Poll: Do bats make you paranoid?

[Alpha Centauri]

No, they dont make me paranoid, they make me batty! /very bad pun

 

[Premonition]

Bats, no. a guy with a baseball bat, yes.

 

[cuddly_tomato]

Every time I am out late, in particular when walking around the Storeton Woods area, the sky is filled with these little fuzzy critters swooping around and going "zzEEEk, zzEEEk". The thing is that they seem to want to play chicken with my face. In they come, swooping down, telling me that "zzEEEk, zzEEEk" as they do so, making me duck and dive around the place like some idiot. Maybe they think it's funny, but I fail to see the amusement factor in harassing fellow travellers on the road. Or maybe they are getting back at a human being for our wrecking of the bat population over the years. Whatever the case, they are annoying as buggery.

Do they ever give anyone else here trouble?

Are you kidding?

I LOVE BATS!

They're such a unique species, they're SOO cute, and they get rid of mosquitoes by the stomachfull, which is award-worthy where I live. We have so many mosquito breeds that they have an annual convention on mosquito diversity in my yard. With me as the buffet.

I build houses for them, train my cat to ignore them, and love it when they use me as a roost for a second or two.

so to reiterate: I LOVE BATS!

I think they are cute and cuddly too. I just don't want them landing on my face. They actually buzz me, making passes and little dive bombing attacks.

In England!? Where do you live? I'm in Essex, Cambridge, and occasionally Leicester, and I've never seen a wild bat in my life. And I'm nocturnal too.

EDIT: I've looked up Storeton, and it's your own fault for living that close to Wales, it's not natural.

Essex is a concrete jungle isn't it? We have a fair amount of trees and woodland around here. Trees and woodland mean moths. Moths mean bats. Take a walk outdoors in some woodland after dusk and you'll see them trust me. They are almost as numerous as birds around Storeton Woods.

I wasn't but I a a bit wary of them now thanks to below story.
I opened my curtains at night as something was making a sound and I got hit in the chest by one. It was a nice surprise at 5am, let me tell you.

This is what I am talking about.

Their sonar seems to be great for getting moths, but it sucks at human avoidance, or maybe there are just some incompetant or drunk bats around. When you get whammed by a wild animal out of the blue it's a shock to the system.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

I cought one in a butterfly net when I was 6. My mom was freaking out!

 

[The Heik]

Every time I am out late, in particular when walking around the Storeton Woods area, the sky is filled with these little fuzzy critters swooping around and going "zzEEEk, zzEEEk". The thing is that they seem to want to play chicken with my face. In they come, swooping down, telling me that "zzEEEk, zzEEEk" as they do so, making me duck and dive around the place like some idiot. Maybe they think it's funny, but I fail to see the amusement factor in harassing fellow travellers on the road. Or maybe they are getting back at a human being for our wrecking of the bat population over the years. Whatever the case, they are annoying as buggery.

Do they ever give anyone else here trouble?

Are you kidding?

I LOVE BATS!

They're such a unique species, they're SOO cute, and they get rid of mosquitoes by the stomachfull, which is award-worthy where I live. We have so many mosquito breeds that they have an annual convention on mosquito diversity in my yard. With me as the buffet.

I build houses for them, train my cat to ignore them, and love it when they use me as a roost for a second or two.

so to reiterate: I LOVE BATS!

I think they are cute and cuddly too. I just don't want them landing on my face. They actually buzz me, making passes and little dive bombing attacks.

In England!? Where do you live? I'm in Essex, Cambridge, and occasionally Leicester, and I've never seen a wild bat in my life. And I'm nocturnal too.

EDIT: I've looked up Storeton, and it's your own fault for living that close to Wales, it's not natural.

Essex is a concrete jungle isn't it? We have a fair amount of trees and woodland around here. Trees and woodland mean moths. Moths mean bats. Take a walk outdoors in some woodland after dusk and you'll see them trust me. They are almost as numerous as birds around Storeton Woods.

I wasn't but I a a bit wary of them now thanks to below story.
I opened my curtains at night as something was making a sound and I got hit in the chest by one. It was a nice surprise at 5am, let me tell you.

This is what I am talking about.

Their sonar seems to be great for getting moths, but it sucks at human avoidance, or maybe there are just some incompetant or drunk bats around. When you get whammed by a wild animal out of the blue it's a shock to the system.

Actually there's are reasons for bats swooping so close. First, insects are generally attracted to heat, and if anyone has seen the Matrix, human beings are like giant heating coils. As bats eat insects, they swoop close to people because there's effectively a bat buffet flying around you.

Second, the human form is a sonar nightmare. There are so many parts moving at once that the bat's sonar comes back as a haze. It is akin to seagulls on the radar, where if enough of them are up the radar is completely foggy. So considering the first point I made, the bats are very likely to run into you. It's thankful that they're so small and try to slow down before they hit, else they would hurt a lot.