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So, we found a live bat in our rare book store.
a thread
a thread
We have a big, boring box with lots of fun, rare historic archives and books in it.
Itâs so boring on the outside we donât have an image on file.
But it is very exciting on the inside.
Itâs so boring on the outside we donât have an image on file.
But it is very exciting on the inside.
Itâs where we keep the Ladybird Books Archive, medieval manuscripts, our childrenâs book collection, the WH Smith archive â itâs a treasure trove.
Full of lovely, lovely books.
Full of lovely, lovely books.
Do you know whatâs not a book?
* * . * . * . *
. * . * . .
* * . * *. *. . *. .
* . * * . *. * .
. * . * . .
A BAT
. * . * . .
* * . *
*. *. . *. . * . * * . *. * .
. * . * . .
A BAT
Bats canât even get library cards.
But here he is, chilling above a fire exit he canât even open.
He got through a tiny hole to begin with (which we're plugging) but the hole was so tiny that our bat couldnât find the exit, like a bewildered father in IKEA.
The bat signal was lit.
(the bat signal is a librarian out of their depth screaming
âthere is a BAT
in the LIBRARYâ
down the corridor)
âthere is a BAT
in the LIBRARYâ
down the corridor)
Because the universe is weird, though, one of our volunteers and former @UniRdg_Library librarian also looks after bats in her spare time.
Seriously, she saves bats and nurses them back to health in a spare room and then releases them back into the wild.
Our team is full of secret X Men.
Our team is full of secret X Men.
Hereâs our bat.
First things first is to check the gonads, which confirmed the bat is a boy.
Male bat genitalia look like, and we quote, âan albino hedgehogâ.
#NSFW
Male bat genitalia look like, and we quote, âan albino hedgehogâ.
#NSFW
We thought the bat was a type of pipistrelle, and after examining the ratio of forearm to 5th finger, and wing venation, it turns out to be a Nathusius' pipistrelle.
This is very cool, as the species has only recently started migrating to Britain. Theyâve previously travelled from the Baltic to settle in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium or France.
We've named the bat MERLin (...).
He is helping a current project capturing and ringing Nathusius' pipistrelles, so we can learn more about their migratory habits.
He is helping a current project capturing and ringing Nathusius' pipistrelles, so we can learn more about their migratory habits.
Bat populations suffered catastrophic losses up until 1981, but are now heavily protected. Their main enemies are cats, habitat destruction and diminishing food supply of bugs.
Find out how can you help bats @_bct_: https://www.bats.org.uk/support-bats
Find out how can you help bats @_bct_: https://www.bats.org.uk/support-bats
The latest update on Merlin is that:
âit took him ages to get the hang of self feeding but thereâs no stopping him now so heâs put on rather a lot of weight and needs a bit more flying practice before we can release him.
âit took him ages to get the hang of self feeding but thereâs no stopping him now so heâs put on rather a lot of weight and needs a bit more flying practice before we can release him.
The tubby bugger.
Thanks for listening to our bat story!
If you want it in a format that isn't about fifty difficult-to-read tweets, we put it in a blog too: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/news-and-views/2019/02/found-live-bat-archive/
If you want it in a format that isn't about fifty difficult-to-read tweets, we put it in a blog too: https://merl.reading.ac.uk/news-and-views/2019/02/found-live-bat-archive/
(also, follow @BerksBatGroup)
