- I'm Coyote Peterson, this is Wild Man Phil.
The sun is going down, and tonight we're headed
out into the desert to look for bats.
(dramatic music)
The scorching deserts of southern Arizona
are unbearable during the day,
and most of the wildlife
stays hunkered under ground
and out of sight.
Generally, the best time to see creatures
of the desert is at night.
So this evening the crew and I are
headed out to work with wildlife specialist
Philip Rakoci.
Known best as Wild Man Phil,
he's a jack of all animals
and will be helping us search out
one of the most perfectly designed
predators of the night
in one of the places you'd least
expect us to be looking.
Phil, we are walking up to a bridge here.
This is not really what I had in mind
when you're going out looking for bats.
But tell us why we're gonna look
under this bridge.
- Well, because out here in the flat desert,
we don't have a lot of mountains
with a lot of caves.
And luckily, as people build things,
they build bat habitats.
So it's kinda like going to a giant bat house.
We have bat houses in your backyard
where you might have five or 10 bats.
You build a bridge, you might have a few thousand bats.
- Okay, well let's go see if we can find
a few thousand bats.
So where are these thousands of bats hiding?
- Look in the tight crack right up in here
where they feel safer during the day
because nothing can get to them.
- No, you were not kidding.
Look at all those little eyeballs.
Oh, that is creepy looking.
- [Philip] These are Mexican free-tailed bats.
- [Coyote] Okay, now is this a species
that can carry rabies?
- [Philip] All bats can, but Mexican free-tailed bats
actually account for very, very few
cases of rabies.
- Okay, so I don't have to worry about
these guys shooting out of that crevice
onto my face and grabbing onto me
and bite me?
- No, you shouldn't have to.
- [Coyote] Okay, because bats kind of have
a bad reputation.
A lot of people are afraid of bats.
And, I mean, these guys are so cute,
I don't see how you could be afraid of this thing.
You're telling me you're able to capture
one of these bats so we can get
an up close look at it?
- Yeah, bats can be fairly fragile,
so you have to know what you're doing.
But now is a good time to be able
to do that.
If we've got this hook that we can fit
up into there, we should be able
to do that.
It works best with a two man team.
So if you can hold the light up there,
and watch out, they might poop in your eye.
- [Coyote] Yeah, no, I'm well aware.
I will stay over here and try not
to get pooped on.
- Try and get this guy down right about here.
- [Coyote] Oh, he's got one.
He's got one.
Wow!
Look at that little guy!
And he's not biting you?
- No, that's another thing that's kind of a learned
thing is how to grab them
and not get bit.
You want to hold him gently,
that's important, but not enough that he
can squirm and get away.
But I want to show you.
- Wow, look at those wings!
- [Philip] And that's his hand.
- Look at that.
So that's his arm and these are
all those little extended fingers, right?
- Yeah, so right here, that's his elbow,
and then this is his hand.
That is his thumb.
And then he's got fingers just like us,
one here, one here, one here, one here.
And as he opens those up,
he's got a long pinky finger.
- [Coyote] Wow, so this at the end here,
this is his pinky?
- [Philip] Yep, the last one right here at the tip.
Now I mentioned it's a free-tailed bat,
so this is his free tail.
This little piece of skin right here
called a uropatagiam,
it's a big long word that means
skin between his foot and his tail,
and he actually has a piece
of cartilage, a cartilage ring,
that goes around his vertebrae,
and he has muscles.
So he can actually pull this down or up.
So he can have a little tail or a long tail.
- So the tail helps him pivot in the air?
- Yeah.
- And then he's got that bug net
to scoop his dinner.
- Yep, and then open that up,
grab that bug, pop the foot in,
pull the bug out,
throw it in your mouth,
all while flying.
- That is one efficient predator right there.
Phil has shown me the technique
of how to catch these Mexican free-tailed bats.
And now it's my turn to try
to give it a go.
Fishing for bats is what we call this.
- [Philip] Okay, you'll kinda go up past them
a little bit, and then when you slide it,
you'll feel if you hit something.
- [Coyote] Oh, oop, geez!
- [Philip] Close.
You got the technique,
you got the technique.
- I got two on that one,
and then I kinda startled.
They both jumped out, and Mark,
one flew right under your leg.
Okay, let me try that again.
Missed him.
Catching bats is not easy.
I think you got some bat poop
on your lens there.
I got one.
I got him, I got him.
Don't get bit, don't get bit, don't get bit.
Yes!
Look at this little guy.
Only took me 10 tries,
but that is the Mexican free-tailed bat.
A little mouse with wings.
But my goodness, have you ever seen
such a cute little critter?
Look at those wings.
Holy cow.
Wow, the skin on these wings,
it feels like real thin latex.
Unbelievable, and look at those veins
all going through the wings there.
Holy cow, I have never captured a bat before.
First time for me.
Now what's the best way to release this guy?
If I let go, will he just kinda fly off?
- [Philip] The best thing is if you can kinda close
him up without getting bit
and let his back legs grab onto your finger,
and then when you open up,
then he'll know when he's ready to drop down.
- And I think he's probably ready
to take off into the night.
Phil, I cannot thank you enough
for taking us out here tonight
to catch the Mexican free-tailed bat.
My first time catching a bat,
underneath a bridge!
Well, how can we find you
and the work that you do?
- Wildmanphil.com.
- Sweet.
Check out Phil's work.
I'm Coyote Peterson.
Be brave.
Stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
If you thought that was one wild adventure,
check out these other animal encounters,
and don't forget, subscribe to follow me
and the crew on this season
of Breaking Trail.
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(animal noises)