Large cages (think Astrodome large) where struggling insectologists (or whatever scientists who study bugs are called) can take classes to learn the art of Batting. That is, using trained bats to fetch specific insect species. They say bats are highly intelligent, and that their sonar can distinguish specific types of bugs. There have been countless experiments to train them to distinguish different sounds and even to deliver bombs. So there's no reason they can't be taught to catch specific types of bugs, and bring them back to their handler for a reward. Bulldog bats can be trained to do your fishing for you. Batting. Like falconing, only with bats. Guaranteed to find a dedicated following among vampire buffs, especially given the huge popularity of the Twilight and Underworld movies.-- 21 Quest, Dec 04 2009 Bulldog Bats: they prey on fish! http://www.conorbuckner.us/bu.html [21 Quest, Dec 04 2009] Bats with Bombs! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb [21 Quest, Dec 05 2009] Fishing with Cormorants http://en.wikipedia...i/Cormorant_fishingThey use cormorants to fish already but I don't believe they can distinguish between fish. [Aristotle, Dec 06 2009] the biggest http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vleerhondensorry in dutch [zeno, Dec 07 2009] battology http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/battologyPointless repetition. [DrBob, Dec 07 2009] batology http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/batologyThe study of brambles. [DrBob, Dec 07 2009] Batting art. http://ecx.images-a...GBALpSL._SS500_.jpgClassy. [DrBob, Dec 07 2009] bat slap http://www.youtube....watch?v=j9ja6rMKLw0 [jaksplat, Dec 07 2009] // So there's no reason they can't be taught to catch specific types of bugs //
That seems like quite a leap.-- tatterdemalion, Dec 04 2009 If they can learn to identify specific bugs, and they can learn to deliver objects to places, then they can learn to deliver specific bugs. It's only logical. Even if they can't actually learn it, you'd make a killing selling spots in a class to try to teach them to.-- 21 Quest, Dec 04 2009 // reward.
Like a bug?-- leinypoo13, Dec 05 2009 Like a great big bag o' bugs.-- 21 Quest, Dec 05 2009 //insectologists (or whatever scientists who study bugs are called)// entomologists.-- zen_tom, Dec 05 2009 So...not a Tolkien botanist at all?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Dec 05 2009 //deliver bombs// Link me, already.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 05 2009 actually if you work that much with bats you are a chiropterist.-- WcW, Dec 05 2009 //Batting. Like falconing// should be called "battery," really, by analogy with "falconry"
also,
//to catch specific types of bugs and bring them back to their handler//
I'm not sure bats actually *catch* insects. I think they swallow them in midair. So the handler'll get his bugs in the form of turds.
I could still see this as a sport, but it'd have an awfully dull denoument: you'd wait a few hours, and then examine the feces under a microscope to determine whether your bat had caught its prey. Rather like old-style "dry" foil fencing, where each flurry of activity would be followed by a tedious debate over whether a point had been scored.-- mouseposture, Dec 05 2009 [+] for The Count hunting with a bat... could work for nocturnal pirates too.-- FlyingToaster, Dec 05 2009 //a pathetic and contrived idea, yet still more entertaining than cricket.//
Totally [Marked-for-Tagline].-- 21 Quest, Dec 05 2009 Well...
I'll let others point out the drawbacks.
I've been studying falconry and following some falconer's blogs.
You know my sense of the absurd - I have tried to convince them that we should train pelicans to fish and teach seagulls and crows to steal wallets. We have discussed the boredom of training a vulture.
So (+).-- normzone, Dec 05 2009 Cormorants are already used to fish (see link) but note how they are fitted with a ring to stop them swallowing fish whole. This strategy wouldn't work on bats, for a variety of reasons, but this is not to say that this isn't impossible.-- Aristotle, Dec 06 2009 //this is not to say that this isn't impossible.//
How very eloquent. And [Marked-for-Tagline]-- 21 Quest, Dec 06 2009 getting the bat to recognize a specific species of insect is the easy part. the hard part is getting the bat to not eat the insect.-- Joolin, Dec 07 2009 How about a bat that retrieves bulldogs, that would be pretty cool.-- kaz, Dec 07 2009 Is somebody doing taglines?-- RayfordSteele, Dec 07 2009 Rayford, I don't think anybody's keeping a list on the 'Bakery. After UB self-deleted the (mostly) Lame post, I posted a copycat idea, after copy/pasting all the content from a cached copy of the original into the new post, but Jutta made me delete it. I do have a copy saved as a Word document in Google Docs. If you want a copy, or if you want to collaborate with me on keeping it going until the original gets reinstated, let me know. Great thing about Google Docs is multiple people can make edits and additions to one copy, so it keeps things neat.-- 21 Quest, Dec 08 2009 random, halfbakery