Mothers and Pups

A mother bat carries her pup until it is too heavy to cling to her. Then she must leave it to roost in the "nursery colony" while she flies at night to find food.

"She places her baby in a cluster of other young bats, where it stays until she returns several hours later. When the mother comes back to the cave, she calls out to her youngster. Each bat has its own distinctive sound, and a mother bat is able to recognize her baby's cry even when there are hundreds of other bats nearby. When the mother bat gets close to her baby, she smells it carefully to make sure that it is hers. After letting her pup nurse, she cleans and grooms it."
-- From BAT by Caroline Arnold

This month we use our counting song as a way of exploring different places the bat pup would be roosting while mama is away.

One little, two little, three little bat pups...
roosting in a CAVE.
roosting in a BARN.
roosting in an ATTIC.

We also sing this song to Frere Jacques while pretending to be a zookeeper holding a bat (remember to emphasize to NEVER, EVER touch a real bat, that a zookeeper is specially trained for this!)...

Bats are sleeping.
Bats are sleeping,
Upside down.
Upside down.
Sleeping in the daytime.
Sleeping in the daytime.
Waiting for the nighttime.
Waiting for the nighttime.
To Fly Around.
To Fly Around.

As the world's ONLY flying mammal, bats are truly amazing, beautiful creatures!

Photo courtesy of David Wilbanks. Thanks, David!