Toothless Bat Recovers at Queensland Home Following Adverse Weather Conditions
A toothless bat looking for food and shelter in Queensland, Australia, was being well looked after, footage shared on June 29 shows.
The footage was posted online by Queensland-based Denise Wade, who has been caring for injured baby bats for more than a decade.
In the video, the bat – named Kevin – can be seen wrapped in a blanket while eating a banana as Wade explains that he was observed crawling into a home presumably to find shelter from the cold and “limited food availability.”
Wade described Kevin as being a “gummy bear” – a term used for older bats missing their teeth – and said current conditions were difficult for the flying mammals. “There’s a lot of competition for valuable food,” she said.
“Kevin’s been around the block a few times. He’s had a few adventures in his life and he’s missing a thumb,” she added, and said Kevin would be taken care of until he built his strength back.
Wade regularly shares updates on the animals to her Batzilla the Bat YouTube and Facebook pages. Credit: Batzilla the Bat via Storyful
Video Transcript
- So this is Kevin. And this little bat, sort of rescued him a couple of nights ago.
[WET CHEWY SOUNDS]
We don't really know why he did what he did, but he ended up flying into somebody's house--
[BAT SQUEAKS]
--and was trying to climb their furniture. So he may have zigged when he should have zagged. But it's been-- it's really difficult here at the moment. It's cold. There's nothing flowering. There's some figs out there, but there's a lot of competition for available food. Yes, there you go. So they're taking a lot more risks than they normally would.
But Kevin's been around the block a few times. And he's a local boy. He's only a couple of streets from us. And he's had a few big adventures in his life. Apart from the fact he's got absolutely not a tooth in his head, so he's an old gummy bear.
And he's also lost a thumb. And I'd lose a thumb if I went anywhere near that face, wouldn't I? You can see he's missing a thumb there. He's not fond of me, no. I don't know if you can see that or not. Can we have a look at you some, Kev? Yeah, we'll just have a quick look.
Anyway, he's managing perfectly fine. It's an old injury. There you go. It's an old injury. He's really doing well without it. He's learned to adapt. Who knows what happened to it? Misadventure somewhere. So he'll be with us for a little while.
We're not releasing at the moment because things are so bad out there. Bats are staying in feed trees through the day, which is not a good thing. And they're starting to try and eat lemons, which is a last ditch food. So we really need some decent flowering, some fruiting. We need spring to come, don't we, Kevin? Spring to spring.
But in the meantime, he'll be in care. When things improve, and when he's ready to go, he'll be released back to the wild. And thank you so much to the homeowners who called him in. Lovely people. Please call in any bat by itself through the day. It's in trouble, and it needs help. Help save a life. Thank you.
