Bats are extraordinary. They make up roughly 20% of all mammal species on the planet. They're the only mammals capable of sustained flight. A single bat can eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes in an hour. They pollinate plants, disperse seeds, and keep insect populations in check. Without bats, entire ecosystems would collapse.
They navigate in complete darkness using echolocation — essentially built-in sonar so precise they can detect an object the width of a human hair.
Bats are, objectively, incredible. (This one was taking a nap at the South Lakes Animal Park. He's fine.)
Somewhere in the movie Gremlin Universe, there is a gremlin who relates to Bat Appreciation Day on a deeply personal level.
His origin story is straightforward. In 1990, at Clamp Center, a gremlin wandered into the Splice O' Life laboratory, spotted what appeared to be juice, and drank it.
It was not juice.
It was bat serum.
He has wings now. He didn't ask for them.
He has fully committed to them anyway.
Brain Gremlin — ever the pragmatist — took one look at the situation and immediately identified the utility. Need someone to check if the sun is still out? Send the bat. Need someone to wreak some havoc on the way? He'll manage.
Bat Gremlin is Brain's only known henchman. Not because he was chosen for greatness. Because he was thirsty and grabbed the wrong thing and made the best of it.
The Cathedral Situation
At some point during the events of Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Bat Gremlin had a disagreement with Murray Futterman. This disagreement ended with Bat Gremlin being encased in wet cement on the roof of a cathedral.
He got up anyway. Flew to a small tower. And then the cement hardened.
He is, technically, a gargoyle now.
Somewhere in New York there is a cathedral with what appears to be a stone gargoyle on its roof.
It is not a gargoyle.
It is a gremlin who just wanted some juice.
Happy Bat Appreciation Day. To bats everywhere — and to the one who is currently a permanent fixture on a New York cathedral, doing his best, wings and all. 🦇