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Oh, thank you for linking to a text.npr.org page. For those who don't know, https://text.npr.org https://text.npr.org is a text-only version of the site. Very l

Oh, thank you for linking to a text.npr.org page. For those who don't know, https://text.npr.org https://text.npr.org is a text-only version of the site. Very lite. In regards to the article - this is good news to hear. But I wonder, as weather events get more frequent and more extreme, how much can we keep this up? And as good as this news is, this makes it seems like we got lucky because someone just happened to think to themselves: "Mary Warwick, the wildlife director at the Houston Humane Society, said she was out doing holiday shopping when the freezing winds reminded her that she hadn't heard how the bats were doing in the unusually cold temperatures for the region." - Can we hope to be so lucky next time? Seems like a game of whack-a-mole, where there moles are just getting faster and faster...

cmeacham98 4y ago
The text version is strictly inferior here because it doesn't include the images.
- Xylakant 4y ago
  It’s also strictly superior, because it doesn’t contain cookies or JavaScript and loads quickly even on slower connections.
  - daveslash 4y ago
    I think them's fighting words here on HN!!!! Jokes aside, though, I quite agree with you.
adolph 4y ago
> how much can we keep this up? Large colonies under relatively exposed bridges are not likely an evolutionarily winning behavior in the long term even without an increase in extreme weather frequency. Since there is a healthy bat population that otherwise survives well throughout Houston in trees, eaves and elsewhere, the loss of less robustly situated bats isn't going to make a large difference, in my layperson's point of view. There isn't a need to keep anything up because the bats do just fine without human interference.
- daveslash 4y ago
  Good point! And you're right of course regarding the bats. I was speaking more generally about vulnerable animal populations in general, but I wasn't very clear on that point. :-/
  - adolph 4y ago
    Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s a vulnerable population from one that is just at the fringe of its physio-behavioral range. A common bat in the Houston area is the Mexican Freetailed. Looking at its documented range makes me think it isn’t well suited for freezes either directly or by the nature of what it predates or pollinates. If this species (or any vulnerable population) were to be propped up in Houston, what would be the effects on other ecosystem participants that may depend on periodic removal of the first species? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_free-tailed_bat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_free-tailed_bat

cmeacham98 4y ago

The text version is strictly inferior here because it doesn't include the images.

Xylakant 4y ago
It’s also strictly superior, because it doesn’t contain cookies or JavaScript and loads quickly even on slower connections.
- daveslash 4y ago
  I think them's fighting words here on HN!!!! Jokes aside, though, I quite agree with you.

adolph 4y ago

> how much can we keep this up? Large colonies under relatively exposed bridges are not likely an evolutionarily winning behavior in the long term even without an increase in extreme weather frequency. Since there is a healthy bat population that otherwise survives well throughout Houston in trees, eaves and elsewhere, the loss of less robustly situated bats isn't going to make a large difference, in my layperson's point of view. There isn't a need to keep anything up because the bats do just fine without human interference.

daveslash 4y ago
Good point! And you're right of course regarding the bats. I was speaking more generally about vulnerable animal populations in general, but I wasn't very clear on that point. :-/
- adolph 4y ago
  Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s a vulnerable population from one that is just at the fringe of its physio-behavioral range. A common bat in the Houston area is the Mexican Freetailed. Looking at its documented range makes me think it isn’t well suited for freezes either directly or by the nature of what it predates or pollinates. If this species (or any vulnerable population) were to be propped up in Houston, what would be the effects on other ecosystem participants that may depend on periodic removal of the first species? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_free-tailed_bat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_free-tailed_bat