Oregon Zoo & Bat Measurements

We went to Oregon in mid August for Angela's brother Shawn's wedding at the Portland Temple. We had been to the zoo there in Portland back in May and Brian was fascinated by the bat exhibit there. Well, Brian's research at BYU involves making measurements of various things, manmade and natural, that emit ultrasonic sounds (sounds with higher pitches than we can hear). So Brian contacted the zoo and went through all the stages necessary to get permission to bring in some sound recording equipment to record the ultrasonic sounds that the bats emit. So during our vacation to Portland, Brian and Angela's brother Alan went to the zoo and brought in Brian's equipment to record the bats. Here's a photo of some of the bats hanging from the ceiling. You can see the microphone stand in the upper left portion of the photo right above where 4-5 bats are hanging. In fact, the bats came to check it out and were licking it and smelling it.

Here's Brian with his recording equipment setup. He was able to get the measurements he needed and when he slows the recordings down, the bats sound like they are squawking like birds. The zoo keepers that helped Brian were very nice and helpful. They even delayed the bats normal feeding time so he could make his measurements. I guess we can call Brian "The Batman" now!
After the measurements were done, Angela and the kids, and Alan's wife and kids met up with them to visit the zoo. We decided to ride the train through the grounds of the zoo. Here's Lucas and his dad riding along.

Here's a shot of Angela, Alan (no family resembelence whatsoever), Preston, Travis, Ryan, Carson, Mary, and baby Spencer (from L to R).

Marcus mostly slept through our zoo visit. We enjoyed eating cotton candy and an Elephant Ear (it's a flat scone covered with cinnamon and sugar).