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Because mountains obscured the western sky, Jesus could not tell when the sun set. New molecular biology findings indicate that there are two new Suborders, Yinpterochiroptera and Yangochiroptera, not coinciding with the earlier subordinate classification [5]. Between 1981 and 1989, approximately 13,000 fruit bat bodies were imported into Guam for human consumption every year. Bats are shot for sport or to eradicate them from fruit plantations. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode. Interestingly, blood sucking has been attributed to bats both in Cameroon and Sierra Leone despite the countries being widely separated and when no such type of bat is found in Africa [19]. Peasant farmers in Mexico used to call bats ratones viejos, which translates to old mice. They thought that when mice grew older, they would develop wings and transform into bats. WebIn the Popol Vuh, Camazotz are the bat-like spirits encountered by the Maya Hero Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque during their trials in the underworld of Xibalba. Its based on principles of collaboration, unobstructed discovery, and, most importantly, scientific progression. The birds took pity on the creatures and fashioned wings for one of them out of the head of a drum made from a groundhog skin, thus creating the first bat. Should the bat stay and eat the fruit in the house, bad luck will befall the owner [27]. Bat guano provides one reason for the fertility associations [56]. Bats prefer a variety of daytime hideaways, including rock crevices, caves, old buildings, mines, bridges, and trees. My Amazon Author Page can found here for the UK and for the USA, here. The myths grew with the 1927 stage production which further associated Dracula with bats. African They often live and breed in dark and unusual places such as caves, tunnels and lofts, leaving these at twilight the time between light and darkness in search of food. Therefore, instead of coming out and feeding in daylight he began to feed at night. And because of this, many myths, superstitions, and folklore have been created about them. In many places, blood sacrifice was believed to benefit agriculture, and therefore, bats had agricultural, as well as death, connections for Pre-Columbian peoples and in Oaxaca, Mexico, a bat deity was associated with maize [51]. Often seen in movies and even written in books, bats have always been portrayed as mysterious creatures throughout the years. In Malaysian Borneo, people consider it taboo to disturb a fruit bat. By making research easy to access, and puts the academic needs of the researchers before the business interests of publishers. The genus Pteropus was first described by Brisson in 1762 from specimens collected on the Reunion Islands. Bats are associated, in many cultures, with death and dying, which makes them a perfect representative of Samhain, the time when the veil is thin. Here, we review documented narratives and surveys from around the world and our ethnographic observations from Europe to analyze beliefs associated with bats. By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. Publishing on IntechOpen allows authors to earn citations and find new collaborators, meaning more people see your work not only from your own field of study, but from other related fields too. Bat Our CFC number is 12064. Both these references are the same; they list the birds that the people of God are not allowed to eat the list ends with the bat. This apparent ambiguity in the nature of bats is seen in many folktales about how they came to be in the first place and how they acquired their various features. Public domain. Because of the mouses pious respect for the holy wafer, God gave it wings so that it would be able to find plenty of food in the future. Bats have fascinated humans for millennia, and this cultural and spiritual relevance is reflected in the presence of bat symbols in Egyptian tombs from 2000BC [7]. As messengers for the forces of darkness, they become evil omens. One reason not to kill bats is that female bats have breasts and are mothers like human females [25]. Here are some of them: Flying foxes eat fruit, and this has inevitably brought them into conflict with humans, who grow fruit. Zteve has two websites dedicated to myths, legends and folklore from around the world. American Indian legends and Aesop both gave animals human characteristics, including our failings, to teach moral precepts and the consequences of inappropriate behavior. While the English term batty denotes mad in a reasonably innocuous sense. 3. Nowadays, of course, we know that vampires are not real and neither is the ability to turn into a bat. When a truce is declared, the bat is rejected by both sides because of this deceitful behavior. Bat hunting is illegal, but hunters readily admitted to having hunted bats and even directed the research people to other hunters. Warner Shedd (2000) felt strongly that the level of fear about rabid bats sometimes rises almost paranoid concern in the United States, citing the State of New York as an example [63]. The way they live their lives and their behaviour places them somewhere betwixt and between, appearing as neither one thing, nor the other. Bat One of these fables also exists, with slight variation, among tribes in southern Nigeria, among Australian aboriginals, and ancient Romans. Males are called Kelb-el-khela, and females are called Tarhst. However, the association of bats with evil still persists in some parts of the world. This ethnic group in Africa is known for its A bat was once known as a flittermouse or fluttermouse, which translates to flying mouse. This phrase is derived from the German word for a bat, Fledermaus. The English term bat is taken from the Old English word bakke, which means to flutter.. This article has covered some of the main points about bat mythology, superstition, folklore, and persecution. Photo credit: Stan Delone creative commonWikimedia. Cultural traditions and beliefs influence the future of the bats, which is threatened by human exploitation, both directly on bats and indirectly on the environment. Participation by local people is vital to achieving successful conservation programs [35]. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/de/legalcode. In some parts of the world, they are a valuable food source, and their body parts are used in traditional medicine, while their guano is collected and used as agricultural fertilizer [7]. A world without bats would look very different than the one you know and not for the better. Bats tend to get off on the wrong wing with us humans. Their well-known agility in flight would make a bat formidable in a ball game against a bear and turtle. The bat begged to be spared but the weasel insisted that he could not do that because he was an enemy of all birds. In China, the bat is a symbol of happiness and good luck and its image is found in art and crafts expressing this. There is a Japanese word for bat, komori, which is said to mean mosquito slaughterer. In Japanese mythology, very old bats can transform into nobusuma, spirit animals resembling flying squirrels that land on their victims faces at night to feed off blood [43]. In Africa, bats were credited with high intelligence. Ancient Celtic Cauldrons: The Magical, the Mythical, the Real, Top 5 Trees in Celtic Mythology, Legend and Folklore, Celtic Warrior Women: Queen Boudica of the Iceni, Animism and the Living World of the Ancient Celts, Mixing Animals, Birds, Humans and Gods in Celtic Mythology, Unicorn Lore: Interpreting the Lady and the Unicorn Tapestries, The Legendary Puss in Boots and the Marquis of Carabas, Top Five Mythical Birds in Legend and Folklore, Aesops Fables; a new translation by Aesop, BATS Magazine Article: Folklore and the Origin of Bats, Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa by Elphinstone Dayrell. In Vietnam, many mounted bat species are sold in souvenir shops, and in Laos, bats are traded in several markets (Figure 3) [41, 42]. Bat Myths and Folktales from Around the World They have wings and fly like birds (actually, in many ways better than birds). As such, the Earl of Cranbrook was able to dispel this silly superstition. There exists a widespread belief in Southeast Asia that eating bat meat cures asthma [27]. It was from these traditions that the vampire bats were named rather than them giving their name to the supernatural, blood-sucking creature. Not only do they prey upon insects that are harmful to agriculture, but they also prey upon mosquitoes and other virus-carrying insects and play a major role in pollinating and spreading the seeds of many of the fruits we enjoy. People in Vanuatu consider Pacific Flying Fox Pteropus tonganus as their ancestor and claim to be able to communicate with them [46]. In Macbeth (1605), there is the incantation of the three witches: Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog, while there is Calibans curse on Prospero in The Tempest (16101611): All the charms of Sycorax, toads, beetles and bats, light on you.. The first two references are Leviticus 11:19 and Deuteronomy 14:18. Men hunt and consume bats more often than women who have fears that consuming bat meat would give them strange or deformed children. The bat husband then cut off her head and those of other Indians and put all heads in the tree hole where he was living [55]. These Goddesses of beauty reflect peace for a lot of people. Bats - Myths, Folklore and Facts The tour includes a brief 20-minute conservation education lecture about bats, caves, and the history of the Montford Bat Cave Sanctuary. These creatures, or more like monsters, were said to be able to transform themselves into bats at will and would fly around looking for victims to drink their blood. A bat flying into a building means that is going to rain. In India, bats are revered in many areas, but still large bat-harvesting festivals take place. There are more than 1000 different species of bats in the world, making them the second-largest order of mammals. Other than the polar regions, extreme deserts, and a few isolated islands, bats live in every habitat on Earth. A woman noted that her husband had a round tail and dropped the vessel of water she was bringing to him. WebThen there was the Olitiau, a giant demon bat that had been seen in these parts, and lived for hundreds of years. Even worse have been the vandalism and wanton destruction of bats and their habitat in North America. Bats are often misunderstood. Throughout Southeast Asia, bats are associated with luck and good fortune and used as spiritual totems [6, 27]. In Irian Jaya of Indonesia, former head-hunters considered flying foxes to be head-hunters too, as they took the head of the tree by consuming its fruit [37]. Female respondents in this study showed more negative attitudes and a stronger belief in myths about bats than males. MEMBER OPPORTUNITIES FOR 1994, Bats 101: High School Students and Field Research, Tips on Establishing Research Partnerships Between Schools and Wildlife Agencies, Motorola Supports Bat House Research Project, BCI Helps Protect Pennsylvania Mine for Bats, BCI-Sponsored Education Campaign in Mexico Leads to Cave Protection, Look for Masters of the Night: The True Story of Bats. These creatures have had a long and varied history with humans, and it is hoped that this article has helped to increase your understanding of these creatures. Pomo Indians of California have a myth that a bat could chew and swallow a large piece of obsidian and then vomit large numbers of excellent arrowheads. Courtesy of creative commonsWikimedia. African Most often, they are seen only at night. In all four cases, the bats each walked about the volunteers hair without becoming entangled in any way and finally took flight without any difficulty. Bats are found almost everywhere on Earth! Thanks Sir for this website. Bats in a church during a wedding ceremony is a bad omen. In Myths of the Cherokee (1900), James Mooney points out that a general theme in American Indian folklore is that, in the beginning, there were no essential differences between humans and animals. Bats lead us to the best opportunities to protect nature anywhere in the world. Presented here are different viewpoints from around the world, followed by a short look at the real significance of bats to humankind. It is the largest bat found in continental Africa and was believed to suck the blood of sleeping children until they die. Although bats already had long had a sinister reputation their addition to European vampire folklore came after that. They also don't share behavior with rodents. Bats, being seen as liminal creatures, were believed to be able to cross this barrier. The bat serves as mentor of the night and is identified with Talking God, one of the foremost deities. Bats are symbolic of bad luck, especially when they call while flying early in the evening. WebAfrican mythology has common threads that run through the various tribe's cultures and stories because rapid migration of people allowed for the spread of language as well as beliefs. Belief systems of people have always been closely related to animals, which are symbolized in traditional narratives. - Bat (goddess The study estimated that in the karstic Mahafaly Plateau some 50100 caves are exploited for bats and that between 70,000 and 140,000 Microchiroptera bats may be collected annually in the region. The animals then give teeth to the bat to make it more animal-like. The bat represented the opias (= spirits of the dead people) to the Taino. In the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, spirits, devils, and witches had their general name Bitaboh, wood-goblins being specially called Ronga. All the bats were comprehended under the same name, especially the Yellow-winged Bat Lavia frons, formerly Megaderma frons, which flutters about from tree to tree in broad daylight [18]. A variety of methods have been used to harass and kill these harmless and beneficial creatures, and some people have even gone so far as to dynamite caves and abandoned mines where bats roost or hibernate [64]. His name means literally One Monkey, which is more than fitting as he turned into one. WebAfrican bats fall into two major categories: large fruit bats and smaller, insect-eating bats, neither of which attacks people. WebWhen seen as human souls, bats are often imagined as souls of the dead, particularly souls of the damned, or those that are not yet at peace. The bat is the nights mentor and is associated with Talking God, one of the most powerful deities. When capturing its prey, it grabs the neck, sometimes killing the prey with a single powerful bite [51, 52]. 620 B.C. He's also a teacher, a poet and the owner of 1,152 books. Between the years 1950 and 2007, only 56 cases of bat-borne rabies transmission to humans occurred in the United States and Canada, which translates to 3.9 cases per billion person-years [65]. They are unquestionably weird beings, appearing as half birds and half rodents, as if they came from a nightmare realm. WebWhen seen as human souls, bats are often imagined as souls of the dead, particularly souls of the damned, or those that are not yet at peace. Unquestionably, they are strange creatures, appearing as half animal and half bird, like something from a nightmare world. This allowed the borders to be crossed and the dead and the spirits of the underworld return to visit earth. The official Islamic view is exempting bats from being killed because it would carry bad luck to kill a bat [32]. To a shaman the appearance of a bat does not signify actual or physical death, but more the death of old fears or the old ways of doing things that no longer serve you. These names can be misleading as often, megabats can be smaller while microbats can be bigger. There are more than 1400 bat species worldwide, and they make up roughly 20% of the worlds extant mammals [6]. In Africa, bats were credited with high intelligence. It is a canine creature supposedly living close to the Sahara Desert in North Africa. While Aesops fables involving bats may have envisioned them as duplicitous and dishonest, other folklore has ascribed a lot worse to bats, as we have seen in this series of articles. The remaining cultures had combinations of positive, neutral, and negative values. Bats in the house mean a death in the house or is a sign that the occupants will soon be leaving. That nailing a dead bat to your door will protect you from demons, That putting a drop of bats blood under a womans pillow will help her be fruitful. Photo credit: [7] Roy Kabanlit creative commonsWikimedia https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode. One clan of the Cakchiquel Maya, of the highlands of Guatemala, was named the Zotzil (=belonging to the bat), whose deity was a bat. Because they were four-footed, the mouse-like creatures first asked if they could play with the animals, which included a bear, a deer, and a terrapin. Also, a Tacana woman in Bolivia was killing a bat while not realizing that it was her husband [34]. One of the most enduring old wives tales from Europe is that bats will get tangled in womens hair and would have to be removed with a pair of scissors. It remains to be seen, however, how effectively the further education efforts could halt or even reverse the decline of the bats around the world. Some of their ceramic vessels have an anthropomorphic bat that is an agent of human sacrifice, with a knife in one hand and a human head in the other. Interestingly, giant bat stories have persisted in these flying-fox-less societies, which evolved from western Polynesians cultures where flying foxes have been prevalent [45]. A legend tells that in Fiji, a giant white vampire bat acts as a messenger, and one finds bats as gods in both Tikopian and Tongan myths. In another tale from Aesop, a bat borrows money for a business venture that fails. The Serer Creation Myth Like in every creation myth in Africa, the Serer of Senegal, Mauritania and the Gambia have theirs. Using two willing female teenagers, one with relatively short curly hair and one with longer wavy hair was done up behind in a bun, Cranbrook took turns in placing four different species of bat on their heads. The north coast of Peru is one of the South American regions where bat iconography is particularly prominent [51]. WebBat (goddess) Read Bat became the emblem on a sistrum, related to Hathor and which appears on the top of columns of her main temple of Denderah This painted terracotta Naqada figure of a woman is interpreted as representing Bat, c. 35003400 B.C. They were believed to destroy trees and damage fruits in gardens. Many spirits are associated with geographical features, such as mountains, rivers, wells, trees, and springs. London, SW7 2QJ, Their prayers were partially granted and they were given grotesquely humanoid faces, hair and teeth but still had their wings and could fly. Obviously, these bats were not the only animalsor even the only batsto use these now destroyed habitats. There are also numerous stories and legends associated with the bat. As PhD students, we found it difficult to access the research we needed, so we decided to create a new Open Access publisher that levels the playing field for scientists across the world. Recommended for you. Open Access is an initiative that aims to make scientific research freely available to all. These animals are nocturnal creatures that sleep during the day and come out at night to hunt for food. In Malaysia, ethnic Han Chinese, non-Muslim indigenous groups, and ethnic Malays hunt flying foxes and trade them to the Chinese [27]. In the terminology of folklorists, bats are liminal; they dont fit into the normal order of things and are somehow apart or in-between. WebMYTH: Bats are blind. The five-chambered cave hosts the worlds largest known colony of the Geoffroys Rousette Fruit Bat, Rousettus amplexicaudatus, with an estimated 1.82 million individuals [76]. The Adjule is also called a Bush Dog. Iban people in Sarawak, Borneo, believe that a bat flying into the house indicates a shaman bringing good vibes, conferring protection against any harm, while in Thailand, if a bat enters a house but immediately flies away, it is believed to change bad luck to good. In Madurai, worshippers of the Muni god regard Indian Flying Fox Pteropus medius, formerly Pteropus giganteus, as sacred and protect colonies for fear of heavy punishment. The police arrested 200 vigilante youth suspected of involvement in gangs that attacked persons allegedly engaged in vampirism. Although vampire bats have been known to attack humans and large animals it is usually not fatal, though it has been known to transmit rabies. Most respondents were less likely to value the importance of bats in the ecosystem, so creating a conservation education to connect people with nature is not easy.

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