Serotine Serenade


 
Scientists have long been stumped by sex in serotine bats
                                        The Guardian 20th November 2023
 
Here’s the trendiest sensation
In the online science chats:
Experts venting desperation,
Stumped by sex in serotine bats.
 
Eptesicus serotinus,
Every thwarted bat-man thinks,
Seems created to demean us
With its strange and secret kinks.
 
Years of toil in their unheated
Dark and creepy habitats:
Still we find ourselves defeated,
Stumped by sex in serotine bats.
 
Is their congress marked by combat?
Is it friendly?  Is it nice?
When a dad-bat meets a mom-bat,
Does he ask to do it twice?
 
Though they look like crushed umbrellas,
Or old raincoats glued on rats,
Still they make us oddly jealous.
Such is sex in serotine bats.

Julia Griffin


If you have any thoughts about this poem,  Julia Griffin   would be pleased to hear them