Horseshoe crabs, rescued Trenton cats & more

Last month was the time when red knots (birds that feed on horseshoe crab eggs) would usually have feasted along the Delaware Bay.  But our crazy spring temperatures kept water temps too cold for the crabs to come ashore to lay their eggs. 

That forced countless red knots to continue their migration from South America to Arctic Canada without the fuel of that especially nutritious food.  Lacking their ideal nourishment and possibly heading north later than usual, the birds’ breeding success was in some jeopardy.  

Those water temperatures below the 59 degrees the crabs needed was only one obstacle these “evolutionarily ancient invertebrates” must survive.  Described as “one of the oldest and most tenacious species on earth,” horseshoe crabs have endured since 200 million years before the dinosaurs.

Then came humans, always full of ideas for how to use non-human animals for their own benefit.  First, it was using horseshoe crabs as commercial fishing bait, but overharvesting the crabs so threatened the species that limits and embargoes were put in place.

For some time now, a component of horseshoe crab blood is used to test injectable medicines, including vaccines, for bacterial contaminants.  And in case you wondered, yes, there is an alternative animal-free test widely used in Europe, which would free up more crabs and benefit the birds dependent on their eggs.  

However, the US organization that decides which test will be used just called for more info on the proposed substitute test.  So still more years of using horseshoe crab blood will be necessary.  Worse, the myriad tests of vaccines against the coronavirus, and the billions of doses involved to find the right vaccine, then use it, puts horseshoe crabs once again (needlessly) in demand.  

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/03/science/coronavirus-vaccine-horseshoe-crabs.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/science/migration-red-knot.html?campaign_id=34&emc=edit_sc_20200616&instance_id=19433&nl=science-times&regi_id=20760274&segment_id=31022&te=1&user_id=a360dad7b26df61ea65737080d3deedd

How’re they doing?

A kind St. Hubert’s rep has updated the story of the 47 cats rescued in Trenton.  (See 2 May posts.) Some have already been adopted, while others are now ready for new loving homes while temporarily living with fosters.  The website  (https://www.sthuberts.org/adoptable-animals-madison) showed Chatty (M), Benni (F) and Crookie (M) when I last looked.

Some of the Trenton cats are still being treated for medical issues, including several eye surgeries and removal of nasal polyps.  Easel Animal Rescue (Ewing, Mercer County) took in 10 of them.

2 painful stories

First, China seems to be doing to jaguars in South America what that country already did to elephants and other wildlife in Africa.  That is, with the move-in of Chinese companies, the demand for animal parts (jaguar canines for necklaces!) begins, along with poaching.  Tigers are ever more scarce, so . . . look out, jaguars!  

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/science/jaguars-poaching-china.html?campaign_id=34&emc=edit_sc_20200616&instance_id=19433&nl=science-times&regi_id=20760274&segment_id=31022&te=1&user_id=a360dad7b26df61ea65737080d3deedd 

And second, cruel and soulless traits clearly run in some families.  It’s now been made much easier to kill bear cubs and wolf pups in Alaska.  Often writing on the environment and politics, this columnist shows appropriate disgust at “soft-handed predators masquerading in manliness,” and their enablers. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/opinion/trump-jr.html?campaign_id=39&emc=edit_ty_20200619&instance_id=19536&nl=opinion-today&regi_id=20760274&segment_id=31340&te=1&user_id=a360dad7b26df61ea65737080d3deedd

                                     NYTimes pic

Aw-w-w-w-w, too bad!

Two cruel events involving animals have been hit hard by the pandemic, today’s NYTimes reports.  Hundreds of Western towns have cancelled their annual professional rodeos.  And, already battered by animal rights activists, the bulk of Spain's March-October bullfighting season has been called off.   (Huzzah!) 

         The Peace of Wild Things

by Wendell Berry

 When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
Rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
Who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief.  I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
Waiting with their light.  For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.   

                    
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Till next month . . . !  

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Wildlife must still count on humane humans’ help

Rhinoceros

Will there ever be a time when wild animals won’t need us?  The unnatural treatment, abuse and outright cruelty just keep coming.

To start with, what’s wrong with this picture: A rhinoceros walks along a grassy area as two vehicles drive by a few yards behind him.  To one side, four or five molded tubs look to be filled with grasses.  

Life in the jungle?  No way.  This is Six Flags Great Adventure Wild Safari Drive-Thru Adventure (please don’t ask me to repeat all that!), where 1,200 exotic animals, including ostriches and baboons, from six continents live on a 350-acre (no, not mile) preserve in Jackson, NJ. 

Unlucky them.  They’re “on display,” according to the May 31 front-page story in the Times of Trenton that Sunday.  Reportedly phased out in 2012 after 38 years -- do we know where those resident animals went? -- the attraction’s back now, with visitors driving through on their own instead of being taxied in trucks with tour guides.

Lion

Photos on the story’s spill page showed (1) animals grazing in the foreground, with a roller coaster behind them and a string of vehicles in between;  (2) fenced-in lions; (3) zebras ignoring the car right next to them; (4) an enclosed elephant standing under a strange umbrella-like structure, with cars in the near background; (5) a baboon atop a jungle gym – the closest thing to a jungle to be seen here – with the roller coaster visible nearby.

Life in the jungle?  No way.  Try “trapped in New Jersey.”  The reporter behind this promo story said that because he loves animals, he enjoyed “just sitting back and taking it all in.”  Did he wonder about these animals’ real-life habitats?  How many miles elephants travel in a day?  What baboons do in their natural home?  

“There they were,” he wrote, of the animals, “seemingly with no worries in the world, surrounded by what I assume are their friends and families.”  (OMG!)  And “The only thing new about their life being a stream of strange cars.”  (Seriously?)

With those naïve or just plain dopey views of wild animal life (including capture, separation, training-under-duress and life in constricting, artificial settings), this guy must have just landed on earth from another planet.  He didn’t recognize captive animals’ resignation and apathy.  Or, I think -- aware of their inability to change anything -- their despair.

Straining credulity

Brown bear feeding

Claiming a desire to “align federal and state law,” the National Park Service and the US Fish & Wildlife Service have taken steps to “support extreme measures to kill predators and their young in Alaska’s national preserves,” conservation groups have argued in response.

For instance, one proposed rule change would allow brown bear baiting in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge for the first time.  (Shades of New Jersey’s Stone Age-level approval of such “hunting” practices.)

These changes appear to be a continuing attempt to roll back President Barack Obama’s 1015 prohibitions affecting hunting and trapping in national preserves.  They’re only the last instance of the weakening or elimination of humane rules for treating wildlife.   

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2020/05/21/trump-administration-moves-to-ease-rules-for-hunting-bears-and-wolves-on-federal-lands-in-alaska/?utm_campaign=wp_animalia&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_animalia  

Going batty

If you’ve started to feel “enough on bats already!” please know I’m there too.  The article linked below will be the last word on the subject for the indefinite future.   But please do take a look at its surprising opening summary on bats; you might just keep on reading!

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/world/asia/coronavirus-batman-bats-viruses.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20200613&instance_id=19333&nl=todaysheadlines&regi_id=20760274&segment_id=30843&user_id=a360dad7b26df61ea65737080d3deedd

Till next time

Back again either next weekend or after July 4.  Meanwhile, here’s a delightful story about an animal mom and her son.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPekAlaY1gU&feature=youtu.be

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I still don’t want a pet bat, but . . .

Fruit Bat

I’ve learned since my last post here that bats have much to recommend them.  Yes, there are “bad bats” who carry and transmit coronaviruses to other animals, after which humans can become infected as a result of their own activity -- but it seems those bats are in the minority both geographically and numerically.   

In fact, an international team of scientists reportedly used genetic analysis to trace the likely origin of the novel coronavirus to (Chinese) horseshoe bats --pictured in the last post.  While they found evidence that the novel coronavirus behind our current pandemic may have evolved in Yunnan Province, they could not rule out an origin elsewhere in Southeast Asia outside China.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/science/coronavirus-bats-wuhan.html?campaign_id=34&emc=edit_sc_20200602&instance_id=19013&nl=science-times&regi_id=20760274&segment_id=29858&te=1&user_id=a360dad7b26df61ea65737080d3deedd

Batcon.org 

Which brings us to the “nice bats,” the ones we need and depend on.  And if you doubt that, just spend a while at www.batcon.org -- Bat Conservation International -- a site with lots of info and at least one terrific video showing various bat faces.  (Watch out: that video is startling.  I didn’t know there were so many different-looking bats, and although I still disagree with anyone describing bats as “cute,” they sure are . . . interesting looking.)

As batcon.org points out, bats are

   Important:  They consume vast numbers of insects including agricultural pests; they pollinate valuable plants; and they disperse seeds critical to restoring rain forests.

   Threatened:  Unsurprisingly, human activity destroys their habitats and some people see bats as consumable bushmeat.

        Misunderstood:  Bats are needlessly feared.  Of the more than 1,300 bat species, only three Latin American vampire bats feed on blood and just one of them targets mammals.

        Everywhere:  Perhaps most surprising, bats don’t live their lives isolated in dark caves; rather, they

Yuma myotis

interact on a daily basis with the same fields, forests, and waterways that we do.

·         Cool!  (True, once you learn about them!)

Further, we might all wish to be “blind as a bat,” because they’re far from it.  Not only do they see as well as just about any other mammal, but most bats also use a unique biological sonar system called echolocation, which lets them navigate dark caves and hunt fast-flying insects in total darkness. . . . Using sound alone, bats can see everything but color and detect obstacles as fine as a human hair.

One of the best things I've learned about bats is their voracious appetite for mosquitoes.  I can love bats because I hate mosquitoes.  Those like me who are special targets for mosquitoes can encourage bats in their neighborhoods and even provide bat houses, assuring hungry allies in the vicinity on those summer evenings outdoors.  

2020 US quarter

And not just any bat house will do, of course.  Remember that bats perch upside down and must drop down to fly, among other considerations taken into account by batcon.org and/or these Good Housekeeping (so apropos a source!) directions.

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gardening/a20706363/how-to-attract-bats/

Affection, or at least respect for bats must be behind these three final “bat bits”: First, the 2020 US quarter features bats on one side; second, there’s at least one tasty looking recipe for bat (-looking!) cookies online; and finally, a webinar about bats this Wednesday (June 10, 3-4 pm) from the Humane Society of the US will provide useful info about bats.  

Click on the link below, then scroll to the bottom and click on “learn more” in the blue box.  Scroll down from “If you are the meeting host. . .” and click on “Join meeting as an Attendee.”  On the next screen, register to attend the webinar. 

https://www.animalsheltering.org/trainings/responding-calls-and-concerns-about-bats

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Peanut butter cups, Oreos & ???!

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Bats: Are they the ‘villains of the (Covid-19) piece’?

                                                                                                                                       HSUS pic

There are bats and bats.  On a lovely summer evening, we may be tempted to duck and cover when bat(s) fly over us, little realizing they’re our great backyard buddies, who wolf down pesty and disease-carrying insects galore -- one bat can eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes an hour!

Other bat species also help humans by pollinating fruits (think bananas, avocados and mangoes) and helping disperse seeds that regenerate tropical forest trees.

We may sympathize with bats because white nose syndrome (WNS) has killed them by the millions, or shudder at the thought of rabid bats or vampire bats with bloody fangs.

                           Fruit bat                 USDA pic

Clearly, bats prompt mixed feelings.  Right now, though – as we shelter at home to escape Covid-19 – we may curse bats, who, as disease carriers, or vectors, are believed to have started this hideous worldwide pandemic. 

  

But before dealing with that assumption, let’s look at bats in general.  In fact, they’re quite interesting creatures if you get past their could-be-scary appearance to reach the facts about them.  Here are some “bat bits” found in my reading.

The more than 1,200 species of bat -- about a quarter of all mammalian species – are second in number only to rodents.  Bats live on every continent except Antarctica, in proximity to humans and farms.  

They’re “the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight.”  More maneuverable than birds, bats have wings made of a membrane spread across elongated arm bones and fingers.  (Maybe that’s part of what can creep us out about them.) 

Most bats are nocturnal (as we know!) and most are insectivorous.  They hide out of sight during the day and fly and forage for food (bugs) at night.  All roosting upside down, they hibernate in winter, sometimes in giant colonies.

                                                                       NBC News pic

Bats usually “fall into flight,” starting to fly by “dropping into the air.”  Their hanging upside down therefore helps them make a quick escape.

Most bats are “microbats,” who can eat their weight in insects (including wasps, moths and mosquitoes).  “Megabats” live in the tropics, where they eat fruit, nectar and pollen.  Only vampire bats feed on blood, far preferring that of cattle and horses to human blood.

The longest-lived mammals for their body size, some bats live up to 40 years in the wild.  Little brown bats, 3 ½ inches long and weighing about ½ ounce, are the most abundant variety in North America. 

But . . .

Along with other mammal groups, bats are natural carriers of coronaviruses, with different groups of bats carrying different strains.  “Coronaviruses and bats have been evolving together for millions of years.”

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200423082231.htm 

                   Chinese Horseshoe Bat                 science source           

Amazingly, one bat can host many different viruses without getting sick.  It’s theorized that bats developed their immunity during the evolutionary process of becoming the only flying mammals, when adaptations to flight changed their immune systems. 

The rabies virus is one exception that they can carry and catch, making them immediately dangerous to other animals, including us.   But 99% of bats in the world are estimated to be rabies-free.

The big trouble starts when bats’ coronaviruses directly or indirectly spill over to other animals, like humans, who eat them, trade them in livestock markets and invade their territory.  Covid-19 began in bats, then made the jump to another mammal (which one is not yet clear), and then moved to humans.  And here we are.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/25/world/asia/china-markets-coronavirus-sars.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article

However, none of this means bats are to blame for this outbreak.  Humans have encroached on the lives of bats, not vice versa.  So humans must change all the habits and traditions that have brought us to this pass.  And that leads us, again, to the refrain about leaving wildlife alone – not trading in it or consuming it.  

We could do that, but will we?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/28/science/bats-coronavirus-Wuhan.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article

Vendor with bat meat, Indonesia

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(If you’ve stayed with me this far, here’s a bonus link to some interesting-but-tough reading:

https://whowhatwhy.org/2020/03/27/bats-breeding-ground-for-killer-viruses/ )

  

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