Thursday, December 17, 2009

Won't someone please think of the.... bats

A lot of people are scared of bats. I think they're awesome.

One time, while working as a maintenance staffer (bathroom cleaner and lawn mower) at Brant Conservation Area, a bat flew into the women's washroom. I got in there with my rubber gloves, grabbed the fuzzy little guy, and helped him find the door.

This has almost nothing to do with this video, except that we caught a bat in the video too.

As part of an environmental journalism course I just wrapped up, I got a chance to meet a lady who devotes her life to bats. I never knew bats were big on migration, but apparently they are. Anyway, the government wants to build a wind farm in the middle of Lake Ontario, and wind turbines are bad news for bats.

The loss in wind speed on the back-end of the turbine apparently creates a drop in pressure big enough to make bats' lungs asplode. Juliette Nagel (the researcher) is trying to figure out bat migration patterns, so we don't make 'em all pop.

This story is about her, and the bat we caught.

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