Science & Society

A discovery about this bat’s diet was hiding in a Renaissance painting

 In Jan Brueghel the Elder’s 1611 painting “Air,” a bat holds a bird in its jaws

The 1611 painting “Air,” depicting cherubic pale figures against a dark sky, with birds of all kinds perched on branches and in flight

In the 1611 painting “Air,” Jan Brueghel the Elder painted bats along with birds. One of those bats, in the upper right, was having a strange snack.

Jan Brueghel

By Bethany Brookshire

Last fall, scientists documented the greater noctule bat snatching songbirds out of the air for a snack.