Yoooooooo, That Face. Think Maybe That Fruit They Imbibed In Was A Bit Too Fermented?

The bats of Pokémon through the eyes of a bat nerd (who also used no references so they're a tiny bit iffy)

Forgot to bring my tablet so I'm playing with dad's rainbow markers and pens. I kinda dig it actually but my phone cannot take proper photos of them lol

Nerdy stuff about design choices and lots of bat facts under the cut if you're interested in that!

Zubat is mainly modelled after Vespertillionidae and Natalidae species, inheriting both families' pointy faces and dense fur that often covers their eyes, making them appear blind (except zubat actually is blind). Their wings are broad, more akin to a Megadermatidae species, which was just a choice based off of the original design. Broader wings allow for increased manoeuvrability at the cost of speed in real species. Their legs are long and spindly, another trait borrowed from Natalidae.

Golbat still has zubat's woolly fur to keep its rounded appearance but has narrower wings as well as stumpy ears and a large mouth, all traits gleaned from free-tailed bats, the latter a trait specifically of the genus Otomops. They really do look like that sometimes yes. Its large feet are borrowed from the fish-eating myotis (Myotis vivesi) who frankly has even bigger feet than this guy. Bats are wacky lol

Crobat has a mostly furred face similar to Pteropid, Rhinolophid or Phyllostomid bats. Its ears are more fantasy and not modelled after any existing species. I had hairy-tailed bats of the genus Lasiurus on the mind while interpreting the little tufts on its bum, here they're meant to be fluff hanging off the uropatagium. It has very narrow wings similar to Molossid bats, and it fits for such a speedy Pkmn! (Fun fact: a Molossid bat was the fastest recorded vertical flight of any animal)

Woobat is inspired by Desmodus species, more commonly known as vampire bats. While their cousins the Honduran white bat (Ectophylla albus) is more commonly the interpretation, I chose Desmodus instead for its flat, heart-shaped noses and similar dental structure. The excess in fur is more attributed to the same families as in zubat, but with some more Lasiurine influence.

Swoobat's choice in inspiration was pretty obvious to me at first: the heart-nosed bat (Cardioderma cor)! The furred face and ears joined at the base is indeed inspired by Megadermatid bats but otherwise it has probably the most mixed influences of all these designs. I once again took the flat, heart-shaped nose from Desmodus species like I did with its pre-evo, and then its tail was adapted from Rhinopoma species (fittingly known as mouse-tailed bats!) as well as Molossid (free-tailed) bats. From an entirely nerdy perspective swoobat is easily my favorite, it really highlights a lot of chiropteran diversity whether intentional or not.

Noibat has joined ears like swoobat, inherited from Megadermatid bats (and sometimes Molossids) and is the first to have an actual nose-leaf, partially influenced by trident bats of the genus Asellia. I was kind of imagining that the bare patch between the tufts of black fur were present because they housed scent glands like in Emballonurid (sac-winged) bats who have similar bald patches. (I don't know a ton about Emballonurid bats unfortunately, so I'm not sure whether this is a family-wide occurrence or attributed to certain genii, lol. If anybody knows feel free to tell! I think some Molossids have scent glands too so heck throw them in as well)

Noivern is easily the most fantastical of the bunch, more dragon than bat, but it wouldn't feel right not to include him. He's got the same design choices on the face that its pre-evolution has (joined ears and nose-leaf) but otherwise doesn't have any more specific influences in batty terms. However, I turned the tragus into that little protrusion under the ear of the original design which I thought was kind of clever ;)

Cat activation sound

Emotional Support

The fucking posts i see from people all like "why is the federal government funding research about snail sex this is stupid" piss me the fuck off. There's lots of reasons, Harold.

1. Understand how snails reproduce so we can learn more about the world around us and maybe learn more about ourselves or how things work.

2. You literally never know what could spark the next great scientific advancement. Snail sex hormones could be a miracle cure for cancer but you won't fucking know that unless you study the snail sex.

3. Hate to break it to ya pal but snails are still worth researching even if you think they're "useless animals." They feed larger animals, they eat plants and shit, they exist and quite frankly that's marvelous. Just because they are useless TO YOU does not mean they aren't worthy of attention.

Like genuinely quit focusing on going "ew!! Icky useless animal having icky sex!!" or whatever, you sound like the people who demonized Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics, for wanting to study how plants reproduce.

...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.

Madagascar Sucker-Footed Bat, photographed by Manuel Ruedi, (source)

been experimenting with animation for a class project- it’s a video about giving drones sonar based on bat echolocation

the diggers will remember this

OK SO I WAS WALKING DOWN THE STREET IN THE RAIN AT 2AM AND I SAW AN ANIMAL RUNNING DOWN THE ROAD AND SO I GRABBED IT AND

IT WAS THIS

...cats be like this. Entirely our fault for trying to block their view of the outdoors.