Oldest bat in captivity to mark birthday today

Tanner, the oldest bat in captivity in the world, turns 23 today at the Cranbrook Institute of Science.

But don't expect loud horns or funny hats at this birthday party.

And instead of cake, he'll get a luscious cup of papaya, mango and melon at noon.

Tanner is a golden bat, a rare species found in nature only on a 13-square-mile island in the Indian Ocean, about 1,300 miles off the shores of Madagascar. The species is critically endangered, with only 1,000 in captivity.

"He's older, so you don't want to take him by surprise too much," said Rob Mies, director of the Cranbrook-based Organization for Bat Conservation.

Most golden bats live fewer than 20 years.

And all of them in captivity, as well as all other animals in zoos, are registered with zoo organizations. That's how Mies knows that Tanner is the oldest bat in captivity.

This is the first year that Tanner can claim his longevity title. Until a few months ago, he was edged out by a 23-year-old bat at Chicago's Brookfield Zoo that recently died.

Tanner was born in the Philadelphia Zoo.

He's been part of the collection at the Organization for Bat Conservation for about nine years.

With 12 different bat species in its collection of 153 bats, the organization offers the largest species diversity of any publicly displayed bat collection in the country, Mies said.

He said bats are fascinating for many reasons, including their ability to pollinate crops and because they eat night-flying insects like moths and beetles that would otherwise damage food.

There are also so many different kinds -- more than 1,100 species, making up 20% of all mammal species on the planet, Mies said.

"You've got this unbelievable diversity of bats, you've got people afraid of them and you've got this huge reason why they shouldn't be," Mies said. "That's why it's so important to change people's attitudes about bats.

"Having live animals like Tanner helps."

http://www.freep.com/article/20081226/NEWS03/812260352 (picture at link)





I know a lot of people who would disagree as to this being the oldest bat in existence. :evilgrin:

(Not a bat, but misunderstood)

and did you see that pic of her the other day in a swim suit? What the hell happened?

I've liked bats ever since I was a little kid. (I'm 40 now, which I guess means I'm finally a big kid. :P )

I never knew this, either:



:wow:

I used to love watching them taking off from the big trees behind my house in the evening. A cloud, a steady stream. so graceful.. And they get rid of mosquitos too. Very useful critter.

...even the tiny insect-eaters, which many people just think of as flying rodents. (Most rodents live 2-3 years, and bats are in fact more closely related to primates than they are to rodents.) Bats also have a low reproductive rate, which makes them vulnerable to anything that reduces their populations. They are very cool animals who play a critical role in the ecosystem, and definitely deserve protection!

I didn't realize that bats represented such a large fraction of mammal species. Very cool!

Some species are really cute. They look like little puppies with wings. :)

They're apparently endemic to Rodrigues, which is one of the few spots I could NOT find on a map. :P

:blush:

Cranbrook is bout a half hour from where I live. And I never knew they had bats there!