Dots and Lines
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dotsandlines.bsky.social
Dots and Lines
@dotsandlines.bsky.social
770 followers 510 following 4.9K posts
Bat fan who makes geeky music. 🦇 They/them. If you're looking for friends from the bird site, Exogeology Rocks (purple planet).
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dotsandlines.bsky.social
I went to see SUE the T. rex recently, and look who else I ran into! #copper
Dendritic copper. It looks like a gnarly but sturdy old tree. Next to it are a few pennies and a label saying "Copper Michigan M5610"
November 7, 2025 at 2:04 AM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Sure are. What a show!
Overhead view of trees whose leaves are all different colors: green, yellow, orange, deep red, and sometimes fallen to reveal bare grey branches.
October 22, 2025 at 11:43 PM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Not technically a self-portrait.
A plush bat toy with black and lime green bat print on its ears and inside its wings. It is wearing a human's round glasses, which are a touch too big, but they look right anyway.
October 18, 2025 at 4:04 AM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat [picture] 51: Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis), another endangered species.
A dark cave, with camera flash revealing clusters of small dark brown bats on the ceiling and a few bats in flight. They are relatively unremarkable, but still cute and fuzzy. Photo attribution: Public domain, USFWS; Andrew King
October 12, 2025 at 10:25 PM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat 50: Little guardian, currently on bookshelf duty.
A bat carved from stone, small enough to live in someone's pocket. The stone is tan with white and yellow speckles and a dark band across what became a wing, making the bat look like it has a scar from some past adventure. The bat stands upright, wings outstretched and painted yellow eyes wide. It is guarding a bookshelf containing a couple white boxes and a couple batty board books, "Little Bat" and "That's Not My Bat..."
October 7, 2025 at 3:16 AM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat 49: The best I've ever drawn.

I used this as album art for two bat-themed albums, Chiroptera and Chiropteromancy, just flipped horizontally and color inverted for the latter.
A small orange card with a bat's left wing drawn in black gel pen. It is simple and a bit stubby, but includes fingers in the wing and a thumb sticking out.
October 6, 2025 at 6:43 PM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat 48: Ghost bat (Macroderma gigas).
A pale bat with white fur, big ears, big black eyes, a small nose leaf, and slightly darker wings. Photo attribution: Sardaka (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
October 6, 2025 at 5:59 AM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat [picture] 47: Straw-colored fruit bat (Eidolon helvum).

The largest mammal migration in the world is of millions of straw-colored fruit bats in Zambia's Kasanka National Park.

Learn more: kasanka.com
Dozens of straw-colored fruit bats roosting on a tree, very close together. They have big, soft brown eyes and narrow, fox-like faces. Photo attribution: Konrad Bidziński (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
October 6, 2025 at 1:39 AM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat 46: Tiny graffiti.
A wall covered in marker graffiti. On it, someone has drawn a simple bat in black marker, and someone else has added eyes and a cute fanged smile in red. Nearby graffiti include a heart symbol, the name "Courtney", and a happy face with hair.
October 5, 2025 at 8:27 AM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat 45: Pekapeka-tou-roa (Chalinolobus tuberculatus).

Also known as the New Zealand long-tailed bat, pekapeka-tou-roa once won a "Bird of the Year" contest.

Learn more: www.renews.co.nz/bat-wins-bir...
A very small, very dark brown bat held in someone's hand, only its face and thumbs peeking out. Its face is smaller than the tip of the human's thumb. The bat has short ears and slightly long nostrils. Photo attribution: Joe Dillon (CC-BY-4.0)
October 4, 2025 at 8:03 PM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat 44: Barbastelle (Barbastella barbastellus) on a Romanian stamp.

Learn more about barbastelles: www.bats.org.uk/about-bats/w...
A postage stamp featuring an illustration of a fluffy bat with outward-curving ears sitting on a mossy branch. The bat is calling out. Text in various places reads: "Liliacul cârn", "România", "2,20 Lei", "Radu Oltean", and "Barbastella barbastellus". Image attribution: Public domain, Post of Romania
October 4, 2025 at 6:20 PM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat [picture] 43: Soup mug! (Actually contains a double helping of tea.)
A large ceramic mug lit by candlelight. The mug is white with black bat silhouettes all over, except the handle, and it has a plastic lid. The candle is labeled "Burnt Marshmallow".
October 4, 2025 at 8:44 AM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat 42: Spectacled flying fox (Pteropus conspicillatus).

These distinctive fruit bats are an endangered species.

Learn more: tolgabathospital.org/bats/spectac...
A baby flying fox wrapped in a little blanket and held in someone's hand. The bat has dark fur with pale markings around its (closed) eyes. It has a rubber nipple in its mouth. Photo attribution: Mnolf (CC-BY-SA-3.0), at Tolga Bat Hospital
October 4, 2025 at 2:31 AM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat 41: Fringe-lipped bat (Trachops cirrhosus).

Although they do eat bugs and other small animals, fringe-lipped bats are best known for hunting frogs.

Learn more: www.batcon.org/bat/trachops...
Profile of a bat with big rounded ears, a pointy nose leaf, and lots of little bumps on both its upper and lower lips. Photo attribution: Karin Schneeberger (CC-BY-3.0)
October 4, 2025 at 2:03 AM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat [picture] 39: Dish with peaches and bats, from China.

Learn more: www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
A white porcelain dish with a peach tree branch and three little bats painted in enamel. Peaches and flowers on the branch are pink, and leaves are a cool green. This takes up most of the dish. The bats are small yet easy to spot, their bright orange color contrasting with the stark white background. They are stylized, giving a sense of motion. Photo attribution: Public domain, Metropolitan Museum of Art
October 4, 2025 at 1:46 AM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat 38: Lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros).

Learn more: www.bats.org.uk/about-bats/w...
A bat with wide pointy ears and a round nose leaf all around its nose, shaped a bit like an upward-pointing horseshoe. It has a blue metal band on its left wing. Photo attribution: Lylambda (lylambda@gmail.com) (CC-BY-SA-3.0)
October 4, 2025 at 1:12 AM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat 37: Pink! (Also made a family friend.)
A crochet bat with a fluffy hot pink body. It has very big white ears, and a white nose, wings, and feet. The pink is so bright it could almost be glowing.
October 3, 2025 at 10:29 PM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat 36: Western yellow bat (Lasiurus xanthinus).
A very fluffy bat with sandy yellowish fur, small ears, little black eyes, and a simple nose. Its outstretched wings are darker. Photo attribution: Juan Cruzado Cortés (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
October 3, 2025 at 10:25 PM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat 35: Fierce bonneted bat (Eumops ferox).
A bat held by the wings in someone's hand. Its face is about the size of their thumbnail. The bat has rounded ears that seem to cover its eyes, a pointy nose without a nose leaf, and brown-to-tan fur. Photo attribution: Juan Cruzado Cortés (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
October 3, 2025 at 10:15 PM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat 34: Made by a family friend.
A crochet bat with a fluffy white body, off-white wings, and peach ears, nose, feet, and fingers. It most closely resembles a Honduran white bat, just peachy instead of yellow.
October 3, 2025 at 9:36 PM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat 33: Little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus).

As one of the bat species affected by white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease spreading across North America, little brown bats have become far less common than they were even when I was a kid.

Learn more: www.batcon.org/meet-the-lit...
A bat, both brown and little, roosting in a cave among tiny stalactites. It has small ears, a simple nose, and dark wings. Photo attribution: Public domain, USFWS/Ann Froschauer
October 2, 2025 at 4:05 AM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat 32: Tomes's sword-nosed Bat (Lonchorhina aurita).
Profile of a brown bat with long, pointy ears and a longer, pointier nose leaf. Its mouth is slightly open, revealing small teeth, also pointy. Photo attribution: Juan Cruzado Cortés (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
October 2, 2025 at 2:44 AM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat 31: Dart, from my personal collection.
A TY Beanie Boo bat. Its oversized eyes and its feet are purple, its fur is black, and its wings are printed with "Boo!" in several colors. Its tag says "Dart" and "Sometimes I can act a little batty When I eat a peppermint patty! My birthday is October 18"
September 30, 2025 at 8:35 AM
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Bat 29: Desert long-eared bat (Otonycteris hemprichii).
A pale bat with very large ears, little black eyes, a simple nose, and the appearance of a grin. The bat is held in a bat scientist's hand. Photo attribution: Charlotte Roemer (CC BY-SA 3.0)
September 29, 2025 at 7:06 PM
dotsandlines.bsky.social
Bat 28: Grey-headed flying fox (Pteropus poliocephalus).
A large bat with long wings skimming the surface of a pond. It is daylight. The bat has a grey head and body with a reddish ruff around the neck. Its face is similar in shape to a fox, and its wings look strong. Photo attribution: Andrew Mercer (CC-BY-4.0)
September 29, 2025 at 9:13 AM