Damn, but vampires are *ugly*. I always forget until I see a pic of one. Kinda feel sorry for the buggers: bad press and a face that looks like they beat themselves senseless with the ugly stick. I have to ask: How did we get from that to Edward Cullen?
Gregory Greenwoodsays
cheesynougats @ 6;
Damn, but vampires are *ugly*. I always forget until I see a pic of one. Kinda feel sorry for the buggers: bad press and a face that looks like they beat themselves senseless with the ugly stick. I have to ask: How did we get from that to Edward Cullen?
Ugly? Perhaps, but I find it far less annoying than the nauseatingly ubiquitous Twilight franchise and its attendant masses of ‘Twi-hards’, and far less creepy than the toxic paeans to Mormonism that run throughout Stephanie Meyers’ work.
I would take a haemophage like our little winged friend over that tripe any day of the week.
Diannesays
I wonder what vampire bats use for an anticoagulant and if it would be useful in DVT or stroke.
Diannesays
Oh. It’s a Xa inhibitor called…draculin. Cute!
RFWsays
I thought tongue kissing was verboten.
Predator Handshakesays
Unfortunately I can’t remember who said it, or even the episode (though I’m reasonably sure it was a Halloween edition-maybe called Spooky?) of Quite Interesting, but one of the questions was regarding vampire bats. I think it was “where are you most likely to be bitten by a vampire?” They showed a picture of a vamp and one of the panel members said it was what Yoda would have looked like had he joined the Dark Side.
However, having played a few games of Vampire: The Masquerade, I’m of the mind that vampire bats look perfectly reasonable for Nosferatu.
badandfiercesays
Aw, lookit his/her ickle face! Vampires are just the friendliest looking little phyllostomids. Unless they’re showing you their teeth, which are bizarre and rather menacing, but most teeth are like that, so I’ll let it slide. I’m sad whenever I remember that the giant species in the genus is almost certainly extinct. I would love a horde of huge vampire bats to be my friends.
(I, uh, spent the last half week or so at NASBR 2011. Still in bat mode. But I stand by my statements!)
Bats are one of my favorite animals! I think I like Halloween so much because I can actually by things with bats on them. Even the ugly ones are pretty adorable. And the blood drinking ones just prick you and lap up the blood.
Well played, Calvin. Or, rather, Susie Derkins and the rest of Calvin’s classmates.
Bechamelsays
@Predator Handshake #12:
QI Series 5, episode 1 (Engineering). It was a General Ignorance question, hence the unrelated topic, and it was Stephen Fry himself who introduced the Yoda comparison.
Okay, the muzzle area doesn’t win beauty contests, but look at the playful glance it throws toward the camera and say there’s not something appealing there.
amandassays
I’m currently attempting to re-train a microbat (Lesser Long-Eared) how to fly (currently her flight tend to go straight downwards for no physical reason that can be ascertained). If anyone has any advice on how a strictly non-flying mammal can train a flying mammal how to do it, it would be greatly appreciated.
I do rather love bats. The fact I’m a carer is probably proof of that, I guess.
ibyea says
Also, happy 7 billion human population day! Well, actually, that’s not so good.
Glen Davidson says
ID: Because it explains so much. Sure, if you have crappy genetic algorithms as your God.
Glen Davidson
azportsider says
Oh, I dunno, PZ–maybe a Halloween Pennant Celithemis eponina?
http://bugguide.net/node/view/2591
ChasCPeterson says
Glen, are you, like, stuck?
Dhorvath, OM says
Now that is a bloody good drink.
cheesynougats says
Damn, but vampires are *ugly*. I always forget until I see a pic of one. Kinda feel sorry for the buggers: bad press and a face that looks like they beat themselves senseless with the ugly stick. I have to ask: How did we get from that to Edward Cullen?
Gregory Greenwood says
cheesynougats @ 6;
Ugly? Perhaps, but I find it far less annoying than the nauseatingly ubiquitous Twilight franchise and its attendant masses of ‘Twi-hards’, and far less creepy than the toxic paeans to Mormonism that run throughout Stephanie Meyers’ work.
I would take a haemophage like our little winged friend over that tripe any day of the week.
Dianne says
I wonder what vampire bats use for an anticoagulant and if it would be useful in DVT or stroke.
Dianne says
Oh. It’s a Xa inhibitor called…draculin. Cute!
RFW says
I thought tongue kissing was verboten.
Predator Handshake says
Unfortunately I can’t remember who said it, or even the episode (though I’m reasonably sure it was a Halloween edition-maybe called Spooky?) of Quite Interesting, but one of the questions was regarding vampire bats. I think it was “where are you most likely to be bitten by a vampire?” They showed a picture of a vamp and one of the panel members said it was what Yoda would have looked like had he joined the Dark Side.
However, having played a few games of Vampire: The Masquerade, I’m of the mind that vampire bats look perfectly reasonable for Nosferatu.
badandfierce says
Aw, lookit his/her ickle face! Vampires are just the friendliest looking little phyllostomids. Unless they’re showing you their teeth, which are bizarre and rather menacing, but most teeth are like that, so I’ll let it slide. I’m sad whenever I remember that the giant species in the genus is almost certainly extinct. I would love a horde of huge vampire bats to be my friends.
(I, uh, spent the last half week or so at NASBR 2011. Still in bat mode. But I stand by my statements!)
Ron Sullivan says
What? It doesn’t ~sparkle~???!
Shadow says
At least vampire bats are honest in their bloodletting…
H.D. Lynn says
Bats are one of my favorite animals! I think I like Halloween so much because I can actually by things with bats on them. Even the ugly ones are pretty adorable. And the blood drinking ones just prick you and lap up the blood.
feralboy12 says
Imagine how disgusting it will be when all her little bat eggs start hatching.
Rey Fox says
BATS AREN’T BUGS!
vltava says
Well played, Calvin. Or, rather, Susie Derkins and the rest of Calvin’s classmates.
Bechamel says
@Predator Handshake #12:
QI Series 5, episode 1 (Engineering). It was a General Ignorance question, hence the unrelated topic, and it was Stephen Fry himself who introduced the Yoda comparison.
JohnnieCanuck says
There’s only one response to this calumny:
YOU chowderheads.
Blupp says
The smuggest looking bat I ever saw.
jamesproffitt says
Vampires aren’t ugly! Just look at Diphylla ecaudata: http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/diphecau.htm
Matthew Reid says
And vampires will help each other out if they’re short of a meal. Sociable as well as blood sucking…
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v308/n5955/abs/308181a0.html
Matt Reid
Samantha Vimes, Chalkboard Monitor says
Okay, the muzzle area doesn’t win beauty contests, but look at the playful glance it throws toward the camera and say there’s not something appealing there.
amandas says
I’m currently attempting to re-train a microbat (Lesser Long-Eared) how to fly (currently her flight tend to go straight downwards for no physical reason that can be ascertained). If anyone has any advice on how a strictly non-flying mammal can train a flying mammal how to do it, it would be greatly appreciated.
I do rather love bats. The fact I’m a carer is probably proof of that, I guess.