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False vampire bats. That is such a cool name. Sorry I can't get over that. When we go into the teeth, obviously it's a little scary. Aren't you worried about rabies? If you get bitten, we'd get you to the hospital immediately. Did you just get bit? Oh my gosh, you really got bit. What's going on guys? Right now we are in Peru in the Amazon rainforest and I'm here with Chris Ketola with Wilderness International.
Chris is a field researcher and one of his areas of expertise is bats. Chris, are you going to show us some cool bats tonight? - I definitely going to show you some cool bats tonight. - And like how close can we get to these bats? - How about right my hand? Is that okay with you? - You're going to get hands on with some bats. - Yeah. Well, we're going to use this really special type of net called a mist net.
Okay. And that's going to let us get them in our hands and learn even more about them. All right. Well, you're the expert. Show us how it's done. Let's go. All right. We've got a five trap system tonight and they're spread out probably about a hundred yards a piece. And that means Chris is going to be running back and forth all night long, covering about 500 yards of traps. The prime time for bat catching lasts about two hours. So right now the goal is to catch as many bats as we can. I think it's going to be pretty chaotic, but I got to say, I think it's also going to be really exciting.
Wow, it's really sticky. Easy. I mean, look at that. It's like caught my finger. We're trying to hurry up because if we don't, the bats can actually break free of the traps and they can leave with that netting on them. So we don't want that to happen. We want to get the bats as quickly as possible. Oh, we have three bats. Holy moly. Wow. - A little bit angry. I won't blame you. I would be too. - Once a bat is netted, Chris carefully places it into a soft cloth bag. Having spent years studying bats, he's passionate about these misunderstood animals and takes great care to ensure each one is safely processed and then quickly released.
- This is soft, soft, soft cotton, so it's not going to hurt the bat at all. And we're going to run up and we're going to get the next one. - All right, cool. - And this is the excitement of bats. - Next bat, let's go. What's your record in terms of how many bats in a night? I - Think in Peru it's about 90 in one night. - 90 bats in one night. - Yeah, 90. - Wow. Chris does this every single day he's out here in the field. It really puts it into focus how hard the frontline efforts of conservation and research are.
- There's one, I think. Yeah. Oh my God, this is a testicus. This is so cool. Oh my God. I haven't caught one of these in a long time. I'm super stoked. Oh my God, this is incredible. I'm really excited for this bat. - Now we're headed to trap five. Apparently there's a much bigger bat. This is our final trap of the string. That is huge. - Okay, this is so cool. This is the second biggest carnivorous bat in all Latin America.
This is incredible. I think Brave Wilderness brought the luck with this bat. This is super cool. - All right, so here is the final net that we have to take down. Then it's time to hit the table. Yeah, absolutely. We've had a pretty amazing night. - Okay. - So let's close this up, get it all taken down and get started looking at these bats. With 10 bats in the bag, Chris made his way over to the research table where each bat will be identified, measured, and documented. Of all the bats we caught tonight, these were some of my favorites. Wow. Chris, seriously man, that is so impressive that you do this day in and day out. Is this a good night?
- Yeah, this is a great night. Not only is it a lot, but it's some really cool species as well. I guess the best thing to do is just get started and here we go. Let's see some bats. Here we go. All right, so I'm going to give a little more light so we can see - This one. Oh wow, wow. Here we - Go. - Oh my gosh. - Really pretty, right? So this is a - - Is that bat smiling? - It kind of looks like - It is. I think that bat's smiling at us guys.
- Kind of looks like it. You - Know you're on camera. - So this is a great fruiting bat and you see this little thing on the end of the nose, right? - Looks like a leaf. - Yeah, exactly. That's what it's called is a nose leaf. What they use that for is their echolocation. They actually use it to focus the echolocation when it's coming out of their nostrils. So it doesn't come out of their mouth, it comes out of their nostrils.
These guys fly, they're the only mammals that fly. And this skin is one of the major adaptations that lets them do that. So it's incredible. One should actually feel what this wing's like, okay? Now before you touch it, don't to be too worried. You're not going to hurt it. This skin is very tough. - Whoa. It's almost like a rubberized flesh. Yeah, like a balloon. - Yeah. - Rigt? - Yeah, - Yeah.That's - Amazing. And this is one of the larger fruit bats you can find in this area. And this bat actually eats, in particular, a type
of fruit called an ironwood fruit. - The Ironwood trees are really important to this forest. They're some of the tallest trees out here. - Yeah, some of the tallest and some of the oldest. They can live over a thousand years. Wow. Which is kind of hard to imagine, right? - Wow. - And of course with the work we do here at Wilderness International to protect the forest, we help ensure that these trees are here and these bats are here. So it's a really good sign to see a bat like this in this forest.
- So you heard it guys. No bats, no trees. - Yeah, exactly. - Hey, did you know that this rainforest in Peru has been officially named Brave Wilderness? That's right. Our partners at Wilderness International have officially secured this land. And if you like this video, you now too can own a piece of the Amazon and protect some of the most important wildlife and trees on the planet forever. For just $1, you can protect one square meter of this beautiful forest. And if you take just a few moments to click the link in the description, you can learn how you can etch your name into history as someone who stood for nature and all of its wildlife by growing the Brave Wilderness Forest right here in the Amazon.
- You guys ready for the release? Yeah, it's pretty easy actually. Just going to open your hand and off he goes. That's it. It's that simple. First bat. Cool. All right. Okay. This is actually - - Oh little guy. - Very small, very cute. Let's measure this forearm. - Yep. Got to do work here too. - 34.8. - Eight. Okay. That's in. - We're going to have to look very carefully in particular at its mouth and its teeth to identify the species.
- Okay. - First thing I'm going to do, I'm going to put on these crazy goggles. Makes me look like a real scientist, I guess. And what I need to do first is see, are there any lower incisors? Let's see. I have to actually look, lift the lift. Yes, there are. So there's four lower incisors. - Look at that tongue sticking out. - Yeah, that's a long tongue. You see it right there? - Yeah. Okay. It's a Gene Simmons of bats. - That's great. Yeah, it kind of is actually. Okay. So we have maybe not the most exciting name, but it's Pallas's Long Tongued Bat.
Is the scientific name. - Pallas's Long Tongue Bat. That's what it is. Almost a tongue twister. - Yes. - But not a bad name. - Yeah. All right. So now we know what it is, but that shows you how hard it is. You have to go through all these steps just to figure out what it is. So I knew right away it ate nectar, but after that I got to go through it. Okay. We got pretty much everything we need. I'm going to let this girl go as well. - Okay. - There you go. Nice. - Tiny. - Very tiny. All right. So this is a pretty cool bat.
This is a bat that don't catch very often and actually one of my highlights of the night. 10.39 is our weight. - This is exciting. If you're excited, we're excited. - Yeah. I'm pretty sure I know what this is. This is an insectivorous bat. It eats insects. Oh, - Wow. Look at those teeth. - Yeah, pretty long. So it eats insects, right? So it's got to have pretty sharp, pretty long teeth. So what I want to do next is just to be sure of this species.
I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to have a look at the teeth and a part of the ear called the tragus. All right. So yeah, very cool. We know what it is now. So this is called the Brazilian serotine or Brazilian brown bat. This is actually the first record for this bat at this research site. That rare. It's that rare. So I'm really excited about it. Yeah. We're very, very stoked to have this. - What does the research you are performing achieve? What are you trying to give to the world of science?
- Yeah. I mean, one of the major things we're trying to understand is just how is the population of bats doing in the areas that we're working in, our wilderness international protected areas. In this region, we have a lot of potential conservation threats such as illegal gold mining, deforestation, many different things can happen to wildlife here, and we want to know how the population of bats is working. You've heard of the term indicator species, right? - Sure, sure. Well, - The Amazon is so complicated, you don't just use one species.
You have to use numerous species in different ways to understand the health of the ecosystem. - Well, it surely is important, but also very cool. Like this is amazing to see these bats so close like this. - Okay. So I think we got what we need from this guy. All - Right. - I'm going to let him go off into the night he goes. Chow. All - Right. Here we go guys. This is the finale bat. This is the haus.
This is one of the biggest bats that lives out here, guys. - Yeah. So this is by body weight, the third largest bat in all of Latin America. And it is the second largest carnivorous bat in all of Latin America. - Wow. Oh my gosh. - 89.8. That's a massive bat. - Basically like all the other bats combined. - Oh my, look at those teeth. - Yeah. Totally different bat. Wow. - Yeah. - That is amazing. Look at those ears, guys. - Now the name of this bat is the Wooly False Vampire Bat.
- The Wooly False Vampire Bat. - Yeah. So it's called Wooly because, well, you can feel. Go ahead and feel that. - Super fuzzy. Real fuzzy. - Really fluffy. And it's called a false vampire bat because it's not a true vampire. It doesn't drink blood. It just eats the whole animal. This eats anything it can get. So it will eat other bats. It'll eat small birds. It'll eat like rodents, frogs, anything.
Just anything it can capture. It'll just use these super. I want you to feel how sharp those thumbs are, the claws. - Oh yeah. - Super sharp. - Wow. - And it'll actually use a combination of its really big and powerful teeth and those thumbs to grab its prey, fly along and just crunch it up. - Midair? - Usually they kill it midair or kill it when they catch it. Then they fly with it dead and then they eat it when they're hanging upside down.
- So what's their method of predation? How do they dispatch - Prey. - Fly down and bite its head off. - False vampire bat. That such a cool name. Sorry, I can't get over that. - Sorry. When you go into the teeth, obviously it's a little scary because sometimes you get kind of close and then. - Oh. Did you just get bit? - Yeah. - Are you okay? - Yeah, I'll live. Ah. So that's going to bleed. - Oh, wow. Oh my gosh. You really got bit. - Yeah, it got me.
I mean, this is a carnivore, so when they bite. - Oh my gosh. Are you okay? - Yeah. I'll be all right. - No, no, seriously. Is this okay? Aren't you worried about rabies? - So I've had the rabies vaccine recently. I get one every year, and that means my antibodies are really high. That doesn't mean there's no risk, but it's very low risk. - What would happen if that was my thumb? What would we be doing right now? - So if it was your thumb, what we would do is we would get you on, like at dawn, 5:00 tomorrow morning, we'd get you to the hospital immediately and we'd get you on
at least three injections post-exposure because your levels aren't high enough right now. - I am vaccinated for rabies, but not to your - - A while ago though, right? - Yeah. Six, seven years ago. - Exactly. So I get a booster every year, make sure my levels are really high. But I think I'm at more risk walking in this forest that a tree's going to fall on me, then something's going to happen to me. And remember, very, very few bats actually have rabies. - Let me at least get you a bandaid. Geez. Wow. - Stop bleeding now, so I'm going to be okay.
- I think this is just a perfect demonstration of how this is a risky job. You take on a lot of risk personally to do this work. Why is it worth it to you? - To me, I can't imagine a world that didn't have animals like this and didn't have forests like this. And anything I can do to be a part of helping protect that, helping to understand it, be part of that global movement for conservation. I couldn't imagine doing anything else. So this type of risk for me, it's a no-brainer. It's just part of who I am. - And thank you so much to Wilderness International for having us out here in the Amazon, in Peru,
and for protecting this beautiful piece of forest. I'm Mark Vins. Be brave. Stay wild. We'll see you on the next adventure. All right. Let's let him go. Cool.
