This is the logo of Bat Conservation International, the world's leading bat-related conservation organization. The logo design itself is the Chinese symbol WU-FU, in which five bats representing health, wealth, long life, good luck, and happiness circle the Tree of Life.



 

As a longtime bat enthusiast and member of Bat Conservation International, I was able to go along on the July 18, 1998 BCI-sponsored trip to Bracken Cave outside of San Antonio, Texas, the home of the world's largest bat colony! Click on the thumbnail for my detailed photo essay!


 

This is the logo of the Austin Ice Bats, the world's
coolest hockey team!  I include this here in reverence of the person who thought of the perfect
name for Austin's first professional sports team.







 

The Roller Bats are the unfrozen alter egos of the Ice Bats, who tour Austin during the summer with a series of roller hockey clinics.





 

Meet Batfink, the world's greatest cartoon character! There were one hundred episodes of the Batfink series made in the late 1960s, and they're available on video on the official Batfink Web Site.
Cool Batfink catch phrases:
"Your bullets cannot harm me, my wings are like a shield of steel!"
"My supersonic sonar-radar will find him!"
"If I go, you go, Hugo Agogo!"

 

This is of course the Batman logo, which has been getting a lot of exposure due to the recent spate of Batman movies.


 

On June 12, 1998, Austin was presented with a new bat sculpture! Designed by artist Dale Whistler, the sculpture is on a little traffic island at the intersection of Congress Avenue and Barton Springs Road just south of the world-famous Congress Avenue Bat Bridge! Click here for a detailed photo essay documenting the sculpture's construction!






 

The Moody Gardens resort in Galveston, Texas, has an actual live bat colony at the base of their very cool rainforest pyramid!





 

The Congress Avenue Bridge in downtown Austin, Texas, is the home of the world's largest urban bat colony, sometimes housing as many as 1.5 million bats!




 

The Chiroptorium is an artificial bat cave being built in Blanco County west of Austin, Texas. Constructed out of rocklike material covering a steel bar frame, it has been designed to hold thousands of bats in luxury and comfort with a built-in window for safe and convenient bat viewing!




 

This is Bartok the Bat from the Twentieth Century Fox movie 'Anastasia'. Bartok is the reluctant familiar of the evil monk Rasputin, and he tries to nudge Rasputin away from black magic without much success until the end of the movie, where Bartok proves his batliness. Bartok meets a girl bat right at the end of the film, but unfortunately I don't have any info about her or pictures of her. I think Bartok's voice is done by Hank Azaria from 'The Simpsons'.

 

This is the Bacardi Bat, the logo that graces every bottle of world-famous Bacardi rum. Legend has it that the wife of the company's founder suggested that each bottle be labeled with a recognizable bat logo, since many of their 19th century Cuban customers were illiterate, but they could easily identify "el ron de murcielagos", the rum of the bats, if they saw a bat on the bottle. Since the original distillery had a colony of fruit bats living in the rafters and bats were a symbol of watchfulness and family harmony to the Spaniards, Bacardi chose the Bacardi Bat for its symbol and it has remained so to this day.

 

I don't drink alcohol, so I'm always the last to hear about these things, but a recent issue of the Austin American-Statesman newspaper directed my attention to a new bat-themed beer! It's called "Bat's Breath Bock" from the Hill Country Brewery here in Austin, Texas. Haven't tried it, but the label is very batly! Click here for a high-res closeup!

 

Bats figured prominently into the religious beliefs of the ancient Maya. Independent scientist Maurice Cotterell discovered the image of a bat hidden within the famous Lid of Palenque at left. His theory states that the images along the edges of the lid are codes for how the image in the center can be overlaid upon itself to reveal hidden pictures that tell the story of Mayan creation and destruction. The bat most likely symbolizes the death of the great king whose tomb the lid covers. Close-ups available.