In this amazing Daily Mail article, nature photographer Kim Taylor rigged an entire batcave’s worth of gadgets just to capture these eeety-beety bat tongues as they skimmed his backyard pond.
Terrific bat-find, Catalina S.
Bat One, You Are Clear to Drink, Over.
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{ 123 comments }
Cool. But too bad that for all that equipment, we can’t get a tongue-hance.
That is AWESOME.
Where is the bat-tongue extreme closeup? Gotta know what the texture is like on that sucker (pun intended).
COOL!
WOW.
Lookit the reflection in the water!
Yay for bats! See? They ARE cute! (I am converted bat hater myself. Nothing will change your mind quicker than rescuing a little brown bat.)
I’m with Fleurdamour: where’s the closeup?
Would you just look at those EARS. Esp. no. 2.
Nice to see some bats on CO, they are under appreciated animals & labeling them “cute” might go a ways to changing the bloodthirsty rabid myths that surround them. Thanks CO!
The tummies! The fluffy hamster-like tummies! Who knew!
I love the ears.
Hey wait a minute! That line is from Star Wars! Doi.
I gotta get me a bat-cam–those are fabulous shots! Cute little fellows, and I am thankful for the vast quantities of bugs they eat.
Regarding tongue-hancements: Unfortunately, we don’t have access to high-resolution versions of these shots, so any closeup we could produce would be fuzzy and would not show any additional detail. You can click the pictures to see (slightly) larger versions.
THAT. Is astonishing photography. Wow!
I also wish for a closeup . . . too bad no hi-res shots were to be found.
Or, I could also say that I want a
nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh
BAT-HANCE!!
Thank you, thank you. I’ll be here all week!
cool, another ugly overload cross-post!
Truly amazing photos!!! I’ve never thought of bats as being “cute”. I am a believer now.
The texture of those wings are amazing.
I LOVE BATS in fact I’m BATTY for them
Thank you, thank you for including them on CO.
Shots from Busby Berkeley’s forgotten masterpiece “Die Fledermaus”
I think the Berkeley film was “Bloodsuckers of 1933″…
I love how the third bat is all “Wheeeeeeee!!!!”
[If the photo didn't already have a killer hovertext, that's what I would've used.
- Ed.]
That’s gorgeous!! And so apropos for Hallowe’en-y weather/time. The “bones” (?) in the wings are just amazing. I’ve probably seen drawings or whatever but it looks completely different with a real live bat photo. LOVE EET!
So, NTMTOM, low res would make the enlarged picture “fuzzy?” This guy looks pretty fuzzy already if you ask me. True, not so much on the tongue.
[Sorry, I meant "fuzzy" as in "blurry." When one enlarges low-res images like these, the result tends to look out of focus. Thanks for giving me a chance to clarify. -- Mike]
Wow, so beautiful!
This pictures just make me smile. And that is a lovely thing indeed.
ginormous ears!!
NTMTOM, I understood perfectly what you meant by “fuzzy.” I was indulging my sad tendency to be a smartass. It is one of my many character flaws, and I must remember to mention it at Confession this week.
BATS! OMCC, I love this site so much! I just want to pet their fuzzy little backs.
Bat detector? Bat detector!?! Does that mean all the bats are named “Eric”? LOL
[There's nothing so odd about that! Kemal Atatürk had an entire menagerie, all called Abdul!
-- Mike]
Amazing photos, and I for one think bats are super-cute and not at all ugly. Thanks for keeping Cute Overload diverse in its representation of non-dog/cat/hamster species!
(But where are the baaaaaaby snake pictures? Ittle snakelets are adorable, too!)
Awesome, amazing creature! Fantastic shots, thanks for sharing them!
Batty batty bat, batty batty bat, batty batty
One, two, three, SLURP!
LOVE bats. So, so much.
AIGH! Bats aren’t cute! Bats aren’t cute.
Except…okay. The tongues are sort of….*gulp*…cute.
And all kidding aside, these shots are AMAZING!!!
*shivers*
Awesome awesome photos! Too bad about the low res. Oh well.
I love bats. Everything about them is totally cool.
Look at how leaf-like the wings look.
Magnificent, just magnificent.
Batties! Thanks CO for putting up cute pictures that weren’t of cats for a change
holy aperture, batman! what great photos!
Cut the chatter, Red 2. Accelerate to attack speed.
These pictures are AMAZING and that bat is so cute
That is INCREDIBLE.
@ Shannon: absolutely! I always liked bats, but after saving three of them at different times from a industrial plant where I worked, I developed a real fondness for them.
Nothing like having a tiny bat in your leather gloved hands hissing the tiniest of hisses and baring the tiniest of fangs atcha to make you go “awwwwww” and finding a good safe spot for it to recover from its ordeal.
Claire: I like the tum, too. Rule of cuteness 38, I believe, is the one about the curved belleh being cute. So true!
Love it! The detail on the bat wings, even on the reflection in the pool — so amazing!! Wish I could get me some bats to live in my yard.
NTMTOM, do you like movies about gladiators?
“They’re coming in much faster this time!”
@BabyO: “Surely you can’t be serious.”
Yay, bats! They’re so cool!
And I agree with JohnnyJohnny, in the second image especially, the wings have a very leaf-like appearance. It’s really cool. ^_^
Aww. sweet l’il batties. You haven’t seen cute until you’ve seen a little mombat, hanging upside down, holding the teeny babybat in her wings.
PS Do we have clearance, Clarence?
[Roger, Roger, what's our Vector, Victor, and DON'T CALL ME SHIRLEY - Ed.]
@victoreia:
Negative, Ghost Rider, the pattern is full!
I love these misunderstood creatures so much! Awesome pic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bats are good! They eat lots of bugs and skeeters, and they make playing badminton at twilight AWESOME. (try it!)
Besides, all my bats turn into butterflies in the morning…
@ Wisteria: YOU have reversed my personal prejudice in two lines which include the following:
Bats are good! They eat lots of bugs and skeeters.
Anything which eliminates skeeters (for the urbane, “skeeters” is kuntry-tawk fer “Mosquitoes”.
In a related story: have any CO’ers already heard (get in your Rockin’ Chairs, ’cause this one goes back, BEFORE Ellen deG’s talk show, BEFORE the Ellen sitcom set w/ goofy friends, in a small bookstore…..
Ellen deG, on the telephone with God, talking about his choices….various topics precede to the following question. Ellen:”God, I know that you’re the Supreme Being & that there are reasons for things to exist, which I don’t know. But, listen, really, could you answer me one question; I mean no disrespect. …Oh, yeah? I could ask? Thank you so much. Listen, what’s the deal (or it was worded differently; I don’t have the text written out, to copy here) with mosquitoes? I’m sure that you created them for a reason; the Bible says so.:…..REALLY? WOW!!
No, no, that’s true: I never DID consider, before, how MANY people are employed in the Flea Collar Industry! ”
(ba-dum-dump!!)
Signed,
The More You Know
@Resriechan: does this mean skeeters are monstrous fleas? Or did God duck the question?
God ducked the question… He never answers questions like that while we’re still in this existence. We got to make it to the ‘next level’.
That third picture, you can almost here the bat say Ahhh Refreshing
I’m afraid Ginger bought the farm in that dog fight with Gerry.Still it will be a posthumous VC for him back in blighty.
Mosquitoes though scourge to us are food for our lovely feathered and our non feathered friends.
Hooray for bats!
wow amazing
The bones you see in the wings are actually the equivalent of other mammals’ finger bones, much different than the layout of a bird’s wing.
It is much harder to fear the known, so marvellous pictures like these are great for starting to learn about fascinating animals.
Bat Conservation International, batcon.org has lots of material including a large collection of very intriguing photographs. Young’uns will appreciate their magazine and other materials which may help you turn mindless squeals of fear into squees.
I don’t think these bats are drinking, they are most likely catching insects on the surface of the water.
I don’t have the patience or the ability to take photos like that – sensational stuff.
That is *beyond* cute.
Wonderful pictures. I’m so happy to see more bats on here. They really are amazing creatures and a number of them are adorable.
KC – I have a small colony living near my home. Every now and then, some will swoop down to catch insects from the surface of the swimming pool. When they do this they quickly pluck the insect from the surface, barely causing a ripple. Therefore, I think these bats really are drinking else they would not touch the water at all.
The wing structures are amazing and the earsies are, well, GINORMOUS!!! He looks so pleased after his drinky-poo. *heart*
Truly breath-taking shots! Photographer has skills! No. 2 is so surreal. Such still majesty, combined with cute. [eat those nasty skeeters, Mr. Bat! Thank Q!]
To the Peeps:
D’OH!!!!
Ich bin ein *(&^&*^&^%%&*insert curse words here).
Ah dun messed up mah joke. Bats eat MOSQUITOS. In the Ellen story, the word mosquitoes should not be there. That word shoulda been “FLEAS”.
Okay, I’ve got to get the Dunce Cap from Mother Superior & go stand in the corner now.
Actually Austin, TX has the largest urban bat colony. They live under the Congress Ave. bridge from May till about October. They are Mexican free-tail bats and it is a maternity colony. (Baby bats, yay!) It is a major tourist attraction for Austin along with SXSW, ACL and the always humorous state legislature!
Don’t know what the largest bat colony is but Bracken Cave in the San Antonio TX area might be a contender.
I feel like the bat in the last picture is going “Ahhh!” after having a nice refreshing drink.
I love bats! They eat bugs.
@Von Zeppelin : Hassling NTMTOM and then admitting it in the most hilarious way, LOLOL!
way cool – I wish there was a closeup of the mouf tho!
Who knew a bat could be so flippin’ cute?!
http://www.theprettyproject.com
I must say that BATS ARE THE S@$%!!! Only a few species are blood drinkers, most eat HUGE amounts of nasty mosquitos or fruit or other creepy crawlie bugs. I am looking into getting a bat box for my back yard for chemical free bug control purposes. Mosquitos in Georgia are NO JOKE.
In closing, I think bats rock, and people are just jealous because they are the only mammals that can fly!
What amazing photos! I always knew bats were cute… No one wanted to believe me. This is my proof.
Mister/Miss Bat is all…
“ehn” and then
“sluuurp” and then
“hurray! I got water!”
Oh! I just noticed the URL. lol. Nice Airplane! reference.
That’s probably my favorite movie of all time. “I am serious… and don’t call me Shirley”
Third photo, and that’s when Batty announces:
“Alright!!!”
“This water bomber is now filled to the tilt!”
“Where’s the fire?”
I was tempted to repost the Count doing the Batty Bat, but I see that JupiterStar @ #34 has craftily implanted the earworm for us already…
Batty, batty, batty, batty bat!
(wonder how bad my code was there? wish we had a preview button! eek!)
You. KILLED. Me.
I love bats. Maybe it’s a side effect of being born on Halloween, or perhaps the fact that one of my favorite childhood costumes was a bat. But in whatever case, I could not stop grinning at this post. Leetle bats! With leetle tongues! And those gorgeous wings! Ahhhhhhhh. <3
Plus, the pictures themselves are spectacular — I love the composition, and the reflections look beautiful. Amazing!
Oh wow! These are amazing…and I hate bats, so that’s saying alot!
Oh I love bats. My husband put some bat houses in our backyard and I am eagerly (and hopefully) awaiting some new tenants. I love watching them swoop through our backyard in the evening.
I’d also like to take the opportunity to call attention to the tragic bat crisis we’re having in the Northeast at the moment; whole colonies of bats are being killed off by a mysterious disease called “White Nose Syndrome”. It causes the bats to come out of hibernation too early in search of food, and since there are no insects around that early they use up their stored energy and die. Ecologists are attributing the problem to human effects on the local climate and ecology- already one colony near us, which had nearly 2,000 bats, has been almost completely decimated. As a result we’re having a terrible mosquito problem, and from there the impact just snowballs.
Pay no attention to that nuffer behind the curtain…!
When I was little we’d go swimming at night in the summer and if you stayed very still, the bats would swoop down, drink from the pool, and keep flying, no more than a few feet away. Very cool.
beautiful!
Yay–this made CO. I submitted it a few weeks back too! I’m thrilled to see all the bat fans here. Bats need all the props they can get. To those who ‘hate’ bats (or snakes, spiders, mice, etc.) how can you hate a thing that can’t hate you back????
You can find cute bats and more info on White Nose Syndrome, bat rescue, and other critical bat issues at http://www.batworld.org .
And if you’d like a nice tear-jerker video to share with people who are needlessly cruel to bats, try this…[removed].
I never thought I’d say this… but these bats are reeeally cute. Very Stella Luna. Thanks for sharing these fantastic pictures!
Wow. No prizes for guessing where Leonardo Da Vinci got the idea for his human flying machine wings from then! He copied bats!
Great photos.
@ Editors: FWIW:
please note — I am still Resriechan; now Leslie is Leslie instead of being me.
[Heh, no worries from my direction; I have other ways to determine who's who
- Ed.]
I bet Talleke can tell from some of the pixels, and from seeing quite a few shops in her time.
: P
As long as they are absolutely nowhere near me, bats are just adorable. I have a soft spot for the super big-eared versions, since they are what inspired the (official, even!) name “bat ears” for Boston Terriers and French Bulldogs.
I totally find bats extremely creepy.
Eeep
Just impressed by these pictures.
I’m still waiting for a Bats ‘n Cracks pic…
I’m a long-time fan of bats in general, and I’m wildly impressed with these photos! Now I have to find a way to capture some pix in my own backyard!
@Resriechan
How did I get to be you? Did I have fun? I didn’t get you in any trouble did I? I do drive a little fast, but I think that’s it in the troublemaker dept. I hope!
Leslie
That’s what I call Precision Drinking.
I LUFFS BATS.
That is all.
Bats are awwwwwwwwwww-some!
Beautiful pictures!
Normally I hate bats, and while I still wouldn’t want one caught in my hair, I must grudgingly admit these are not just amazing photos, but even a little bit cute.
I love the hyup-hyup wheeee! bat.
Will there be more bats on CO for Halloween? I would dig that the most. Bats, spidies, black cats, punkins, and maybe some cute skellingtons?
Amazing pictures!!
@Sarah: hyup-hyup wheee bat is right! That’s exactly what I hear him doing it in my head.
Yay for some bat lovin! More bats, please! Awesome photos.
There’s an amazing true story about this guy who befriended a little albino bat. He called her the White Lady.
He wrote his memoir in 1952. A little summary of what you would find in the book is here in an archived Time article.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,816128-1,00.html
Bats are way cute!
@Anna – that’s what I thought, too, about Leonardo & the flying machines. Mother Nature had already figured the whole thing out.
How amazing to see them close up, and getting a drink “on the fly”.
Love! Thank you for battiness!
i want to crop this photo, can I???
So cool, thanks for sharing. We just attended a bat program at our local library and learned so much, this was the icing on the day.
WOW that second shot is so fantastic! What an adorable little tongue!! I love bats
Nice flying batman!
Love how he sticks his tongue out when he sees his reflection in the water. Showing off!
I just recalled The Calvin and Hobbes of Calvin presenting a report of bats and the entire class screaming back at him “BAT ARE NOT BUGS!”
I miss Calvin and Hobbes. (sniff)…
Alice, it’s a complete myth that bats get tangkled in your hair. A bat is going to be much too afraid of you to get that close.
#99 (WAIT THAT’S A BEATLES SONG!! somebody tell me, if it’s a full moon?)
@ Leslie not Resriechan:
Here are the instructions. Get a set of parents from Miami named Don & Bobbye. Have them move to Orange Park Florida (Jax NAS duty/ Dad) ..Explain the birds/ bees to them. Hang out while Mom has 4 other kids. After awhile, she’ll have you.
Does that work for you? You’ll work in libraries, so study hard!! You will get to live in Japan & in Washington DC while you’re in elementary school & high school,
so that should be a bonus!!
Signed,
Registration Desk
The Leslie Company
Can we get a Tongue-Hance? A What, What?! Tongue-Hance!
What, no C.O.E.B.T.C.U.?? (Cute Overload Extreme Bat Tongue Close Up)
No further enhance or zoom possible here, peeps.
Wanna hear the coolest thing about bats drinking? No? Tough.
In arid regions where water is scarce, bats really do create a line up and a holding pattern like airport traffic to keep the flow of bats (!) going in one direction for easy dipping and drinking. They even will make special barks at young bats that haven’t gotten the habit yet and go teh wrong way. Their very own bat control tower!
I <3 bats!
FUNNY !!! I hope the next one is funny
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