Word: guano
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...visited in 1502 by Columbus, who was making his fourth voyage in search of that elusive passage to the East Indies. Later expeditions established Spain's claim to them. Because there is no water on the islands, they were usually bypassed. In 1856, however, the U.S. passed the Guano Islands Act, which enabled it to pre-empt any unclaimed islands on which bird droppings or guano abounded. Under that proviso, Washington claimed Great and Little Swan...
...their share of the profits from the sales of $300 million worth of Batman sweaters, T shirts, toys and other bits of fledermausian frippery that were inspired by their TV series. Their asking price: $2,000,000 in compensation and $4,000,000 in punitive damages-which is hardly guano...
Exterminators. The guano bats of Mexico and the U.S. Southwest prefer caves, where their bodies carpet the walls and ceilings in quivering fur and leatherous membrane. Their droppings provide one of the world's richest fertilizers. The air in guano caves is stifling. Miss Leen recalls having once been overcome by the ammoniated atmosphere, but not before taking some unusual baby pictures...
...addition to providing fertilizer, guano bats are exceptional exterminators. It has been estimated that Texas guanos alone consume 6,600 tons of insects each year. Although a few bat varieties hunt by sight and smell, most rely on echo location, a natural sonar system. The bat emits high-frequency beeps that rebound when they strike any object, allowing the animal's receiver system to compute direction, velocity and distance instantly...
...Peru introduced the islanders to another benefit of civilization. A thousand of them were carried off to slave labor in the guano quarries. Five months later, when Britain and France protested the atrocity, Peru graciously shipped all 15 survivors home. They brought smallpox with them and an epidemic swept the island. By 1870, an original population of 5,000 had been reduced to exactly...