Holy bat facts, Batman!What’s so special about bats?

Ben Paris – Senior Biodiversity Advisor

• Chiroptophobia

• Bats are associated with Dracula, Halloween & Cemeteries

• Perceive bats as:– ‘Blood suckers’

• only 3 species of 1,200 do!– Rabies

• only 0.5% of vampire bats have rabies

• Does not apply to NZ bats!

Are bats scary?

© Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International,www.batcon.org

Bats are cute, not scary!

• Maori name: Pekapeka• Two endemic bat species

– Lesser short-tailed bats (Mystacina tuberculatus)

– Long-tailed bats (Chalinolobus tuberculatus)

• Only land mammals native to New Zealand!

• High conservation priority!• Greater short-tailed bats

- extinction by rats in 1960s

Map: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/bats/3/2

Bats in New Zealand

• Breed in summer• Pregnant for 6 - 8 weeks• One pup (Dec-Jan)• Pups ¼ of mother’s size• 4 - 5 weeks pups:

fur covered, open eyes & can fly!

• Bats live over 11 years – maybe even 30 years!

• Group of bats = “a cloud”

Bats in New Zealand

• Ancient bat genus (Mystacina); Isolation 80 MYA• Larger (12-15g)• Generalists (nectar, fruit, pollen, seeds, insects) • Terrestrialism (only two bat species in world) • Low frequency echolocation (28 kHz)• Gregarious (colonies of 100’s – 1000’s)

Short-tailed bats

• Small (8-14g)• Aerial insectivore (moths, mosquitoes etc)• Echolocation (40 kHz)• Small social group sizes (10’s – 100’s)• Roost in both native and exotic trees

Photos credit: Department of Conservation

Long-tailed bats

Photo credit: Kerry Borkin

Photo credit: Kerry Borkin

– Forest fragmentation– Roost disturbance & competition– Pest mammals– Loss of habitat

Threats to bats

Photograph: Gerard Kelly

“DoC estimates long-tailed bat numbers will fall by

about 90 per cent by 2050.”

Bat classroom education

“I think learning about bats is cool!” - Maija, 6 years

• Urban development puts bats at high risk

• Monitoring identifies critical habitat for bat protection zone

• Create “bat map” for city to protect bats

• Minimise tree removal (tree felling guidelines)

Bat monitoring

Auckland regional bat surveyApril 2012• Focus on likely sites in North/West region

• Looked at sites with specific criteria

• Bat detectors give coarse absent/present

Auckland regional bat surveyApril 2012

• No detection does not mean no bats

• Bat feeding range 100km2 big search area!

• Three new populations found in differing habitat

Rural bats!!

Bats - pine forest edges

- Riverhead

Bats - native forest edges

- Mt Tamahunga

Urban bats!!

What can you do?

• Make a roost box

• Decorate with school sponsorship

• Donate to area where bats live

What can you do?

• Look for bats in your backyard, local park or school grounds– Bats require specific conditions…

• Near open water – streams, rivers, lakes• Near open areas – feed off insects• Near forest edges of old mature trees – incl exotic

– If you don’t have bats…• Plant native trees – puriri, kauri etc• Teach others about bats!

More research required…

To the bat cave, Batman!