The clown fish constantly swims within the long stringy tentacles of the sea anenome. It poses as food for bigger fish that hungrily swim in, only to get grabbed by the ananemone’s tentacles and eaten up by the anemone. The clown fish eats the leftovers. The feces of the Clown Fish also fertilizes the anemone (thanks, buddy!).

 In Chinese culture, bats are seen as good luck. Part of the Chinese the word for bat, bianfu–”Fu”–sounds the same as a word that means “Good luck”.

The natives of the Fijian island of Matangi believe that a bat hero called Toba Fu showed them how to make fire and knowledge vital for their survival.

In a legend of the Toba people in northern Argentina, their very first leader was a bat who taught them everything they needed to know.

Are the recurrences of “Toba” and “Fu” sounds in reference to bats, or people who revere bats, an amazing coincidence or what? There have been some theories of Fijians of ancient times landing on the shores of South America in boats.

[According to what seems to be modern myth overwhelmingly discarded by scholars, Chinese Explorer Zheng He explored the shores of the world, including Fiji and the Americas, in "junks" -- huge Chinese ships -- before the ominous and sinister arrival of bloody and murderous thief Christopher Columbus to the Americas.]

The Native American Hopi people see bats as protectors. In one legend, the bat is a hero who rescues a girl is being attacked by a violent man.

In Mexio, Tzotzil Maya people in the province of Chiapas hold a high esteem for bats. Zotzil means “bat people”. Zinacantan, their traditional capital city, means “place of the bat”. They recognize bats as protectors of Earth’s creatures and plants.

The Robber Fly

The female robber fly is likely to attack her mate, so courtship is perilous. Some male robber flies deal with this by presenting their prospective partner with a small insect such as a midge wrapped in silk, then will mate with her while she unwraps and consumes her present.

Provide your lady with nicely wrapped gifts so she’ll be happy and not bite your head off.

Grasshoppers

Grasshoppers are solitary and come together just for mating. But, under certain circumstances in crowded conditions their physical form and color changes and they become a swarming horde of locusts.

Normally harmless individuals go crazy after they’ve joined up with a mob.

Assassin Bugs

Various assassin bugs look much like the prey they feed on. Some use paralyzing venom as a liquid projectile.

Don’t assume that someone who seems similar to you is a friend.

Damselfly

The male damselfly performs a fluttering aerial dance while facing his mate, after which she will usually consent to mate with him.

A gentleman might consider performing a Full Monty routine to impress
the ladies.

When the Female cuckoo catfish of Africa is ready to have babies, it finds another mommy fish to take care of them! As a female cichlid fish releases her eggs, the African catfish will release eggs at the same time and mix them up with the cichlid’s eggs. The cochlid scoops all the eggs up including the catfish’s and raises them all. And the sneaky mommy catfish just goes off and plays while the cichlid fish does all the work of making babies!

 Darwin long noticed that flowers were matched with living creatures that pollinated them. In Madagascar he noticed star orchids with very long passages to their nectar, about 30 cm in length. Darwin asserted that there must be a giant moth with a proboscis – sort of like a drinking straw— long enough to reach the nectar. People laughed at him for saying this, but 41 years after his death, the moth that pollinates the star orchid was discovered. It has a super-long proboscis, just as Darwin predicted. Darwin was right, as usual.

Do you like chocolate? Do you eat bananas, figs, or mangos? Or avocadoes (or guacamole sauce)? Have you ever had a date square? Do you ever munch on cashews or walnuts? Drink Tequila? Or chew gum? All of these foods wouldn’t exist without bats, because they pollinate or otherwise help the plants that produce these fruits, nuts, and other food products! Pollen fertilizes eggs inside the flower, so the flower can produce fruit with seeds that can grow into new plants.

When a bat pokes its head into flower blossoms to drink nectar, pollen sticks all over the bat’s face and body. Some of the pollen on stuck on bat’s little face, head, chin, and chest will rub off on the next flower that it feeds on. This helps the plants, making it possible to grow fruit. The nectar provides bats with energy. Later, the bat licks the pollen of his fur to clean itself, and gets protein from the pollen!

We all hate to be on the receiving end of bigotry, whether its due to our appearance, choice of professions, or religion. Much as we hate experiencing bigotry, few of us defend noble beings — bats — though they greatly enhance our lives in magnificient ways that we probably can never be fully aware of, yet they are victims of discrimation, abuse, and even genocide at the hands of human beings. Look at the ugly and unfair depictions of bats in popular culture. The ancient Maya worshipped bats (and hummingbirds too); so should we.

Bats are closely related to primates; some scientists even classify them as such. Bats even talk to each other! We are primates. but bats can fly! Flying monkeys? They have hands just like us, with the same bones, though theirs are proportionately bigger and serve as wings.

Consider helping bats, since, after all, they help you in very many ways. Find out more at:

http://www.batworld.org/
http://www.batrescue.org/
http://www.batworld.org/adopt-a-bat-now/
http://www.batcon.org/home/default.asp