“You might think some of these are AI-generated or a different animal species but I want you to tell me if these are bats,” Rohit Chakravarty, asks a room of full folks sipping wine, cocktails and beers.
He proceeded to point out a collection of images that includes tiny wrinkly faces, lopsided heads and creatures that frankly seemed like bat faces photoshopped on guinea pigs. Turns out most of them have been numerous species of bats.
With this, Rohit turned the primary speaker at Pint of View on August 24, 2025. Inspired by a related idea within the United States titled, Lectures on Tap, this occasion sees researchers from numerous fields speak about their work in casual settings.
“My first encounter with this species was rescuing a fruit bat tangled up in manja (kite thread) when I was young. While caring for it, I realised everything I had been told about this gentle creature was wrong. It was not biting me or sucking my blood, neither was it flying into my hair. The only thing it wanted to do was eat all the mangoes,” he tells the gang.
A bat challenge supervisor at Nature Conservation Foundation and Bat Conservation International, Rohit started the lecture with the variety of bat species, diets, life expectancy and evolution, earlier than shifting onto extra fascinating behaviours exhibited by these mammals.
For occasion, do you know that vampire bats, present in Central and South America, share their meals (animal blood) with different bats who’re ravenous? Rodrigues fruit bats present behaviour just like midwifing the place feminine bats have been seen to assist and care throughout childbirth.
Rohit subsequent spoke about Lazaro Spallanzani, a priest and Italian biologist who first found that bats used sound to hunt and navigate, as an alternative of counting on sight in 1794. He observed that blinded bats have been nonetheless in a position to navigate, nonetheless, if the creatures’ listening to was impaired, they misplaced their bearing.
Two centuries later, this was confirmed by American zoologist Donald Griffin and his colleagues who recorded the ultrasonic sounds emitted by bats. Their experiments confirmed that bats confirm their environment whereas producing these sounds and coined the time period ‘echolocation.’
Rohit talked in regards to the numerous locations he has studied these tiny creatures, starting from limestone caves within the rainforests of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the lofty Himalayas, to the unexplored caves of Meghalaya and the ruins of Tughlakabad in Delhi.
Rohit’s most up-to-date work was the invention of a model new species referred to as the Himalayan Long-tailed Myotis.
| Photo Credit:
Shoaib Kalsekar
His most up-to-date work was the discovery of a model new species referred to as the Himalayan long-tailed myotis, discovered within the Western Himalayas starting from Uttarakhand to Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Rohit’s slideshow of bat species embody the golden-tinged little tube-nosed bat, the endangered horseshoe bats endemic to the Andamans, the peculiar-looking Kolar leaf-nosed bat, Nicobar flying bat, Salim Ali’s fruit bat and extra.
“Bats extensively help with the pollination of agave plants which are used to make tequila,” he says.
He highlights how bats, regardless of their infamy, are nice pollinators, particularly for mangroves which act as a pure barrier towards tsunamis, cyclones and storms. He narrated an instance from Cambodia the place dried leaves are organized in a drooping method so bats can roost. At evening, these bats hunt pests in surrounding rice fields and their droppings are used as fertiliser.
Rohit identified threats the mammal faces, and talked about how the Kolar leaf-nosed bat was on the verge of extinction as a result of granite mining within the area.
He shared how one can keep secure round these animals whereas co-existing with them. “Bats are already great at social distancing. Give them space and do not touch or handle them. Secondly, do not eat fallen fruit as there are high chances their saliva could contain deadly viruses that could be infectious. Thirdly, stay away from bat faeces and keep your pets away from them too,” he says.
“Many neglected species such as bats and moths, get little attention. I believe it is our responsibility as scientists to spread awareness and one way to do that is to talk to people in informal settings.”
Organisers Harsh Snehanshu and Shruti Sah are additionally the co-founders of Cubbon Reads. They are joined by Meghna Chaudhary, who’s a machine studying engineer.
| Photo Credit:
Shoaib Kalsekar
The minds behind Pint of View — Harsh Snehanshu and Shruti Sah —have a historical past of constructing communities by means of shared pursuits and curious minds. They co-founded Cubbon Reads and have additionally created apps, which carry folks collectively by means of writing or studying. They are joined by Meghna Chaudhary, who’s a machine studying engineer.
“We have tried to find researchers who work on the intersection of things,” says Shruti. “Bengaluru is full of techies and corporate workers and we realised that people who were curious about things in college had to leave that behind. We wanted to create a space where people could engage more mindfully.”
Harsh factors out that although lectures are largely regimented and formal, occasions comparable to Pint of View present folks can have interaction intellectually in a relaxed setting as properly.
Pint of View will likely be again on September 7, 2025, with a lecture on textiles, recollections and historical past with trend researcher Niyati Hirani. Details of upcoming talks may be discovered at @pintofview.membership. Tickets on Urbanaut.
