The Cuban Bat Thing

No this is not about the Cuban baseball thing again.

A few years ago, before his passing, my father came over to my little hole of an office all excited.  He said that a bird had gotten into the house and was flying around the living room.  That bird turned out to be a bat.  A little brown bat to be exact.

How this little creature got inside the house is still a mystery.  But here’s the thing.  The other night I was watching some late night Hulu TV from my now well worn easy chair.  The house was dark except for the light being emitted from the TV screen.  It was hot, and the huge AC in the dinning room was not helping.  So Barney (my dog) and the boys (my two cats) were just laying on the cool stone tiles by the front door.

As usual, my stereo was pumping out the volume on the TV. Above the din I heard or felt a whisp of air.  I looked up and there it was.  A bat was flying in my living room again.  Barney and the boys heard it as well and instantly went into action.  Somehow one of the cats leaped up and brought the little bat down.  Barney and the other cat quickly surrounded the little creature.

Before the boys could do any harm, I quickly grabbed a towel from the bathroom and tossed it on the bat.  I picked up the little bundle and with the boys in tow I went out to the deck and shook the towel furiously.  The bat disappeared into the night.

So I’ll bet your asking yourself what does bats have to do with Cuba, right?  Well I’m always digging for information about Cuban Things and as it so happens I came across some very interesting information regarding the Cuban Bat Thing.

Bats are by far the most numerous of all mammals.  There are over 27 species in Cuba alone.  The many caves of Cuba are home to many of these bats.  One can come across some species hanging from trees or in old abandoned structures during the day.  As amatter of fact, the logo for Bacardi rum is a bat.  The reason being that the first building where the rum was distilled was filled with bats.

There are no vampire bats in Cuba. Most of the Cuban species are frutivores or insectivores.
The best known Cuban bat, found in the area near Baracoa is the Butterfly bat. They belong to the Vespertilionidae family or evening bats.  They have a wingspan of just 5 inches and have an average weight of 3 grams. At one time it was thought to be the world’s smallest bat until recently when the Phillipine Bamboo Bat was discovered weighing in at 1.5 grams.

It seems that many of Cuba’s animals have evolved into the smallest species in the world.  There is the “pájaro mosca” the smallest known bird, the sapito, the smallest known amphibian and the Bee Hummingbird is the smallest bird in the world. This is attributed to the islands size and distance from other countries in the region.

I never found out how these bats got into the house, but I found a great site about bats and their environment called Bat Houses For Sale.  So I got a bat house and attached it to my garage.  I hope that this will keep the liitle critters out of the house and in theirs.  So far I haven’t seen any, but it does take a while.  Hopefully by next summer I will have a nice size colony and an insect free yard.

Other articles you might like;

• Tweets that mention Bacardi And The Cuba Libre Thing | My Cuban Thing -- Topsy.com
• My Almost Castro Cuban Connection Thing | My Cuban Thing | Cuba today
• Tweets that mention The Cuban Baseball Thing | My Cuban Thing -- Topsy.com