Sunday, August 8, 2010

Dearest Reader,

Megabats constitute the suborder Megachiroptera, family Pteropodidae of the order Chiroptera (bats). They are also called fruit bats, old world fruit bats, or flying foxes.

The megabat, contrary to its name, is not always large: the smallest species is 6 centimeters (2.4 inches) long and thus smaller than some microbats. The largest reach 40 cm (16 inches) in length and attain a wingspan of 150 cm (5 feet), weighing in at nearly 1 kg (2.2 pounds). Most fruit bats have large eyes, allowing them to orient visually in the twilight of dusk and inside caves and forests.

Their sense of smell is excellent. In contrast to the microbats, the fruit bats do not, as a rule, use echolocation (with one exception, the Egyptian fruit bat Rousettus egyptiacus, which uses high-pitched clicks to navigate in caves).

Lol this is interesting! I never knew there's such things called MEGABAT and microbat.
Listening to a youtube vid that she sent, I shall attempt to describe the feeling/emotion accompanying the music. Though the title is Dance of Death, I doubt the idea to be conveyed is a dismal one. In fact, it's supposed to be tantalizing (almost hide and seek+waltz like, aka tom and jerry), dangerous, intriguing, with a touch of mischievous hesitation, exactly what a personification of death would be like. There is a little hint of never-ending chaos and toil as with death scrambling to catch a target. The other emotions I get can be expressed via these words: quirky, fidgety, impish optimism, especially with the clicky beats that almost sound like cwab pincers clippin with an evil, cheeky grin! There is also temptation, and sudden surges of grandeur (almost as if the chase escalates) as the music rises sharply at certain points, then falls back to subtle, subdued hesitation, waiting to pounce. Also, the initial feeling of grandeur and succession is quickly overriden by the comical image of skeletons dancing about flashing cheeky grins with no teeth and clicking their bones together. The overall feel I get is not so much creepiness as of an intriguing optimism on a meaningful(to know death and accept it is to be enlightened), impishly magical journey/chase. It's almost as if death is trying to catch a cheeky person fluttering away from it, and at the end we get a sad, soft tune that almost hints at death's succession. However, the last few seconds give a cheeky twist to the sadness, almost as if death hasn't won yet, or that death isn't such a bad thing after all, or that things are not over yet and it's to be continued, like in movies. I'm sure there's more to it, but at 3.10am with a headache, I don't feel like interpreting further.

With Love,
Megabat