Des voies de l’ombre – quand les chauves-souris sèment le trouble

Frédéric Laugrand et Antoine Laugrand 2023

How do humans and chiropterans form communities? On a global scale, bats generate ambivalent feelings. They stimulate the imagination, and humans interact with them in a multitude of ways. They inspire myths. They defy classification. Their sexuality intrigues, and they raise the question of gender in unprecedented ways. They fuel technology and biomimicry. Their skills and sensitivity have been observed by many human communities, who mobilize them to move around, anticipate typhoons, etc. Their flesh is either appreciated or excluded from diets. They occupy a place of choice in the pharmacopeia. Stealthy and invisible, nocturnal and discreet, witchcraft calls on them. They embody spirits and divinities. They enter into clan kinship as ancestral figures. They are sometimes represented as allies bringing good fortune or enemies to be kept at a distance or in “the wild.” They are at the heart of initiation practices or sacrificial rituals. Although they have survived for millions of years, several species are now threatened with extinction. Bats sound the alarm at a time when humans are no longer respecting their surroundings and destroying the environment. Able to contain the most dangerous viruses thanks to their exceptional immune system, they excrete them in situations of stress. Accused here of the worst evils, they are admired there for their ecological action as defenders of biodiversity. They participate in pollination, reforestation, and insect pest control. Chiropterans sow trouble, which this book explores from a variety of perspectives.