Attend this interesting lecture in Mumbai about bats to understand why you need to celebrate them

A colony of Fulvus Leaf-nosed bats

A bat walks into a bar and orders two shots of the tequila. He's had a tiring flight. "Funny. This tastes familiar," he tells the bartender. Chiropterologist and bat researcher Rajkumar Patel tells us this winged visitor from the story we cooked up could be the Mexican Long-nosed bat, a primary pollinator of the blue agave plant, the base ingredient in tequila. This weekend, the bat and the bartender will meet once again at a one-hour lecture by Patel at a Bat Week (October 24 to 31) special lecture.

Agave tequiliana. PICS COURTESY/WIKIMEDIA; RAJKUMAR PATEL

"Unless you tell people how bats benefit humans, they unfortunately don't care too much about them. Bat species remain largely under-studied in India [as revealed in the recent State of India's Bats report]," Patel says. Hence, the tequila story; or the lesson that bats play a vital role in India's agriculture.

"Insectivorous bats keep pests away from common plants like cotton and tomato. On the other hand, bats can also pollinate important fruits like bananas and mahua," he reveals. It's time they are recognised as a farmer's best friends alongside the earthworms, he bats for the flying mammals.

Rajkumar Patel (in green) leads a bat exploration walk

The expert will bring to the big screen observations from his studies, and his new city-based venture Bats of Bombay. Armed with a thermal camera and echolocation devices, Patel has been leading curious Mumbaikars with the Naturalist Explorers community into the caves of Borivli and Jogeshwari, in small batches to observe bats like the Fulvus Leaf-nosed Bat.

An echolocation app helps to locate bats

"There exist many myths around bats and the supposed ill omen they bring," he rues. The lecture will bust myths, and aim to spark an interest in observing and studying the mammals, "much like the rising interest in birding in the city. It's a whole new world waiting to be explored," he signs off.

Rajkumar Patel studies a bat

We'll leave you with another piece of bat trivia, no fiction this time. In 1862, a family of distillers spotted a colony of fruit bats nesting in their rum distillery in Cuba. A symbol of good fortune in Spanish culture, they adopted the bat into the now-widely-recognised logo. Shots on us if you can name it.

ON October 25; 5 pm
AT Woodside Inn, Pali Hill, Bandra West.
LOG ON TO urbanaut.app; @batsofbombay
ENTRY Rs 699