>"Because Of Their Size, Bats Are Notoriously Difficult To Find Deceased From Natural Causes, And By

If you haven’t started already, start archiving/downloading everything. Save it to an external hard drive if you’re able. Collecting physical media is also a good idea, if you’re able.

Download your own/your favorite fanfics. Save as much as you can from online sources/digital libraries. Recipes, tutorials, history, LGBTQ media, etc. It has been claimed, though I can’t find the exact source if true, that some materials about the Revolutionary War were deleted from the Library of Congress.

It’s always better to be safe than sorry and save and preserve what you can. Remember that cloud storage also is not always reliable!

Library of Congress - millions of books, films and video, audio recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps, manuscripts.

Internet Archive - millions of free texts, movies, software, music, websites, and more. Has been taken offline multiple times because of cyber attacks last month, it has recently started archiving again.

Anna's Archive - 'largest truly open library in human history.’

Queer Liberation Library - queer literature and resources. Does require applying for a library membership to browse and borrow from their collection.

List of art resources - list of art resources complied on tumblr back in 2019. Not sure if all links are still operational now, but the few I clicked on seemed to work.

Alexis Amber - TikToker who is an archivist who's whole page is about archiving. She has a database extensively recording the events of Hurricane Katrina.

I'll be adding more to this list, if anyone else wants to add anything feel free!

Spectral Bat, photographed by Alexandre Grave, (source)

What do you mean you didn’t order more bats?

(This is the last of it, I promise)

...this is literally an American noctule. it potato. fuzzy potato. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa i hate that rabies is a thing I WANT TO HOLD THE FUZZY POTATO

Bat of the day! Native to my Home State

I would like to get a law passed in my state, but I don’t know how. I think it was yesterday (today is November 12, 2024) Trump announced that he would need to scale back his economic plans which included no tax on tips and corporate tax cuts. I didn’t vote for Trump and I didn’t think he’d actually help his voters, however I believe it should be illegal for someone to make campaign promises they absolutely can’t fulfill.

I would like to make a law that makes it illegal for politicians to run on infeasible campaign policies and/or make it so that politicians have to run a feasibility study before making their campaign promises. Would this possible and if so, how would I go about doing it?

Brandt's Bat: researchers once documented a case in which a Brandt's bat had survived in the wild for more than 40 years, making this the longest-living bat species in the world

In 1964, a wild Brandt's bat (Myotis brandtii) was captured, banded, and released by researchers in the Biryusa region of Siberia. The very same bat was eventually recaptured by another team of researchers in 2005; it would have been at least 41 years old by then, making it the oldest bat ever recorded.

The previous record-holder was also a Siberian Brandt's bat (with an estimated age of 38 years).

There are twelve other species within the genus Myotis that have been documented living past the age of 20, but the lifespan of the Brandt's bat is exceptionally long, especially compared to other small mammals.

This species (and the longevity of a few other bat species) defies our conventional understanding of the relationship between an animal's size and its lifespan -- smaller animals normally have a much shorter lifespan compared to large animals, partly due to their higher metabolic demands, but these bats represent a rare exception to that rule. In fact, with an average weight of just 4 to 8 grams (which is roughly the combined weight of 2 or 3 pennies), the Brandt's bat has the longest lifespan of any mammal relative to its size.

Research suggests that its increased lifespan may be at least partially linked to a mutation in two of the genes that are related to growth. This article describes the results of one particular study:

Genes for two proteins involved in growth — called growth hormone receptor (GHR) and insulinlike growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) — showed changes that also appear among other long-lived bat species. Previous studies in mice and other animals suggest genetic changes in GHR and IGF1R are linked with longevity. For instance, mice with mutations in GHR live twice as long as normal mice, said study researcher Vadim Gladyshev, a geneticist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

These same genetic changes also may be responsible for the bats' small size ...

"We think the bat's life span is, in part, an unintended consequence of its small body size."

There are a few other factors that may also play a role:

Brandt's bats also hibernate and roost in caves — behaviors that may help them avoid predators and extreme weather conditions, and contribute to their longer life span, the researchers said. The Brandt's bat also takes a relatively long time to reach maturity, and it does not produce many offspring — two characteristics seen in larger, longer-living mammals.

Note: nearly all of the articles that I came across refer to the 41-year-old bat as a "Brandt's bat," but at least one other source uses the term "Siberian whiskered myotis," instead. That term simply refers to the Siberian variety of the Brandt's bat (subspecies Myotis brandtii sibiricus) in particular.

Sources & More Info:

The Journals of Gerontology: A New Field Record for Bat Longevity

Bat Conservation International: Myotis brandtii

Nature: Genome Analysis Reveals Insights into Physiology and Longevity of the Brandt's Bat, Myotis brandtii

Nature: DNA Methylation Predicts Age and Provides Insight Into Exceptional Longevity of Bats

New Scientist: Gene Clues May Explain Why Brandt's Bat Lives So Long

...How in the fu-

how does that-

not a single bit of that viewpoint makes sense. like. the frick. how? how would one come to the conclusion that preserving habitat of species is unnecessary for preservation of that species?!?

I think this is it? H.R.1897 - ESA Amendments Act of 2025. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1897/text

...Though there's another potentially-sketchy bill, one that says the ESA should only apply to species that are native to the United States. (And if a species has extant populations in / migrates to a different country, what then?)

H.R.102 - American Sovereignty and Species Protection Act of 2025 https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/102/text.

...actually this one is rather short, so:

----------------------------

To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to prevent a species that is not native to the United States from being listed as an endangered species or a threatened species, to prohibit certain types of financial assistance, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 3, 2025

Mr. Biggs of Arizona introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

A BILL

To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to prevent a species that is not native to the United States from being listed as an endangered species or a threatened species, to prohibit certain types of financial assistance, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. Short title.

This Act may be cited as the “American Sovereignty and Species Protection Act of 2025”.

SEC. 2. Limitation on listing of nonnative species and provision of certain financial assistance.

(a) Limitation on listing of nonnative species.—Section 4(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(4) NONNATIVE SPECIES.—The Secretary may not determine that a species is an endangered species or a threatened species pursuant to this section if such species is not native to the United States.”.

(b) Limitation on provision of certain financial assistance.—Section 8(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1537(a)) is amended—

(1) by striking “As a demonstration of” and inserting the following:

“(1) IN GENERAL.—As a demonstration of”;

(2) by striking “(which includes, but is not limited to, the acquisition, by lease or otherwise, of lands, waters, or interests therein)”; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

“(2) PROHIBITION ON PURCHASING LAND IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY.—No financial assistance provided under paragraph (1) may be used to acquire, by lease or otherwise, lands, waters, or other interests in a foreign country.”.

On April 16th 2025 the US federal government has proposed to change the interpretation of the endangered species act so that it no longer protects habitat.

This is open for public comment until the end of May 19th. Please comment and make your voice heard.

Wildlife need their habitat. If the ESA redefines harm so that habitat is no longer protected, the implications for wildlife would be catastrophic.

Freya the Hoary Bat, via

:p!!