Baturday News is a weekly blog written by Rachael, a high school student, bat advocate, and Save Lucy volunteer. Rachael’s interest in bats was sparked by the big brown bats that used the outside of her former home for a winter roost. Rachael has been writing the Baturday News for over three years.

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week. I am desperately trying to enjoy my last few weeks of school, but my teachers are making it challenging. It seems they believe I should be doing projects and studying for final exams. I am not quite sure why they believe that, but it would be really nice if they would change their minds. ?
Since I totally agree that I have dedicated way too many blogs to people who have suffered over the years, I thought I would dedicate today’s blog to someone who did something great. I found a story about a Romanian boy who saved someone’s life. I don’t know the boy’s name, but he is 12 years old and lives in Segarcea, Romania. A toddler had fallen down a pipe and rescuers were having trouble getting him out. This 12 year old boy volunteered to be lowered down into the pipe to save the baby. The rescuers tied a rope to his feet and lowered him down head first into the pipe. When they pulled him back up, he had the toddler. The toddler was rushed to the hospital and has fully recovered. I can’t understand what the boy says on the video because I don’t speak Romanian, but he seems to act like it was no big deal. I, personally, think it is a huge deal. I think this boy is a real hero. I also think everyone should know that while there are some really horrible people in the world, there are many more people who are not horrible. And every once in a while, there is someone who is truly special. So this week, I would like to dedicate my blog to a 12 year old Romanian boy who stepped in and saved a baby. You can read about this amazing boy and watch the video here.

Since this happened in Romania, I decided to research Romanian bats. They have a lot of them. One type of bat living in Romania is the Greater Horseshoe Bat. The largest Greater Horseshoe Bat colony in Europe is in a Romanian cave.
The Greater Horseshoe Bat lives in Europe, Africa, South Asia, and Australia. They live in caves year round and are the largest horseshoe bat in Europe. They have an adorable face with a cute horseshoe shaped nose. The bat’s back is brownish gray with a red tint. Its stomach is lighter gray. This is an insectivore bat who likes to eat butterflies, moths, and beetles. One really interesting fact about this bat is that it lives a very long time. The oldest recorded age of any European bat was a Greater Horseshoe bat that lived to be over 30 years old. If you would like to learn more about these bats, you can read about them here and here.

Also in bat news, I will be at the Woodbridge Neighborhood Library in Washington, DC on Sunday, June 11 at 2:00. They will be participating in the DC Environmental Film Festival and will be showing the Bat Squad videos. After the videos, there will be a short Q&A session. If any of you are in the DC area, I’d love to see you there. I’ll be the one in batty clothes. ?

I hope you all have a good week!

[Blogger Rachael is one of the Bat Squad stars, so please go see her! We hear she's happy to do autographs!--Ed.]