The baby leopard was on holiday in England and had decided to visit the Wetland Centre in Barnes.
Because English people were not used to talking leopards, he arrived after dark and slunk into the reserve just as darkness rolled in.
To his surprise he saw about 50
people gathered together. He crept up to them and eavesdropped.
They were going bat watching.
Listening to them he learnt that Britain has 18 different kinds of bats; about half the number of different kinds of bats found in Sri Lanka. They were all small, hardly a mouthful. Not like the big Flying Foxes you had back home. The big fruit bats would make a good snack but mummy leopard had warned him not to try and catch them.
They slept high up on trees on
slender branches and it was too dangerous to try and reach them. Someone who looked like the leader explained that at the Wetland Centre in Barnes they could see seven different kinds. They were hoping to see Soprano Pipistrelles, Daubenton’s and Leisler’s Bats.
"What funny people," thought the baby leopard. 'Why would people look at bats? They are too much trouble to even eat!" They set off pointing little boxes at the sky.
The baby leopard twitched one ear and then the next and finally its tail, with its white tip glowing in the London dark, which is not dark at all but yellow because of strange amber coloured street lights. With its
curiosity aroused, it overtook the group by running through a hedge and climbed a small bush. He was now at the head height of the people. He made sure no one could see him.
As they passed, he asked a woman, "Excuse me, why are you pointing that box at the sky?" "It’s a bat detector," she explained. "We can’t normally hear the bats because they make their sounds at what is called a high frequency. The bat
detector picks up their call and almost at the same time plays it back at a lower frequency we can hear.
Like birds, different kinds of bat have different calls, so we can tell what bats are around by listening". "Can you hear the Daubenton’s Bat?"
She looked around to see who had asked the question. The baby leopard froze. The lady looked a little puzzled at not seeing anyone who had asked the question and the group moved on. "Oh I like England," thought the baby leopard. "It is full of funny, interesting people". |
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