Panama Wild Rain Forest of Life (7 of 19)
The tiny forest cat enJoys its meal, until disturbed by yet another denizen of the dark.
Only at night does Elizabeth Kalko venture out on her own quest.
The Barro Colorado lsland she knows is very different from the one most people see.
The night is a totally different world from the daytime.
We are Just exposed to a wonderful orchestra of different sounds, of many insects and frogs, then you see the stars through the canopy and this is Just an incredible atmosphere.
And occasionally there are bats fluttering by and even touching you with their wings.
The night holds no fear for Elizabeth.
She is in her element, and bats are her passion.
She hangs nets of fine mesh over small streams, fishing for bats.
She believes bats are the unsung heroes of the night, vital to the survival of dipteryx, and many other tropical giants.
That's a short-tailed fruit bat, and although they are relatively easy to get out of these nests, one has to be very careful about their sharp teeth.
Bats rely on forest trees for food and shelter, but they'll repay their hosts as they make their nightly rounds.
Legs are free, whoops, don't bite me, be nice, all right.
I don't think that bats are really ugly, I think that the misconception that bats are ugly comes from our very limited knowledge about bats.
Most of the bats have very, very,very pretty faces and especially here we find bats with beautiful facial stripes, and colored ears, and they actually have large eyes and don't look ugly at all.
But a bat is much more than Just a pretty face. |
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