile loop hike I had picked out. We met at the road but I wanted to do the trail briefing at a clearing about 100 yards into the trail. On the way in I managed to pick up a small spider, dangling from a piece of its web, on the bill of my cap.
It was small, it was where I could see it out of the corner of my eye, and it didn't seem interested in going anywhere, so I decided to go ahead with the trail brief, and relocate it to a bush when I was done.
One of my fellow trainers, who shall remain nameless (Denise), also saw the spider and in an effort to be helpful, attempted to relocate the spider from the bill of my cap to some other place. Problem was it didn't quite work out how she had planned. As she started to move it, it either leapt or fell from the piece of web to my moustache... this was not an improvement to the situation.
As alarming as a spider on my moustache might be, the comments I was hearing from some of the students, apparently not quite as comfortable around wildlife as I am, was even more alarming. On a day to day basis I am generally opposed to smashing spiders, I much prefer to relocate them to someplace else. When said spider is on my moustache and the chosen smashing tool is a sizable chunk of wood, I am adamantly opposed to the whole idea of smashing spiders.
We did manage to relocate the spider, and after a bit actually managed to regain control of the group. Judging from the commotion this tiny spider caused in others, I'm thinking a bat tangled up in my furry face would cause riots of untold proportions.
If any are interested in knowing more about bats, mark June 13 down on your calender. Devil's Den will be holding their annual Bat-o-Rama on that evening. It's not on the calendar yet but the interpreter told us about it last night. It should be a very good program. One of the top bat researchers and photographers, a Dr. Tuttle, will be doing the presentation. It will be held at the amphitheater near campground 'E'.
Tune in tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel....
..take care.. t
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That was one of the best hikes and also one of the worst. I had totally forgotten about the spider incident. Or maybe blocked it from my mind?
ReplyDeleteWorst? I must have blocked out whatever made it worst. I only remember two things... the spider incident becasue it gave me PTSS (Post Tramatic Spider Syndrome.. the fear of men in red latex suits) and the pre-hike-hike wild pig that was going to eat me if I didn't run screaming from the jungle.
ReplyDeleteI thought both were pretty funny.
..take care... t