M
osquitoes buzz around my head. My
skin itches as bugs bite me, but I don’t slap them away. I don’t move at all. What I’m waiting for is worth a few bites. I’m in a jungle to see a fl ower “call” to a
bat to get the bat to drink its nectar. T is may sound like an odd claim. Flowers don’t make noise. Yet biologist Ralph Simon argues that some fl owers use sound to call bats. His theory thrills me. I’m a photographer
and bat expert. I use my photos to learn as much as I can about bats, and to teach others about these wonderful mammals. Now, Simon and I have teamed up to see how fl owers and bats are built to find each other in the dark. First, we need to see if any bats visit these
fl owers, called sea beans. Darkness falls and a bud begins to open. A small green petal curls upward like a cupped leaf. T en two pale yellow petals open to the side. I smell garlic. Suddenly, a bat fl ies to the fl ower. It hooks
its thumbs on the petals, and shoves its snout into the fl ower. Just as quickly, the bat lets go and disappears into the dark. It happened so fast, we didn’t get a chance to document the visit. T at’s why it’s time to catch some bats.
Discover the main parts a flower uses for pollination.
The pistil
collects pollen to make seeds.
The anther makes pollen.
The petals attract pollinators.
Bat Catcher Earlier, we’d hung a net between two trees. I see four nectar-drinking bats struggling in its threads. T ey’re like the bat that we had seen visiting the sea bean. T ey aren’t hurt, but they can’t escape. I put on a leather glove. T ese bats may lap
up nectar with long tongues, but they defend themselves with sharp little teeth! I carefully untangle the bats and slip each one into a soſt cloth bag. I take the bats to a photo studio we’ve built
nearby. T e studio looks like the jungle. It’s dark, and sea beans hang from metal stands. I’ve already set up my digital camera and aimed it at the fl owers. I free the bats in the studio. Luckily, these
bats are hungry. Soon, they’re fl itting from sea bean to sea bean. Now, I’ll be able to use my camera to document step-by-step everything that happened so quickly in the wild.
Inside F alower
The long stalk of the stamen holds up an anther.
10 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER
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