Besides hunting, the primary threats to bat species include habitat loss and degradation through logging. In the past, people have believed that: If a bat got into your house it was a sign someone was about to die; A bat arriving on Halloween meant your house was haunted; A bat tangled in a persons hair will lead to eternal damnation; In Kenya, a bat attitude questionnaire was presented to 394 people living around the Arabuko-Sokoke forest. Spirits are less grand, less powerful, and less like humans than the gods, who often have weaknesses and emotions. First he filled a large pot with warm water which he told his friend was boiling. Bats feature in many myths, legends and folklore from diverse cultures around the world, and are often associated with darkness, death and the supernatural. In some countries such as the UK bats are seen as an indicator species and the stability of their population is monitored to look for changes in biodiversity. Until we provoked the animals hostility because of our aggressiveness and disregard for their rights, humans and all creatures lived together in harmony, mutual respect, and helpfulness. Just over one-third of the respondents (36%) did not see any benefits of bats to humans. Its based on principles of collaboration, unobstructed discovery, and, most importantly, scientific progression. Their well-known agility in flight would make a bat formidable in a ball game against a bear and turtle. WebBats typically live in deep underground caves, which symbolically is the belly of the Mother (Earth), and from these womb-like caves they emerge each evening at dusk - reborn. Becoming neither one thing nor the other made them ashamed. It remains to be seen, however, how effectively the further education efforts could halt or even reverse the decline of the bats around the world. WebMYTH: Bats are blind. Interestingly, giant bat stories have persisted in these flying-fox-less societies, which evolved from western Polynesians cultures where flying foxes have been prevalent [45]. In Malaysian Borneo, people consider it taboo to disturb a fruit bat. Interestingly, Islamic taboo. He has also contributed to Enchanted Conversation Magazine and his latest Kindle ebook, The Feather of the Firebird is now available. Bats have fascinated humans for millennia, and this cultural and spiritual relevance is reflected in the presence of bat symbols in Egyptian tombs from 2000 BC . He told her he would make some tasty soup like Emiong had taught him for when she returned. When a truce is declared, the bat is rejected by both sides because of this deceitful behavior. It is a canine creature supposedly living close to the Sahara Desert in North Africa. A modern variation of the myth that bats arose from rodents comes from an Ohio woman of Polish ancestry who attested that the bat was from a mouse that had eaten blessed Easter food. (In Polish tradition, a representative food from the Easter dinner is taken to church to be blessed.) Our team is growing all the time, so were always on the lookout for smart people who want to help us reshape the world of scientific publishing. Because of the resemblance in dentition and such external phenomena as the thoracic position of the mammae, etc., the great Linnaeus himself ended to place the bat along with man in the order Primates [3]. Han Chinese people attach positive esthetic values to bats but may still hunt bats at unsustainable levels [72]. He then pretended to demonstrate exactly how he did this. Courtesy of creative commonsWikimedia. However, consumption was influenced by religious beliefs, food taboos, and some myths about bats. Two Bats are greater luck, and five represents the five blessings Africa. In Africa, house bats occur in distinct colors and sizes, but they are usually hard to A little later the same bat was caught by another weasel and begged for mercy. Some bats also pollinate flowers and help disperse seeds. In Pakistan, one belief is that if a bat enters ones ear, it can never be removed and contact with bat urine is thought to cause eczema. This persecution has been quite intense and has had negative effects on the whole environment. Vampires. Of course, in languages other than English, a bat is not called a bat. Therefore, instead of coming out and feeding in daylight he began to feed at night. Below, we will be taking a look at some of the most popular bat myths from around the globe. For American Indians they provided information on the natural world and the behavior and habits of animals. Around 62% of the Asia-Pacific people had only positive cultural values of bats, 8% had only neutral values, while 10% had only negative values [27]. Bat guano provides one reason for the fertility associations [56]. In Greece the word drakn, from which the English word was Commentdocument.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a5fde012108c6f81a46adcd8fa31b17e" );document.getElementById("ebd2ec4c6f").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Gordon is an ecologist with two degrees from Exeter University. Bats are truly remarkable creatures, and fossil records indicate that they first appeared in the Eocene, some 5055 million years ago [1]. I am a bird. This ethnic group in Africa is known for its In shamanism, the bat as well as being a symbol of death and rebirth is able to guide people through the dark times of their lives. Thanks Sir for this website. Micro-batswhich include the smaller, familiar snub-nosed batsmainly hunt by echolocation. The Adjule is also called a Bush Dog. People can further move the fungus on their clothing and caving gear and spread the disease into an area that does not currently. Licensee IntechOpen. Belief in myths seemed to prevail among those surveyed. These animals are nocturnal creatures that sleep during the day and come out at night to hunt for food. considers bat as harm meaning that it is forbidden as food. Many mythological stories from different cultures have been passed down throughout the years about bats. 9. In a Cherokee fable, an eagle, a hawk, and other birds fashioned the first bat and the first flying squirrel from two mouse-like creatures. *Address all correspondence to: heimomikkola@yahoo.co.uk. Also known as Hunbatz, One Monkey A Monkey, not a Bat One of the Monkey Twins, hes the son of Hun Hunahpu and Xbaquiyalo. In Malawi, negative bat superstitions caused recently quite disproportionate behavior when rural people in southern parts of the country killed nine people accusing them to be vampire bats [23]. WebAfrican bats fall into two major categories: large fruit bats and smaller, insect-eating bats, neither of which attacks people. Indigenous Ainu people in Japan worshipped the crafty and wise bat god Kappa kamui, who kept away demons and diseases [44]. A detailed list of all the African gods and goddesses wuld be endless, but these twelve from the Orisha Pantheon are a good placde to start. Should a bat or an owl come near the house, or a bush-cat defecate in the compound, the owner must go at once to diviner to discover what remedies must be taken to ward off the evil. Adjule. Other strange beliefs in European folklore include: In Shakespeares Macbeth (written 800 years ago), the witches brew a potion with: Eye of newt and toe of frog,Wool of bat and tongue of dog.. Bats are interesting animals and have been a part of human culture for a long time. Even cultures that value bats positively may have values conflicting with bat conservation. Surprisingly little folklore exists specifically about Vampire bats, and Pre-Columbian erotic scenes do not involve bats although some folklore portrays female bats as alluring to men. The Rompo is a common South African mythical creatures believed to exist. Should the bat stay and eat the fruit in the house, bad luck will befall the owner [27]. The felling of roosting trees was mentioned as bat death reason by 29% and hunting by 18%. Usually, it is regarded as a bad omen even if seen in a dream. Strangely perhaps, given its poor press in Europe, carrying the dried and powdered heart of a bat in your front pocket was supposed to protect you from bleeding to death and later to stop bullets. While others say bats resemble an unhappy bird who got lost on its way to find the sun, in Greece during the middle ages, there was a myth that bats arose from mice. These intensely emotional visuals have most likely led to the sinister image of bats that many people still hold, even though we now know they are valuable members of the environment! The bat flew to a nearby cave, but each evening it emerged at sunset, telling Jesus that it was time to take food [see Bats and the Netherworld, BATS, Summer 1993; also, see this same article for the converse notion that the devil created bats.). Conversely, negative symbolism could promote conservation if it prevents unsustainable hunting and consumption [27]. Nowadays, of course, we know that vampires are not real and neither is the ability to turn into a bat. How? In Indonesia, Iban people in Kalimantan also hunt fruit bats for consumption, and mainly Christian people in North Sulawesi regularly eat flying foxes (Black Flying Fox Pteropus alecto and Sulawesi Fruit Bat Acerodon celebensis) especially during the Christmas season [38, 39]. Company registered in England & Wales, no. These birds went to temples and prayed to be turned into humans. Bat Myths and Folktales from Around the World. 2. In the sandstone caves of Northern Australia, the Northern Territory, and Queensland, there are numerous depictions of flying foxes, some dating back tens of thousands of years. There are also numerous stories and legends associated with the bat. This liminality gives bats a supernatural air that further heightens mystery and distrust as they cross the borders between birds and mammals, day and night. Monstrous beyond imagining, all-consuming, blacker than blackest night, the hideous Satan in the Night on Bald Mountain section of Walt Disneys animated film Fantasia (1940) spreads gigantic bat wings as it turns fiery eyes toward the lost souls about to be engulfed in wrath and flames [64]. Generally, the Maya revered a Vampire Bat god, Camazotz, the death bat, which killed dying men on their way to the center of the earth [51, 52]. is eaten in Laos. Finally, his wife realized what he was doing and set fire to the tree and killed her husband and the bats [54]. They were then ashamed to meet the other birds and are now active only at night, returning to the temples in the daytime and praying to be turned back into birds. Because not enough leather remained to fashion another bat, the birds then stretched the skin between the fore and hind limbs of the other creature, making the first flying squirrel. This Order name means hand-wing as the bats can hold food between their forearms. However, modern science, and hence western Europe, really only learned about them as we traveled out to the tropical world. In northern Thailand, harming bats incurs a curse because bats are sacred for Buddhists [36]. An idea that reflected their ability to fly around so quickly in the dark without hitting anything. It is a carnivore, eating birds and other vertebrates, occasionally taking even other species of bats. Flying foxesalong with all other native batsare now protected in Australia. Bats are symbolic of bad luck, especially when they call while flying early in the evening. The first two references are Leviticus 11:19 and Deuteronomy 14:18. The Adze is a vampire in the legends of the Ewe people of Ghana and Togo. Public domain. Even worse have been the vandalism and wanton destruction of bats and their habitat in North America. If you have any questions or if you want to get in touch with us, you can find our contact details on our About Us page. This association between giant bats and vampires continues to the present day through popular fiction and cinema (Figure 1). Shockingly, US news media recently reported shortages of Halloween decorationsplastic bats among them, doubtlessdue to the world supply crunch [63]. When his wife returned she saw the pot was still boiling and no sign of her husband. Why Bats also have wings. In North America, education has had some effect as more people have started to understand how useful bats truly are and how few cases of bat-born rabies transmission to humans there have been in the United States and Canada. Do they really deserve this sinister reputation, or do they play a more important role in the world than feeding the dark human fascination for the spooky and the supernatural? In England, they also say that when someone is a little insane, they have bats in the belfry. London, SW7 2QJ, The Serer Creation Myth Like in every creation myth in Africa, the Serer of Senegal, Mauritania and the Gambia have theirs. Therefore, let us give them the recognition they deserve because if bats were to disappear tomorrow, that would give us something to genuinely fear. They then appealed to the eagle, the captain of the bird team. The Navajo people thought that bats were able to fly between different worlds and act as a bridge between the supernatural and the natural. Christianity and the origin of bats are also intertwined in the Mohammedan legend that Christ created a bat while keeping the fast of Ramadan. It is merely a passing reference, along with moles, to represent animals that live with things that have been discarded. The bat begged to be spared but the weasel insisted that he could not do that because he was an enemy of all birds. More than 1,200 species are currently recognized, and many are enormously abundant. In this article, we will be taking a deep dive into the world of bats in mythology, folklore, and superstition. In some versions of the myth, the old mice would climb to the top of a tall tree, and when they reached the highest branches, their tails would detach and grow into wings. In Western Europe, there existed an unfounded superstition that if a bat fell on a woman (who mostly had long hair back then), the bat would become so entangled in her hair that the hair would have to be cut off just to pull it out. In Europe, there are also myths about bats in the house. Between 1985 and 1994, they were removed from the protected fauna list in Queensland. In India, a total of 3059 high school students from 36 schools were questioned on their bat perceptions. In Malaysia, ethnic Han Chinese, non-Muslim indigenous groups, and ethnic Malays hunt flying foxes and trade them to the Chinese [27]. Theyre passive components, not active agents of change. Books > Photo credit: Raniel Jose Castaneda creative commons Wikimedia credit as in Figure 7. Bats tend to get off on the wrong wing with us humans. In Caribbean South America and the Antilles, bat images are associated with death rites and burials in archeological context [57], and in Cuba, a Taino ball court was bat-shaped, the ballgame being a sacrificial ritual [58]. Most students wanted to participate in bat conservation activities, including some students who disliked bats. They are unquestionably weird beings, appearing as half birds and half rodents, as if they came from a nightmare realm. In northern Guiana, Bat Mountain is the home of killer bats, and there is also a killer bat in folklore from Venezuela. Publishing on IntechOpen allows authors to earn citations and find new collaborators, meaning more people see your work not only from your own field of study, but from other related fields too. That nailing a dead bat to your door will protect you from demons, That putting a drop of bats blood under a womans pillow will help her be fruitful. Bats have been present in folklore and myth for quite some time. Between Iran and Rajasthan, north-western India, there is the widespread public belief that if a bat lives somewhere in the house or hangs on the roof, this would mean bad luck for the owner [25]. These small creatures wished to participate in a ball game in which the animals challenged the birds. 15 Interesting Myths And Legends In African Mythology 1. The prominent leaf nose on the snout of this bat strongly suggests an arrowhead. An artist's depiction of the Adjule or Bush Dog. In Cameroon, the superstition of the vampire is attached to bats. Having multifaceted anatomy of a lion, hippopotamus, and crocodile, she waited for the opportunity to devour the hearts of Perhaps now youd like to learn a bit about the bat skeleton. WebBat facts! Emiong knew he was in trouble and flew off into the bush. It is imperative to obtain more current ethnobiological data to further our understanding of contemporary attitudes and relationships with batsand to document other cultural traditions not covered in this review. In 1796, John Stedman wrote of being bitten by a vampire in Guiana, describing it as a bat of monstrous size, that sucks the blood from men and cattle when they are fast asleep, even sometimes till they die. [14]. Recommended for you. In many human cultures, caves were seen as gateways to the underworld and bats often emerge from caves at twilight when day merges into night. Contemporarily the bats were divided based upon morphology and behavior into two suborders, Microchiroptera (Microbats) and Megachiroptera (Flying Foxes and Old World Fruit Bats) [4]. WebThen there was the Olitiau, a giant demon bat that had been seen in these parts, and lived for hundreds of years. In fact they are mammals of the scientific order Chiroptera, meaning hand wing in ancient Greek, because their forelimbs have become adapted to be wings. Warner Shedd (2000) felt strongly that the level of fear about rabid bats sometimes rises almost paranoid concern in the United States, citing the State of New York as an example [63]. In another tale from Aesop, a bat borrows money for a business venture that fails. Although vampire bats have been known to attack humans and large animals it is usually not fatal, though it has been known to transmit rabies. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Flying foxs emergence time is believed in Myanmar to indicate the weather: an early or no emergence foretells a coming storm. Aboriginal peoples, however, were describing them long before this. An irrational fear of batsChiroptophobiaencompasses negative perceptions of bats as disease vectors, pests, or harmful creatures associated with devils and witchcraft, which represents an important barrier to bat conservation globally [27]. Upset at his death, and possibly the ruining of the soup, she went straight to the king. Despite all the sinister associations bats perform an essential role in the environment, adding greatly to the wellbeing of humanity. From this duality and strangeness evolved a reputation of duplicity and threat, appearing as neither one thing nor the other. more information Accept. The king ordered that Emiong be arrested and thrown into prison. The bat represented the opias (= spirits of the dead people) to the Taino. In Africa, bats were credited with high intelligence. The duality of bats is mentioned in one of Aesops Fables, which tells how a bat fell to the ground and was pounced on by a weasel. A substantial proportion (53%) thought that bats have medicinal value, but 35% saw them only as harmful creatures. In the terminology of folklorists, bats are liminal; they dont fit into the normal order of things and are somehow apart or in-between. Similarly, fishermen in the Philippines consider mangrove roosting flying foxes to be guardians of their fishing grounds and to increase fish and shellfish catch [27]. In the old days, people used to think that bats were evil, and they would often try to kill them. Greeks and Romans often referred to people who were active at night as bats. Apparently many of these people had adopted nocturnal behavior to avoid those to whom they owed money. But it should come as no surprise that bats figure in most ancient mythologies. In southwest Asia, the bat is predominantly perceived as a strange, negative, and demonic animal that should be avoided. Our CFC number is 12064. Among the Ibibio people of southern Nigeria, bats are associated with witchcraft, and for any bat to fly into a house and touch a person is a sure sign that this person is thereafter bewitched and will soon perish because his or her heart is eaten at night while he or she sleeps. As such, the Earl of Cranbrook was able to dispel this silly superstition. It is not just their physical form that makes bats a curiosity. However, after offering prayers, dead bats found on the ground can be eaten. On the other hand, the body fat of Indian Flying Fox is used to make massage oil to cure rheumatic pains, while drinking water from a bats wing is said to sharpen ones memory [30]. The novel, Dracula, by Bram Stoker encouraged the vampire association which was expanded and embellished later by other writers. The artificial bat became a shorthand for horror in 1931, jiggled on a fishing line behind a Hungarian-American actor Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask, known professionally as Bela Lugosi in the genre-defining movie Dracula. I am a bat ecologist with an interest in how people, culture and beliefs bonds or ties with bats. If a bat flies into a kitchen and at once hangs on to the ceiling, it is a lucky omen, but if it circles the room twice before alighting, it is a bad omen. For example, a bat entering a household was a forewarning of a death in the house. In Malaysia, a face-to-face survey was conducted in Penang Island to assess knowledge and awareness level toward bat conservation efforts. The bat told him that whenever he made soup he always boiled himself in the water because his flesh was so sweet. While the English term batty denotes mad in a reasonably innocuous sense. In fact, around a fifth of all mammals on Earth are bats! Using its new teeth to hold the ball, the bat helps the animals to win the game. In Jamaica, the bat and the owl were very important symbols in Taino mythology and death. Bats have fascinated humans for millennia, and this cultural and spiritual relevance is reflected in the presence of bat symbols in Egyptian tombs from 2000BC [7]. In India, bats are revered in many areas, but still large bat-harvesting festivals take place. Working together, we have the power to end bat extinctions worldwide. The bat said, Well look at me. In 1959, this superstition was still so believed that the Earl of Cranbrook took it upon himself to test the superstitions veracity. Test your knowledge with the "Myth or Fact" image sliders below. Its unlucky to see a bat in the daytime. Bat meat is widely consumed because it is considered more delicious than other types of meat. People in Vanuatu consider Pacific Flying Fox Pteropus tonganus as their ancestor and claim to be able to communicate with them [46]. The animals then give teeth to the bat to make it more animal-like. Here, using documented narratives, surveys, popular literature, and cinema, we will explore the various myths, legends, and attitudes to bats from around the world. With the help of the bat and the flying squirrel, the birds won the ball game, with the agile bat scoring the winning goal. When Oyot went home his wife had to go out on an errand. Bats are found almost everywhere on Earth! The study concluded that conservation-related education should be included in the school curriculum to ensure that students would appreciate not only the importance of bats but of all wildlife [26]. Most students (56%) reported seeing bats in their locality. The five-chambered cave hosts the worlds largest known colony of the Geoffroys Rousette Fruit Bat, Rousettus amplexicaudatus, with an estimated 1.82 million individuals [76]. Appearing as half bird, half mammal at the edge of day and night they are seen as liminal beings and not part of the natural order. (Above is from a variety of African mythology not just Sub-Saharan, but it's also the tiniest fraction of it) They eat insects performing pest control while also pollinating species of plants and spreading seeds. In South America, the vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) is persecuted because it transmits the rabies virus to the livestock it feeds off. In Malaysia, older generations prevented thievery by mixing flying fox blood with milky mangrove Excoecaria agallocha tree sap to cause violent intestinal inflammation [40]. As messengers for the forces of darkness, they become evil omens. The first sighting was reported in 1928 by Thodore Monod. In many places, blood sacrifice was believed to benefit agriculture, and therefore, bats had agricultural, as well as death, connections for Pre-Columbian peoples and in Oaxaca, Mexico, a bat deity was associated with maize [51]. Many people still believe this to be true in Mexico. Today, we know that this is not the case, but the association of bats with longevity persists in some parts of the world. Samoan folklore tells of a similar origin for bats. Microchiroptera Cheiromeles torquatus is eaten in Borneo and Tadarida sp. For example, a number of these countries are investing in the burgeoning industry of ecotourism by promoting organized visits to bat caves and bat watching [74, 75]. 1, Suite 175 Austin, TX 78746, USA 512.327.9721 1.800.538.BATS. Samoans said that flying foxes were cheeky and courageous, making it a popular tattoo motif [48]. In Macbeth (1605), there is the incantation of the three witches: Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog, while there is Calibans curse on Prospero in The Tempest (16101611): All the charms of Sycorax, toads, beetles and bats, light on you.. A bat-headed figure from Costa Rica made by pre-Colombian Diquis people sometimes between 700 and 1530AD. Bats flying vertically upwards and then dropping back to earth means that the Witches Hour has come. People would sometimes even burn down whole colonies of bats because they thought that this would stop the spread of disease. If a bat flies into a house and then escapes, there will be a death in the family. We will be exploring how different cultures view these creatures and what stories have been told about them throughout the years. 5 Princes Gate Court, One reason not to kill bats is that female bats have breasts and are mothers like human females [25]. This North American bat-like depiction should come as no surprise; it is merely another manifestation of the fear, horror, and superstition with which bats have been regarded down through ages [64]. In Makira, Solomon Islands, local people value traditional currency for transactions, such as bride price, and use the canine teeth of flying foxes as a traditional currency [47]. What are they? Because of the mouses pious respect for the holy wafer, God gave it wings so that it would be able to find plenty of food in the future. In 1332, a French noblewoman, Lady Jacaume of Bayonne [12], was publicly burned to death as a witch because crowds of bats were seen about her house and garden., William Shakespeare (15641616) also equated bats with witches, spells, and curses. There are more than 1,300 bat species! In a Creek Indian variation of this tale, the bat first asks to play with the birds but is rejected by them and accepted by the animals team. In Jamaican folklore, bats are also perceived as death images [59]. Bat Conservation International is a 501(c)(3) organization. Thus, more famine relief food aid is desperately needed to reduce the bush meat use during the food crises, which are nearly annual in the region [22]. Despite its scientific name, it feeds exclusively on fruits, nectar, and flowers and not blood (Figure 6) [70]. Not only do they prey upon insects that are harmful to agriculture, but they also prey upon mosquitoes and other virus-carrying insects and play a major role in pollinating and spreading the seeds of many of the fruits we enjoy. It was from these traditions that the vampire bats were named rather than them giving their name to the supernatural, blood-sucking creature. The oldest age group (5170years old) of 150 respondents were mostly aware of the bat conservation efforts. Many paintings from western Europe in the middle ages depict the devil with bat wings. It is also noted that bat tourism has a potential to conserve bat populations while providing social and economic benefits to local people in host communities. Iban people in Sarawak, Borneo, believe that a bat flying into the house indicates a shaman bringing good vibes, conferring protection against any harm, while in Thailand, if a bat enters a house but immediately flies away, it is believed to change bad luck to good. Large, often man-eating, bats are found in Hawaiian traditions, and there is even a legend of an eight-eyed bat in Hawaii. We explore the role that bats play in traditional narratives and the likely reasons for their salience, including their connections with the extraordinary and supernatural. People sometimes think of them as blind, bloodthirsty flying mice.

Serilog Ilogger Dependency Injection, Ada Gestational Diabetes Guidelines 2021, Karina Canellakis Marriage, Articles B