The Secret Lives of Bats: My Adventures with the World's Most Misunderstood Mammals - Hardcover

Tuttle, Merlin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0544382277 ISBN 13: 9780544382275

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015

Synopsis

A lifetime of adventures with bats around the world reveals why these special and imperiled creatures should be protected rather than feared.

From menacing moonshiners and armed bandits to charging elephants and man-eating tigers, Merlin Tuttle has stopped at nothing to find and protect bats on every continent they inhabit. Enamored of bats ever since discovering a colony in a cave as a boy, Tuttle saw how effective photography could be in persuading people not to fear bats, and he has spent his career traveling the world to document them.

Few people realize how sophisticated and intelligent bats are. Tuttle shares research showing that frog-eating bats can identify frogs by their calls, that vampire bats have a social order similar to that of primates, and that bats have remarkable memories. Bats also provide enormous benefits by eating crop pests, pollinating plants, and carrying seeds needed for reforestation. They save farmers billions of dollars annually and are essential to a healthy planet.

Sharing highlights from a lifetime of adventure and discovery, Tuttle takes us to the frontiers of bat research and conservation and forever changes the way we see these poorly understood yet fascinating creatures.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Advance Praise for The Secret Lives of Bats
 
“The Secret Lives of Bats is one of the best, most interesting books I’ve ever read. Tuttle has had scores of mind-bending, hair-raising adventures all over the world, and he’s insightful as he shows us bats as sweet-tempered, intelligent, social, and amazingly capable. Our lives would be miserable without these fascinating creatures, yet most of us misunderstand them. This book will fix that. It’s an honor to read a fascinating book by a brave and highly competent scientist about some of the most important creatures on Earth.”
—Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Hidden Life of Dogs and The Tribe of Tiger

"The Secret Lives of Bats is a whirlwind adventure story and a top-shelf natural history page-turner. But perhaps most important, it tells the feel-good conservation success story of the century: how Merlin Tuttle changed the world's perception of bats from monsters to angels—by befriending people, then showing them the truth. Everyone who cares about animals must read this riveting book about a fearless, indestructible gentleman-adventurer and the beautiful, gentle bats he has studied, protected, and loved.”
—Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus and The Good Good Pig

"The Secret Lives of Bats dispels the bad reputation of bats, long lurking in our imagination as creepy, somewhat scary creatures—the bit players in horror movies and Gothic romance. Tuttle’s innovative photography, adventurous spirit, and compelling words and science reveal bats for what they are: intelligent, social, and fascinating mammals. In short, Tuttle's fifty years of research and conservation commitment has turned our aversion into awe."
—Kathy Moran, National Geographic

“The Secret Lives of Bats highlights the lifelong journey of the man who arguably has done more for the conservation of bats than anyone else on the planet. Filled with personal and professional stories and peppered liberally with scientific insights about bats, this book is a must-read for a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the world’s most misunderstood mammals. ”
—John P. Hayes, Colorado State University

From the Inside Flap

From moonshiners and bandits to charging elephants and man-eating tigers, Merlin Tuttle has stopped at nothing to find and protect bats on every continent they inhabit. Enamored of bats ever since discovering a colony in a cave as a boy, Tuttle saw how effective photography could be in persuading people not to fear bats, and he has spent much of his career traveling the world to document them.

Few people realize how sophisticated and intelligent bats are. Tuttle shares research showing that frog-eating bats can identify frogs by their calls, that some bats have social sophistication similar to that of higher primates, and that bats have remarkable memories. Bats also provide enormous benefits by eating crop pests, pollinating plants, and carrying seeds needed for reforestation. They save farmers billions of dollars annually and are essential to a healthy planet.

Sharing highlights from a lifetime of adventure and discovery, Tuttle takes us to the frontiers of bat research and conservation and forever changes the way we see these poorly understood yet fascinating creatures.

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0544382277
• ISBN 13: 9780544382275
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288