WildView™

February 1, 2016

Baby Bat Bundle

- as seen by -

Kelsey Kovner

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As I entered the enclosure, the young bats started clamoring for my attention, screeching and making their way towards me with their awkward, upside down gaits. Making note of the color of his band, I selected this young spectacled flying fox, and gently wrapped him up in bat-sized blanket (basically a handkerchief). Almost immediately, his calls stopped, replaced by a few contented squeaks until I placed the whole bat bundle in the pouch at my side. No more squeaks, no more wiggling, just a happy, sleeping baby bat.

Young flying foxes are raised by their mothers and do not usually live with 15 other babies. For this reason, each day we needed to make sure each young bat got some uninterrupted quite time alone. I did this every day while working at the Tolga Bat Hospital in Australia and couldn’t resist the opportunity to take a couple pictures of the cute little bundle.

While many people think bats are scary creatures of the night, could anyone look at this face and not love it?

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