Like many animals, bats have learned to adapt to a wide variety of environments and habitats. The only terrain they don’t inhabit is the Arctic. There are 39 species of bats in North America, all of which are nocturnal. Some bats are insectivores, others eat things like fruit and pollen. Bats are associated with many different cultures and mean different things to different people.
The Mayans had a bat god called Camazote, who was said to have tested human souls with a large sword. This is slightly negative, since the bat is associated with violence. In Biblical tradition, bats were believed to be messengers of Satan. The Puritans believed that if a bat flew close to someone, somebody was trying to bewitch them. The Chinese, however, view the bat as a symbol of happiness.
They are amazing creatures. Bats can fly in huge hoards while never hitting each other because of echo-location. This ability is linked with the gift of clairaudience, which awakens the ability to hear spirits in some beliefs. Because of their echo-location and maneuvering in the dark, bats represent the perception of things that others cannot see.
To the Indian tribes of the northwestern United States, bats are symbols of diligence; while in the Great Plains, they imparted wisdom on their people. In the southwest and Mexico, they are representative of death and rebirth, because they go underground in the early morning, and then appear again each night in a noisy hoard. So they are reborn every night, flooding out from their caves.
Bats often represent death in the sense of letting go of the old, and bringing in the new. They are symbols of transition, of initiation, and the start of a new beginning.
Information from Ted Andrews's Animal-Speak, Jessica Dawn Palmer's Animal Wisdom, and Steven D. Farmer's Power Animals.
Kama wanyama wengine wengi, popo wamejifunza kuzoea mazingira na mazingira mbalimbali. Eneo pekee ambalo hawaishi ni Aktiki. Kuna spishi 39 za popo katika Amerika ya Kaskazini, na zote ni za usiku. Panya fulani hula wadudu, wengine hula matunda na chavua ya maua. Popo huhusianishwa na tamaduni nyingi tofauti-tofauti na humaanisha mambo tofauti-tofauti kwa watu tofauti-tofauti. Wameya walikuwa na mungu wa popo anayeitwa Camazot, ambaye walisemekana kuwa alijaribu roho za wanadamu kwa upanga mkubwa. Hilo ni jambo baya kidogo, kwa kuwa popo huhusianishwa na jeuri. Katika mapokeo ya Kibiblia, popo waliaminiwa kuwa wajumbe wa Shetani. Wa Puritani waliamini kwamba popo aliporuka karibu na mtu, mtu fulani alikuwa akijaribu kumtawala. Hata hivyo, Wachina huona popo kuwa ishara ya furaha. Wao ni viumbe wa ajabu. Popo wanaweza kuruka katika makundi makubwa bila kamwe kugongana kwa sababu ya mahali pa kuingiliana. Uwezo huu unahusishwa na zawadi ya clairaudience, ambayo huamsha uwezo wa kusikia roho katika baadhi ya imani. Kwa sababu ya uwezo wao wa kuwasiliana na wengine na kutembea gizani, popo huona mambo ambayo wengine hawawezi kuyaona. Kwa makabila ya Wahindi wa kaskazini magharibi mwa Marekani, popo ni ishara ya bidii; huku katika Nyanda Kubwa, waliwapa watu wao hekima. Katika Mexico, wao ni wawakilishi wa kifo na kuzaliwa upya, kwa sababu wao kwenda chini ya ardhi asubuhi na mapema, na kisha kuonekana tena kila usiku katika hazina ya kelele. Kwa hiyo wao huzaliwa upya kila usiku, wakifurika kutoka katika mapango yao. Mara nyingi popo huwakilisha kifo katika maana ya kuacha mambo ya zamani, na kuleta mambo mapya. Ni ishara ya mabadiliko, ya kuanzishwa, na mwanzo wa mwanzo mpya. Habari kutoka kwa Ted Andrews' Animal-Speak, Jessica Dawn Palmer's Animal Wisdom, na Steven D. Farmer's Power Animals.