exposé anglais 1ere

Bat : a species affected by concervation issues in France

A confilct in between people and nature

Index

1. Description of bats

2. Exemples of bats which are in danger

2.1. Great noctule (exagone)

2.2. Little noctilion (Guyane)

3. Occidental tradition on bats

Description of bats

A species not well known

bat or chiroptera

• Nocturnal animal
• Age up to 41 years
• Good flyers (not as speed as birds)
• Can live everywhere execpt in extreme deserts, a few isolated islands and polar regions
• Hibernate during winter
• Roost upside down during the day

• Really social animal

• Have a sexual reproduction
• 1 breeding season per year ( mostly one pup per litter)
• Most are polygamous
• The pup stays in the roost until it can fly

2 types of bat

• Micro bats
• 70% of the general population
• Eat instect and bugs
• Use echolocation

• Megabats
• Mostly found in tropical region
• Eat fruits, nectar and pollen
• Larger, stronger sense of smell, larger eyes, smaller ears (they don't echolocate)

Examples of bats in danger

A species more important than we think

The little noctillion

• lives mainly in French Guiana and Latin Amercia
• not very large
• males: bright red, female: dull brown
• eat fiches, insects and plants
• help removing pests and spreading plants

a species in danger

• destruction of their natural habitats
• urbanization of coastlines
• the polution of air and water kills the preys

To prtotect them surveys are often made to check on their habitat.

The common pipistrelle

• a vespertilionidé
• eats mosquitoes, flies or moths and caterpillars that develop at the expense of crops

a species in danger

• disturbances during winter
• the disappearance of their birthing sites
• use of too many widespread
• poorly controlled use of pesticides

The 1976 Nature Protection Act and association named SFEPM are made to protect them.

Occidental tradition on bats

A species associated all the darkness of the world

"cawax sorix": a cursed animal

• name: "cawas sorix" in greek
• demon like image
• unusual habits and not well known
• they prefer darkness
• Ovid and the Minyades myth

Its hybridity in litterature

• Bram Stoker

• La Fontaine

• Esope

An animal related to religon

• In the Torah the bird is considered "an unclean bird for consumption"
• It is used to mock christianism
• Classified in the satanic bestiary by the Church

• In the middle ages: responsible for sterility, baldness blindness
• In the 18th century: symbol of darkness and ignorance
• Until the 19th century: peasants hung bats on their doors to ward off bad luck
• It was used by witches
• they hang in women's hair

• In the 1940s the comic book's hero Batman gives a better image of the bat

Thanks!

• Patricia Yazbeck
• Jules-Edouard San Roman
• Laura Zumella
• Noémie Allouche