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National Geographic : 1973 May
Contents
MORMOOPSMEGALOPHYLLA, 2 1/2 INCHES the razor-sharp incisors between them open the shallow wounds necessary to secure its sustenance: about a tablespoonful of blood a day. This one-ounce creature, flying low to locate cattle, circles its prey for several minutes before landing to feed. No vampires reside in Transylvania-Dracula's fictional haunt in central Rumania; all live in the New World tropics. And they are more timid than intimidating. "In captivity they're so shy," says the author, "that if I even swallow while near them, they stop feeding." PLECOTUSTOWNSENDII,2 1/2 INCHES TADARIDABRASILIENSISMEXICANA,2 1/4 INCHES 9 An elegant moustache adorns the upper lip of a funnel-eared bat (7). Here it opens its mouth slightly, beeping to "see" an intruder. "When you enter a cave," says the author, "these bats, hanging by one foot, will twist back and forth to survey you with their sonar." The better to hear its pulses echoing from insects on the ground, the Western big-eared bat (8) unfurls ears almost as long as its body. Asleep, it coils them like ram's horns. A rare genetic variation of the Mexican freetail (9) hangs amid normally colored roostmates in a Texas cave. 6 AND 7 BY BRUCEDALE;ALL OTHERS ON PAGES 619-20BY ROBERTW. MITCHELL MYOTISVELIFER,2 INCHES DESMODUSROTUNDUS,3 INCHES 7 NATALUSMICROPUS,I 1/2 INCHES 620 PIPISTRELLUSSUBFLAVUS,1 3/4 INCHES TAvnAI MACROTIS, 2 3/4 INCHn
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