Pound for pound, bats can drink you under the table

[Steven Johnson]

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/201 ... o-knew.ars

Researchers wondered what happened to fruit bats that ate from the fermented fruit. Considering body weight and the amount of energy required to keep a fruit bat going, the researchers figured that even the low alcohol content of fruit should still be enough to mean that a night's feeding involved a substantial amount of imbibing.

[slapout]

so will they now get ticketed for FUI

[driggs]

I was fortunate enough to meet and talk at length with one of this paper's authors. She told me that they were flown to the tropics, set up mist-nets to catch fruit bats, then got them drunk and sent them flying through a cool bat obstacle course - the funniest part is that the research was funded by the famous Canadian brewery Molson!



It turns out that the Molson charitable foundation was simply funding bat-related research, and the fact that this one was alcohol-related was purely coincidence, but I'm sure it made for great stories to say that "Molson is paying for us to get bats drunk!"

The full research paper is at:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0008993

[ArCaver]

It interesting to find out if the mist nets, echolocation detectors and lab equipment used in Belize were left in country or brought back to the US. By rights they probably should not have taken any equipment from the US to Belize, with or without decon. Hopefully biologists have learned a little since the WNS debacle started but I suspect prior to 2009 any of these studies done on foreign soil were done without regard to pathogen control. Anyone know of any bat work done in Europe by US researchers or graduate students in 2005-2006?

[plicpriest1]

Bats hard drinkers??? I love it. It kinda makes you wonder what else you can give to a bat and see what happens. Lets think of the possibilities...

1. 100% pure liquer... Lets see them fly now
2. Pot... delayed echo location?
3. Crack... Hay if your going to pump them full of pot and liquer might as well

Who knows... perhaps either 1 or a combination of the previous mentioned is the cure for WNS . Im a genious.

[MUD]

Bats hard drinkers??? I love it. It kinda makes you wonder what else you can give to a bat and see what happens. Lets think of the possibilities...

1. 100% pure liquer... Lets see them fly now
2. Pot... delayed echo location?
3. Crack... Hay if your going to pump them full of pot and liquer might as well

Who knows... perhaps either 1 or a combination of the previous mentioned is the cure for WNS . Im a genious.

Dude, you been drinkin too much liquor, smokin too much hooch, hittin that crack pipe yerself? You may be onto somethin...genious!

[bronzzhorse]

This is BY FAR the funiest thread I've EVER seen on CaveChat....
I need to go now, for i just spewed Pepsi out my nose!!!