Liminality aside, many of these myths have obvious roots in the real features of bats. Micro-batswhich include the smaller, familiar snub-nosed batsmainly hunt by echolocation. At the end of the story, Tjinimin hangs upside-down in a tree to admire the stars and decides never to try having sex with anyone againwhereupon his nose falls off. Should the bat stay and eat the fruit in the house, bad luck will befall the owner [27]. An artist's depiction of the Adjule or Bush Dog. Belief in myths seemed to prevail among those surveyed. Bats use a form of echolocation to navigate in the dark and to find their prey. But now, increased access to habitats supplied by roads created by logging companies and modern equipment such as shotguns and fishing nets, has resulted in far larger numbers being killed. Muslims and Seventh Day Adventists did not consume bat meat. Photo credit: [7] Roy Kabanlit creative commonsWikimedia https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode. In fact, around a fifth of all mammals on Earth are bats! From this duality and strangeness evolved a reputation of duplicity and threat, appearing as neither one thing nor the other. An idea that reflected their ability to fly around so quickly in the dark without hitting anything. Nowadays, of course, we know that vampires are not real and neither is the ability to turn into a bat. 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. Therefore, instead of coming out and feeding in daylight he began to feed at night. American Indian legends and the fables of Aesop were more than just stories recited around the campfire or bathhouse: they were teaching devices. Strangely perhaps, given its poor press in Europe, carrying the dried and powdered heart of a bat in your front pocket was supposed to protect you from bleeding to death and later to stop bullets. One clan of the Cakchiquel Maya, of the highlands of Guatemala, was named the Zotzil (=belonging to the bat), whose deity was a bat. It is the largest New World bat with a yard wingspan. 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. The basic scenario is that, in a battle between the beasts and birds, the bat repeatedly changes allegiance so as to be on the side that appears to be winning. While some cultures see bats as a harbinger of death, others believe that the creature holds the key to eternal life. Bat Conservation International 2023. A bat-headed figure from Costa Rica made by pre-Colombian Diquis people sometimes between 700 and 1530AD. In Malawi, negative bat superstitions caused recently quite disproportionate behavior when rural people in southern parts of the country killed nine people accusing them to be vampire bats [23]. Even worse have been the vandalism and wanton destruction of bats and their habitat in North America. Test your knowledge with the "Myth or Fact" image sliders below. Commentdocument.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a5fde012108c6f81a46adcd8fa31b17e" );document.getElementById("ebd2ec4c6f").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Gordon is an ecologist with two degrees from Exeter University. Upset at his death, and possibly the ruining of the soup, she went straight to the king. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode. It is also noted that bat tourism has a potential to conserve bat populations while providing social and economic benefits to local people in host communities. People would sometimes even burn down whole colonies of bats because they thought that this would stop the spread of disease. Subcategories. First he filled a large pot with warm water which he told his friend was boiling. 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. Myth or Fact: Bats are Just Mice with Wings (slide to the left for answer) Text Description for Image Slider Bats can be found practically everywhere on the planet, including most parts of the United States. I am a bird. 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]. Zteve has two websites dedicated to myths, legends and folklore from around the world. 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. Bat Flying foxs emergence time is believed in Myanmar to indicate the weather: an early or no emergence foretells a coming storm. He told her he would make some tasty soup like Emiong had taught him for when she returned. This North American bat-like depiction should come as no surprise; it is merely another manifestation of the fear, horror, and superstition with which bats have been regarded down through ages [64]. Throughout Southeast Asia, bats are associated with luck and good fortune and used as spiritual totems [6, 27]. In some versions of the myth, the old mice would climb to the top of a tall tree, and when they reached the highest branches, their tails would detach and grow into wings. Now that we have looked at some of the most popular bat myths from around the globe, lets take a look at some of the superstitions that people have about these creatures. Photo credit: Masteraah. Apaches tell a different tale about bats. The Greek philosopher Chaerephon was called the bat, because he, like the animal, did not appear by day but instead hid and philosophized. A noctule bat Nyctalus noctula, a long-eared bat Plecotus auritus, a Natters bat Myotis nattereri and a Daubentons bat Myotis daubentonii. There exists a widespread belief in Southeast Asia that eating bat meat cures asthma [27]. Kill the bat before it escapes, and everyone will be safe. Participation by local people is vital to achieving successful conservation programs [35]. In Malaysia, ethnic Han Chinese, non-Muslim indigenous groups, and ethnic Malays hunt flying foxes and trade them to the Chinese [27]. Samoans said that flying foxes were cheeky and courageous, making it a popular tattoo motif [48]. There are several instances where bats were killed in large numbers. By making research easy to access, and puts the academic needs of the researchers before the business interests of publishers. WebSpirits African mythology is filled with spirits, invisible beings with powers for good or evil. Bats are very social animals and often live in colonies of hundreds or even thousands of individuals. In China, the bat is a symbol of happiness and good luck and its image is found in art and crafts expressing this. It is estimated that the current population of most Australian species of Pteropidae is less than 20% of what it was 100 years ago. Why Bat (goddess Large-bodied old-world fruit bats, like this Egyptian fruit bat Rousettus aegyptiacus, are disproportionally targeted to be hunted for bushmeat. more information Accept. These gods and goddesses are some of the more well-known in Africa yet some of the lesser known by people of the the rest of the world. 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. Bat meat is widely consumed because it is considered more delicious than other types of meat. People in Vanuatu consider Pacific Flying Fox Pteropus tonganus as their ancestor and claim to be able to communicate with them [46]. This Order name means hand-wing as the bats can hold food between their forearms. We explore the role that bats play in traditional narratives and the likely reasons for their salience, including their connections with the extraordinary and supernatural. Sometimes, as with the myth, it leaves a trademark two-pronged bite on the victim. GET INVOLVED! African Cryptids: 9 Mysterious Monsters of Africa In Pudukkottai, roosting P. medius is seen as the guardian of the sacred groves, and in Bihar, that bat brings wealth. The myth states that a mouse came into a church and stole one of the wafers of the eucharistand then decided to keep it rather than eat it. To date, ethnobiological information regarding bats in Africa has mainly focused on utilitarian aspects of bats as food and medicine, whereas knowledge concerning symbolism and beliefs surrounding bats in that continent has not been assembled, apart from ancient Africa [18], Ghana [19, 20], Kenya [21], and Madagascar [22]. 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. The number of Bats seen also has meaning. People sometimes think of them as blind, bloodthirsty flying mice. Africa. is eaten in Laos. While the three species of true vampire bats (common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus, hairy-legged vampire bat Diphylla ecaudata, and white-winged vampire bat Diaemus youngi) are microbats, measuring just a few centimeters in length, it was the exaggerated reports from early explorers and adventurers that gave the public the image of these huge bloodsucking creatures. Nearly another third reported actively killing bats or destroying bat roosts, and most respondents associated bats with the destruction of farmers fruits, especially mangoes. In England, they also say that when someone is a little insane, they have bats in the belfry. Bats are also considered as wild exotic meat, which is widely consumed in urban areas. This is bound to threaten the continued existence of local bat populations. Generally, the Maya revered a Vampire Bat god, Camazotz, the death bat, which killed dying men on their way to the center of the earth [51, 52]. On the other hand, the body fat of Indian Flying Fox is used to make massage oil to cure rheumatic pains, while drinking water from a bats wing is said to sharpen ones memory [30]. HUN BATZ Their prayers were answered, but only in part; they were given teeth, hair, and human faces, but otherwise remained bird-like. Bat This suggests that the Asia-Pacific region and its cultures contain far more positive associations with bats than most European or American societies and, as such, offer promising examples and opportunities to promote human-bat coexistence. Males are called Kelb-el-khela, and females are called Tarhst. This category has the following 7 subcategories, out of 7 total. All rights reserved. Over half of the students (57%) did not know anybody in their neighborhood who would hunt bats. The flying fox obtained his wings when he borrowed them from the rat and refused to return them. However, in post-Christian Europe, the bats propensity of flying at night led to its association with the devil. In Indonesia, farmers in South Sulawesi believe that flying foxes roosting near their rice fields guarantee a good harvest [27]. A world without bats would look very different than the one you know and not for the better. Although they live near humans and are common, it appears that some of the species have not been described and given scientific names [17]. In Madagascar, the exploitation of bats for bush meat regularly takes place during periods of food shortage, especially fruit bats, which are heavily hunted. Photo credit: Stan Delone creative commonWikimedia. Samoan folklore tells of a similar origin for bats. BATS IN FOLKLOREpart six, the conclusion to a series on bats in North American and European folklore. Fruit-eating bats such as Jamaican fruit bat Artibeus jamaicensis loves feeding on guavas, which is also the favorite food of the Taino spirits of the dead. It is at this time when the veil between this world and the otherworld was believed to thin and a state of liminality existed. Bats are also seen as useful in Iran, India, and Pakistan because people are collecting bat guano as a natural fertilizer. With Gods permission, He fashioned the winged likeness of a bat from clay and breathed life into it. To date our community has made over 100 million downloads. On all occasions, the bats were able to escape without becoming entangled. Photo credit to creative commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode. In many parts of Indonesia, people specifically consume bats livers and hearts as medicine [39]. Bats were also persecuted because they were believed to be carriers of disease. Among the Ibibio people of southern Nigeria, bats are associated with witchcraft, and for any bat to fly into a house and touch a person is a sure sign that this person is thereafter bewitched and will soon perish because his or her heart is eaten at night while he or she sleeps. 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. In its entire history, the state of New York has recorded only one case of bat-transmitted rabies [64]. Home > 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]. Decapitating bat demons appears in various myths in Amazonia and to the south in northern Argentina. One reason not to kill bats is that female bats have breasts and are mothers like human females [25]. The Rompo is a common South African mythical creatures believed to exist. As such, they would place a bat on the ground, point its head towards the sky, and wait for raindrops to fall on its back. Here, using documented narratives, surveys, popular literature, and cinema, we will explore the various myths, legends, and attitudes to bats from around the world. The first sighting was reported in 1928 by Thodore Monod. 1. The bat flew to a nearby cave, but each evening it emerged at sunset, telling Jesus that it was time to take food [see Bats and the Netherworld, BATS, Summer 1993; also, see this same article for the converse notion that the devil created bats.). I am a mouse, not a bird! The weasel looked at the bat and agreed it was a mouse and released it. The experiment was repeated several times with the same results [16]. Despite positive associations toward bats, they are widely consumed as food and medicine throughout Asia, except in Brunei and Singapore. We are a community of more than 103,000 authors and editors from 3,291 institutions spanning 160 countries, including Nobel Prize winners and some of the worlds most-cited researchers. Public domain. Archaeological evidence suggests that before the coming of Europeans, flying foxes were not often used as food by the Australian Aborigines. Bat dung placed over a door opening prevented disease carrying demons from entering. Bat Mythology There is a strong association between bats and death. Similarly, fishermen in the Philippines consider mangrove roosting flying foxes to be guardians of their fishing grounds and to increase fish and shellfish catch [27]. Han Chinese people attach positive esthetic values to bats but may still hunt bats at unsustainable levels [72]. It is not just their physical form that makes bats a curiosity. Bats are also revered throughout India. When soup was placed before Oyot it was as good and tasty as ever but it was from a different batch the bat had prepared early. 9. Unquestionably, they are strange creatures, appearing as half animal and half bird, like something from a nightmare world. Open Access is an initiative that aims to make scientific research freely available to all. On Mochica pottery, a bat is depicted with the Sweetsop Annona squamosa, a common fruit also known as Sugar Apple or Pinha, the seeds of which are dispersed by bats [51, 52]. They were believed to destroy trees and damage fruits in gardens. There are more than 1,300 bat species! Therefore, they would only come out at night, spending the daylight hours praying to be transformed back into birds. Bat Myths and Folktales from Around the World A bat flying into a building means that is going to rain. They are hugely beneficial to man and play a major role in the well-being of the worlds ecosystems. The rat now tries to retaliate by climbing tees and eating the flying foxes young, and this is why flying foxes carry their pups with them. Bats in Myth and Legend 945ontwerp / Getty Images In Nagaland between 7000 and 25,000 cave-dwelling bats (Cave Nectar Bat Eonycteris spelaea, Great Roundleaf Bat Hipposideros armiger, and Leschenaults Rousette Rousettus leschenaultii) have been annually harvested until recently [73]. Another piece of bat folklore from the Americas includes the Maya believing that the House of the Bat was one of the areas that the soul had to pass through on its way to the land of Death. In North America, education has had some effect as more people have started to understand how useful bats truly are and how few cases of bat-born rabies transmission to humans there have been in the United States and Canada. By using a million dollars annually to educate the public about the dangers of bat-caused rabies in humans simply exacerbates the already unreasonable fears, which many people have of bats. In the sandstone caves of Northern Australia, the Northern Territory, and Queensland, there are numerous depictions of flying foxes, some dating back tens of thousands of years. The duality of bats is mentioned in one of Aesops Fables, which tells how a bat fell to the ground and was pounced on by a weasel. Do you know the difference between fact and fiction when it comes to bats? Folklore from Fiji, in the South Pacific, tells us that flying foxes originated when a rat stole the wings of a heron, while another Fijian tale relates that it was the rat that first had wings while flying foxes walked on four legs. In Africa, bats were credited with high intelligence. Sometimes a Mochica bat carries a warclub and a small human captive. Photo credit: Uwe Schmidt. 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. Half of the students knew that bats are mammals, but 26% believed them to be birds, some thought of them being amphibians (12%) or reptiles (11%); 37% disliked the bats, and 27% liked them remaining seeing them as indifferent. Recommended for you. (Above is from a variety of African mythology not just Sub-Saharan, but it's also the tiniest fraction of it) Usually, it is regarded as a bad omen even if seen in a dream. Company registered in England & Wales, no. Then he jumped into it and sat in it for a while and then climbed out. The Moche people in Peru were aware of the connection between bats and plants. But it became obvious that the public attitude toward bats has still not been investigated extensively enough throughout the world, namely in contemporary Africa, America, Australia, and Europe. Because mountains obscured the western sky, Jesus could not tell when the sun set. In Africa, bats were credited with high intelligence. By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. Just over one-third of the respondents (36%) did not see any benefits of bats to humans. Bats are interesting animals and have been a part of human culture for a long time. More than 1,200 species are currently recognized, and many are enormously abundant. When his wife returned she saw the pot was still boiling and no sign of her husband. In Jamaica, the bat and the owl were very important symbols in Taino mythology and death. Bats play an important role in the ecosystem by eating large quantities of insects. Montfort bat cave entrance in the Philippines with the numerous Geoffroys Rousette fruit bats Rousettes amplexicaudatus. The study concluded that conservation-related education should be included in the school curriculum to ensure that students would appreciate not only the importance of bats but of all wildlife [26]. In Indonesia, Iban people in Kalimantan also hunt fruit bats for consumption, and mainly Christian people in North Sulawesi regularly eat flying foxes (Black Flying Fox Pteropus alecto and Sulawesi Fruit Bat Acerodon celebensis) especially during the Christmas season [38, 39]. In other parts of the world, fruit bats are occasionally hunted in small numbers. Especially when the bats preferred natural resources have been logged out of existence and replanted as a monoculture. In 1332, a French noblewoman, Lady Jacaume of Bayonne [12], was publicly burned to death as a witch because crowds of bats were seen about her house and garden., William Shakespeare (15641616) also equated bats with witches, spells, and curses. Bat myths Bats have been present in folklore and myth for quite some time. Brief introduction to this section that descibes Open Access especially from an IntechOpen perspective, Want to get in touch? It is merely a passing reference, along with moles, to represent animals that live with things that have been discarded. They have wings and fly like birds (actually, in many ways better than birds). WebTraditional Navajo folklore places the origin of bats in the earliest world, when all was dark: twelve insects and the bat revolved in darkness. Bats prefer a variety of daytime hideaways, including rock crevices, caves, old buildings, mines, bridges, and trees.
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