Video content
The new bat has been discovered in, and named after, the Nimba Mountains of West Africa.
Bats
Video caption: The new bat has been discovered in, and named after, the Nimba Mountains Video content
Video caption: Bats, roadblocks and the origins of coronavirus The BBC came across roadblocks and checkpoints as they tried to report on a decade-long project into viruses that bats carry
Bats get new home in Sherford community park
Ed Oldfield
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Bats are to get a purpose-built home as a result of the Sherford new town development near Plymouth.
The barn-style building will have walls made from blocks with timber cladding and a tiled roof with gaps to allow the creatures to fly in.
The bat house is required under measures to improve the ecology of the area following the development.
It has now been approved under planning permission for a field to become part of a new community park.
By Helen Briggs
BBC Environment correspondent
By Helen Briggs
BBC Environment correspondent
Video content
Video caption: ‘Bats decide to go under my sofa’ Jenny Harris believes people should celebrate the often maligned mammals.
By Helen Briggs
BBC Environment correspondent
Video content
Video caption: Coronavirus: Looking for viruses in Thai bats Thai scientists are collecting bats to find clues about the origins of viruses, including Covid-19.
Video content
Video caption: Australia: ‘Bat tornado’ invades Queensland town Hundreds of thousands of bats have invaded Ingham and residents are fed up.
Bat spit: the new hit for coffee lovers
Copyright: Getty ImagesImage caption: Ordinary coffee beans (no bat spit added) Bat spit is becoming a hit with coffee fans.
Apparently coffee beans nibbled by bats end up with a uniquely smooth flavour sending their prices soaring, according to a Reuters report.
It says prices for the speciality bourbon pointu coffee grown in central Madagascar’s Itasy province have soared to nearly $110 per pound (£84.17).
Bourbon pointu beans without bat spit sell for around $101 per pound, more than 50 times the price of commodity-grade coffee, the report says.
“It’s very special,” Ronald Van der Vaeken, a local Belgian hotelier told Reuters. “Normal coffee, after two minutes, you forget the taste - but this coffee stays a very long time in your mouth."
It's not the first animal-enhanced coffee trend: southeast Asia’s Kopi Luwak coffee is made from beans salvaged from civet cat poop; Thailand has elephant dung coffee; and there’s a Costa Rican bat coffee.
By Joe Crowley
BBC Inside Out East
By Matt Lloyd
BBC News
