Eleven Bats

Author: Anthony 'Harry' Moffitt
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1761060309
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 373

Book Description
Alongside the SAS, Harry's other lifetime love is cricket. An improvised game of cricket was often the circuit-breaker Harry and his team needed after the tension of operations. He began a tradition of organising matches wherever he was sent, whether it was in the mountains of East Timor with a fugitive rebel leader, or on the dusty streets of Baghdad, or in exposed Forward Operating Bases in the hills of Afghanistan. Soldiers, locals and even visiting politicians played in these spontaneous yet often bridge-building games. As part of the tradition, Harry also started to take a cricket bat with him on operational tours, eleven of them in total. They'd often go outside the wire with him and end up signed by those he met or fought alongside. These eleven bats form the basis for Harry's extraordinary memoir. It's a book about combat, and what it takes to serve in one of the world's most elite formations. It's a book about the toll that war takes on soldiers and their loved ones. And it's a book about the healing power of cricket, and how a game can break down borders in even the most desperate of circumstances.

No Species Is an Island

Author: Theodore H. Fleming
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 0816537550
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 81

Book Description
In the darkness of the star-studded desert, bats and moths feed on the nectar of night-blooming cactus flowers. By day, birds and bees do the same, taking to blooms for their sweet sustenance. In return these special creatures pollinate the equally intriguing plants in an ecological circle of sustainability. The Sonoran Desert is the most biologically diverse desert in the world. Four species of columnar cacti, including the iconic saguaro and organ pipe, are among its most conspicuous plants. No Species Is an Island describes Theodore H. Fleming’s eleven-year study of the pollination biology of these species at a site he named Tortilla Flats in Sonora, Mexico, near Kino Bay. Now Fleming shares the surprising results of his intriguing work. Among the novel findings are one of the world’s rarest plant-breeding systems in a giant cactus; the ability of the organ pipe cactus to produce fruit with another species’ pollen; the highly specialized moth-cactus pollination system of the senita cactus; and the amazing lifestyle of the lesser long-nosed bat, the major nocturnal pollinator of three of these species. These discoveries serve as a primer on how to conduct ecological research, and they offer important conservation lessons for us all. Fleming highlights the preciousness of the ecological web of our planet—Tortilla Flats is a place where cacti and migratory bats and birds connect such far-flung habitats as Mexico’s tropical dry forest, the Sonoran Desert, and the temperate rain forests of southeastern Alaska. Fleming offers an insightful look at how field ecologists work and at the often big surprises that come from looking carefully at a natural world where no species stands alone.

Bats

Author: M. Brock Fenton
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022606526X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Book Description
There are more than 1,300 species of bats—or almost a quarter of the world’s mammal species. But before you shrink in fear from these furry “creatures of the night,” consider the bat’s fundamental role in our ecosystem. A single brown bat can eat several thousand insects in a night. Bats also pollinate and disperse the seeds for many of the plants we love, from bananas to mangoes and figs. Bats: A World of Science and Mystery presents these fascinating nocturnal creatures in a new light. Lush, full-color photographs portray bats in flight, feeding, and mating in views that show them in exceptional detail. The photos also take the reader into the roosts of bats, from caves and mines to the tents some bats build out of leaves. A comprehensive guide to what scientists know about the world of bats, the book begins with a look at bats’ origins and evolution. The book goes on to address a host of questions related to flight, diet, habitat, reproduction, and social structure: Why do some bats live alone and others in large colonies? When do bats reproduce and care for their young? How has the ability to fly—unique among mammals—influenced bats’ mating behavior? A chapter on biosonar, or echolocation, takes readers through the system of high-pitched calls bats emit to navigate and catch prey. More than half of the world’s bat species are either in decline or already considered endangered, and the book concludes with suggestions for what we can do to protect these species for future generations to benefit from and enjoy. From the tiny “bumblebee bat”—the world’s smallest mammal—to the Giant Golden-Crowned Flying Fox, whose wingspan exceeds five feet, A Battery of Bats presents a panoramic view of one of the world’s most fascinating yet least-understood species.

Gregor the Overlander

Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic UK
ISBN: 1407130625
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 178

Book Description
When eleven-year-old Gregor falls through a grate in the laundry room of his apartment building, he hurtles into the dark Underland, where spiders, rats and giant cockroaches coexist uneasily with humans. This world is on the brink of war, and Gregor's arrival is no accident. Gregor has a vital role to play in the Underland's uncertain future.

Bats on the Bedstead

Author: Norma Tadlock Johnson
Publisher: Avon Books
ISBN: 9780380705405
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Book Description
When his family moves into an old house, eleven-year-old Ricky is threatened by a flock of evil bats who want to regain possession of the house.

Good Night Sleep Tight

Author: Kristina Andres
Publisher: Gecko Press (Tm)
ISBN: 1776571436
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 31

Book Description
"Heartwarming stories of friendship, fun and going to bed"--Publisher information.

Terror 911

Author: Doug Paton
Publisher: High Interest Publishing Inc.
ISBN: 9780973123760
Category : Children of divorced parents
Languages : en
Pages : 100

Book Description
Curtis was just picking up his sister. But that was at the World Trade Centre. And that was when the first plane hit. As the north tower burst into flames, the teenager must face the odds... To save his sister... his father... and himself? It's a hundred flights of steps... Can any of them make it that far...?

On Patrol with the SAS

Author: Gary McKay
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1459603621
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 482

Book Description
The stories in this book come from first-hand experiences of the men of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment as they conduct their operations in Borneo and South Vietnam.

The Missing Bat

Author: Vaishali Shroff
Publisher: Pratham books
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description
There was a cricket bat missing from Rehman Chacha's warehouse, and he suspected that young Ahmed had stolen it. A funny tale from Kashmir, the land of the willow trees.

Island Bats

Author: Theodore H. Fleming
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226253317
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 568

Book Description
The second largest order of mammals, Chiroptera comprises more than one thousand species of bats. Because of their mobility, bats are often the only native mammals on isolated oceanic islands, where more than half of all bat species live. These island bats represent an evolutionarily distinctive and ecologically significant part of the earth’s biological diversity. Island Bats is the first book to focus solely on the evolution, ecology, and conservation of bats living in the world’s island ecosystems. Among other topics, the contributors to this volume examine how the earth’s history has affected the evolution of island bats, investigate how bat populations are affected by volcanic eruptions and hurricanes, and explore the threat of extinction from human disturbance. Geographically diverse, the volume includes studies of the islands of the Caribbean, the Western Indian Ocean, Micronesia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and New Zealand. With its wealth of information from long-term studies, Island Bats provides timely and valuable information about how this fauna has evolved and how it can be conserved.