Greetings, batfolk!! My guest this episode is Dr. Dina Dechmann, a Swiss ecologist that lives in Switzerland and then crosses the border to work in Germany every day at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior. Dina’s career and research has taken her all over the world, as you’ll soon learn, and the questions she’s asking have to do with bat behavior and the energetic realities that underlie them. I found myself just completely fascinated by the processes and strategies bats employ to save energy that Dina explained to me. We also talk about Kasanka National Park and the straw-colored fruit bats, how you have to know a lot about a lot in order to study bats (or at least know and collaborate with others who know a lot about which you know little), the enormous complexities of conservation, a bat that excavates and lives in termite nests with the termites still in there, and so much more. Follow Dina on Twitter at https://twitter.com/dechmannlab. Visit the Give Bats A Break Linktree https://linktr.ee/GiveBatsABreak to find ALL of the GBAB and GBAP links, including to Apple Podcasts and Podchaser where you can leave a rating and a review! Let me know what you like, what you'd like to hear, and what you think of the show, or shoot me an email at givebatsabreak@gmail.com. If you dig the song at the intro and outro, it is appropriately named "Bats" and it is by my friend and music producer MNPHST who you can find on Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/maniphest-1. Thanks for putting the podcast in your bat caves! I'm looking forward to the next time we get to Give Bats A Podcast together 🦇🎙

Greetings, batfolk!! My guest today is Dr. Melissa Ingala. Among other things, I talked to Melissa about her projects at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the American Museum of Natural History, why Nancy Simmons is such a batass (that’s b-a-t-ass, hehe), what the heck a microbiome even is and how she studies them in bats, sourcing formaldehyde and locally distilled ethanol from a seedy Peruvian street market where at least a few people have been maimed, and how I, as a plumber, am only one step removed from being a bat biologist. Follow Melissa on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bat_biomes. Visit the Give Bats A Break Linktree https://linktr.ee/GiveBatsABreak to find ALL of the GBAB and GBAP links, including to Apple Podcasts and Podchaser where you can leave a rating and a review! Let me know what you like, what you'd like to hear, and what you think of the show, or shoot me an email at givebatsabreak@gmail.com. If you dig the song at the intro and outro, it is appropriately named "Bats" and it is by my friend and music producer MNPHST who you can find on Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/maniphest-1. Thanks for putting the podcast in your bat caves! I'm looking forward to the next time we get to Give Bats A Podcast together 🦇🎙

Which came first: the vampire bat or the vampire cryptid? According to Dr. Gerry Carter, the cryptid is a cheap imitation of the real flesh-and-blood bat although the animal was technically named after the mythical creature. In this episode, among other things, we talk about Gerry's fascinating introduction to the bat world, the serendipity of two apparently disparate passions joining together, why organisms do things that benefit others at all, and what it takes to start and run a lab. Follow Gerry on Twitter https://twitter.com/gerrygcarter and go to his website https://socialbat.org for a ton of fascinating articles, blogs, and photos/videos. Visit the Give Bats A Break Linktree https://linktr.ee/GiveBatsABreak to find ALL of the GBAB and GBAP links, including to Apple Podcasts and Podchaser where you can leave a rating and a review! Let me know what you like, what you'd like to hear, and what you think of the show. Or shoot me an email at givebatsabreak@gmail.com. If you dig the song at the intro and outro, it is appropriately named "Bats" and it is by my friend and music producer MNPHST, who you can find on Soundcloud https://soundcloud.com/maniphest-1. Thanks for putting the podcast in your bat caves! I'm looking forward to the next time we get to Give Bats A Podcast together 🦇🎙

This is the first BONUS EPISODE of Give Bats A Podcast! It's just me this time talking about the phenomenal experience that is the Bat Blitz. If you're in the United States and have never participated in a Bat Blitz, listen to this episode to get a sense of what it was like through the lens of my experience. I had an absolute blast and cannot WAIT to get back into the field, meet up with the friends I've made, and catch more bats! Visit the Give Bats A Break Linktree to find ALL of the GBAB and GBAP links, including to Apple Podcasts and Podchaser where you can leave a rating and a review! Let me know what you like, what you'd like to hear, and what you think of the show. Or shoot me an email at givebatsabreak@gmail.com. If you dig the song at the intro and outro, it is appropriately named "Bats" and it is by my friend and music producer MNPHST, who you can find on Soundcloud by going here. Thanks for putting the podcast in your bat caves! I'm looking forward to the next time we get to Give Bats A Podcast together 🦇🎙

Dr. Erin Baerwald was generous enough to be my first guest and it COULD NOT HAVE BEEN BETTER. We talked about the best bat AKA the Hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus)(we also agreed that all bats are good bats and there isn't really a best bat, don't worry), wind energy, animal conservation and its difficulties, beer, some questions from one of my daughters, and generally just had a great time! If you'd like to find Dr. Baerwald on Instagram or Twitter, find her @batsborealis You can find more of Give Bats A Break on Twitter @givebatsabreak or at https://givebatsabreak.com where you can get some GBAB merch to support the show and help me bring you as much good bat content as possible! Lastly but certainly not leastly, big shoutout to my friend and music producer, Maniphest, who created the opening track for me. Listen to more of his music at his SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/maniphest-1 I appreciate every single one of you and remain, For bats and their defenders, Nate 🦇✨

Hi! Nate from Give Bats A Break here.  

When you accidentally go viral for @-ing the Pope on Twitter to correct his bad take on bats and are subsequently adopted into the global bat community, you start a podcast. At least that's what I'm doing.  

Ecologists. Zoologists. Biologists. Conservationists. Rehabilitators. Carers. Advocates.   

Bat people are probably seen less than bats, so I'm changing that by talking to them about what they do and why they do it!  

Give Bats A Podcast launches on October 1, 2021 on YouTube and on Anchor.fm, Spotify, Apple iTunes, and more!  

You can find me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/givebatsabreak