tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876862148358784705.post235797206314632836..comments2024-03-11T19:40:23.089+00:00Comments on Views from the bike shed: The flight of batsThe bike shedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05195882998271591934noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876862148358784705.post-25168553208707462112010-10-29T09:05:51.560+01:002010-10-29T09:05:51.560+01:00We ventured into a bat cave in France last autumn ...We ventured into a bat cave in France last autumn and it was very weird - I got a bit frightened and had to exit quite quickly - it was the smell more than anything that drove me out.<br /><br />As for naming animals - I've never understood why some people name their cars either.French Fancy...https://www.blogger.com/profile/04941577892849157015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876862148358784705.post-5076088332057654742010-10-27T12:02:19.528+01:002010-10-27T12:02:19.528+01:00I love it. Bees can see more colours than we can,...I love it. Bees can see more colours than we can, at both ends of the visible spectrum, and they can differentiate more finely between colours too. I wonder what they see?<br /><br />Personally I suspect that bats are creating a 3D model of the world using reflected sound very much as we do the same thing using reflected light. The sonar being like a torch to highlight different spaces as needed, memory serving as it does us, to maintain those bits of the model that we're no longer focusing on. I have absolutely no justification for this conceit except that it seems so practical.<br /><br />As an aside I also find it fascinating that humans blind from birth can learn to use sonar (clicking with their tongues) to construct a very useful world view. I read of a lad having learned to ride a bike this way without mishap.<br /><br />As another aside, when tuning a short wave radio along a band (something I did a lot of as a boy) I "see" the changing patterns of noise and signal against a dark background, without being able to describe what I see. I understand the research has shown the visual cortex to be involved in this processing.<br /><br />End of waffle.Mark In Mayennehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14987723233401368368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876862148358784705.post-65420105484620577792010-10-26T14:41:49.603+01:002010-10-26T14:41:49.603+01:00I shall miss the bats when we move.
They come sing...I shall miss the bats when we move.<br />They come singly from the eaves in the evening, turning and tumbling, and later I can see..what, swarms?...of them against the sky.<br /><br />Naming the 'stars' of animal programmes always struck me as inappropriate, like trying to show someone a star by catching it and rolling it in the mud rather than by showing its reflection in a pool of water, leaving it uncontaminated.the fly in the webhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04563871975125538755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876862148358784705.post-53173547285074569882010-10-26T10:35:11.577+01:002010-10-26T10:35:11.577+01:00Well, a less intellectual answer possibly, but I d...Well, a less intellectual answer possibly, but I dislike the training of animals to do anything other than something useful, as in guide dogs, I dislike the way we talk to animals sometimes, like that habit people have of googooing at babies instead of using proper language. Don't like the way we give them names either, the anthropomorphism mentioned.<br />I don't find bats in the least fascinating or likeable, but the swooping dance of birds in the sky, that's another matter.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876862148358784705.post-45227969660802526482010-10-26T07:29:32.225+01:002010-10-26T07:29:32.225+01:00For me the names are a bar to enjoying the experie...For me the names are a bar to enjoying the experience. I prefer the otherness left untouched and un-anthropomorphized... it's the only way to get to heart of nature... do realize that while humanity is part of it, nature itself is not human.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02133900289384226725noreply@blogger.com