Birdhouse for bats

Birdhouse for bats by Estudio Estres. Via these sites.

*Buy bird houses at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. Super Scribblenauts desktop wallpaper.

2. Algae has turned the ocean green off Southern California.

3. "Rabid vampire bats have attacked more than 500 people in Peru's Amazon, leading to the deaths of four children." Via.

*Preorder Super Scribblenauts at Amazon.

It's called a Puli

Tim Flach's portfolio is full of magnificent photographs of dogs, bats, and other creatures (and some NSFW images). I saw no information about ordering prints, but he has an art book on sale at Amazon. Via.

*Previously: Bat getting a cleaning.

*Buy Vampire Bat Acrylic Paperweights at Amazon.

Bat getting a cleaning (link roundup)

Bat and brush spotted here.

And a few more links:

1. Great photos of spiders and bridges here.

2. Thorough explanation for why City of Angels might be the worst movie ever. Here's a sample:

Meg Ryan's weird narcissistic appreciation for an invisible peeping ghost, and Nicolas Cage loves her because...one time she ate a pear? They go on a date, you see, and Nicolas Cage asks her to describe the pear she is eating, and now the movie is basically City of Pears.

3. Tumblr's super succinct sign up page compared to Posterous'.

*Previously: Vampire bat poster.

*Buy pears at Amazon and maybe you can seduce an angel.

Vampire Bat Acrylic Paperweight

Vampire Bat Acrylic Paperweight on sale for a little under $40 at Amazon.

Vampire bat poster (link roundup)

One of many posters by Wilhelm Kage on display here. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Seth Godin is a tremendous speaker, and gives interesting advice daily, but whenever he actually promotes one of his own businesses, it just seems off.

2. Comment and win at Yummy Pancake.

3. Sinestro Lego CubeDude.

*Previously: Flying bat pinata.

*Buy Sinestro toys at eBay.

Kokeshi doll by Jason Limon (link roundup)

Kokeshi doll by Jason Limon to be exhibited at a show in July at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. Here's his webstore.

And a few more links:

1. "If you can read this, then you're less dead than me." Via.

2. Shadows of the Colossus desktop wallpapers and fan art gallery. Via these sites.

3. Tucker Stone's weekly summary of The Economist. I learned that "white-nose syndrome" has killed so many bats in the Eastern United States that "at least 2.4m pounds of bugs will go uneaten."

4. Move over custom vinyl toys, here's custom backpacks.

*Previously: Chilling description of vampire bats.

*Buy Shadows of the Colossus toys at eBay.

Chilling description of vampire bats

Here's how Bill Schutt's article about vampire bats for Natural History Magazine starts:

It was on one of the first of those special feeding days that I noticed two of the white-winged vampires doing something incredible. They crawled across the floor of their feeding enclosure like a pair of spiders, and then one of the bats made a bold approach to a rather large hen. The bird cocked her head to one side, eyeing the bats. Her beak could have severely injured or even killed them, so I got ready to intervene. Sharing my concern, perhaps, one of the vampires stopped a couple of inches beyond pecking distance. The other bat, however, crept even closer, and then, amazingly, it nuzzled against the hen’s feathery breast. Instead of becoming alarmed or aggressive, the bird seemed to relax. The vampire responded by pushing itself even deeper into what I would later learn was a sensitive section of skin called the brood patch: a feather-free region, densely packed with surface blood vessels, where body heat is efficiently transferred to the hen’s eggs or to her chicks. As I watched, the hen reacted to the bat by fluffing her feathers, hunkering down—and closing her eyes.

My God, I thought, these bats have learned to mimic chicks!

Click through to read the whole thing. It's illustrated.

Relatedly, here's the website for Bill's book about real-life blood-sucking creatures, Dark Banquet.



It's currently 34% off at at Amazon.

Also, here's a rather disturbing video of a vampire bat in action.

And finally, here's a photo of vampire bat medicine:



*Previously: Vampire desktop wallpaper.

*Buy vampire toys at eBay.