FIGHTING FOR BATS

摘要

After another hard night's work, Rodrigo Medellin stumbles from the blackness of a cavern in eastern Mexico. In the glow of his head torch the bearded fifty-something ecology professor looks exhausted but exhilarated. His research team has just confirmed the existence of another critical site. The discovery opens a further chapter in Medellin's dogged quest to unravel the nocturnal secrets of bats."Los murcielagos son imprescindibles: bats are vital," Medellin says. "We have ignored the plight of bats for far too long, yet life would not be the same without them. I want to revolutionise public attitudes to this most unfairly treated group of creatures."Bats belong to the order Chiroptera and are typecast as the bad boys of the mammalian world. They are to warm-blooded creatures what sharks are to fish or snakes to reptiles: widely reviled and demonised by an ignorant media. For the common objections are false. Bats are neither blind nor prone to getting tangled in hair. They do not rabidly attack humans, or feed on our blood.