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MAY 2019
long-tailedbat– livesonallthreeof
NewZealand’smainislands,aswell
asoffshoresanctuariessuchasLittle
Barrierin theHaurakiGulf.
Adultsgrowto roughlythesizeof
a thumb,andtheirwingspansstretch
thelengthof a hand.
Aerial hunters,they fly at speedsof
60km/h,usingecholocationtoscan
for flying insects.They’remost often
spottedatdusk,silhouettedagainst
thesky.
Theshort-tailedbatis a bulkier
specimenweighing12-15g.
It’smoreofa ‘generalist’,Parissays,
andusesitsfoldedwingsaslimbsto
crawl on the forest floor to feed on
grubs,fruit,nectarandpollen– an
uncommontraitin bats.
Theonlyotherlivingbatspeciesto
huntonallfoursis thecommonvam-
pirebat,whichasitsnamesuggests,
feedsonblood.
A threatenedparasiticplantspe-
cies–Dactylanthus, or,woodrose,is
thoughtto relyontheshort-tailedbat’s
uniquefeedinghabitsforpollination.
Althoughlong-livedfora smallmam-
malspecies,thelifeexpectancyof
NewZealand’sbatsisn’tknown.
Similarly-sizedmammalssuchas
micehavea lifespanof a coupleof
years,butourbats may live to 40,
Paris says.Long-tailedbats are widespread
throughoutNewZealand,and
urbanpopulationsarefoundin
Auckland,HamiltonandGeraldine.
Scatteredpopulationsalsoexist
in Northland,Hawke’sBay, West
CoastFiordland,andoffshore
islands.
The rarer short-tailedbat exists
in severalmajorcoloniesin the
NorthIsland– includingCen-
tral North Island,CodfishIsland
andLittleBarrier– andin a few
isolatedlocationsin theSouth
Island– namelytheirstronghold
in Eglinton Valley in Fiordland.Thisis wherethescience‘army’
provesitsworth– themoreeyesto the
skies,thegreaterchanceresearchers
haveof pinpointingpopulations.
“That’stheexcitingthingaboutciti-
zenscience– it’snotjustforscientists,
it’saboutdemystifyingandremoving
thebarriersof scienceforeverybody,”
Barclaysays.
Bat huntersare able to log their find-
ingsontheNaturalistNZapp(acitizen
scienceplatformwhereuserscan
recordandsharetheirobservationsin
nature)ordirectlyto researcherssuch
asAucklandCouncilseniorbiodiversity
advisorBenParis– perhapsbetter
knownbyhisalterego‘thebatman’.
Onthebat-wagonsince2008,Paris
first fell for the leatherytaongawhen he
startedrunningnightwalkstoobserve
a populationdiscoveredfeedingnear
Hamilton.
“I didn’tknowmuchaboutthem,butit
wasmyjobto getpeopleenthusiastic.
Thenightwalksweresuperpopular
andwouldalwaysbook out really
quickly,” he says.HOTSPOTS
BAT
Nowbasedin Auckland,hispassion
hasn’tdwindled– andnor,it seems,
haspublicinterestin thespecies.
Urbanpopulationsdiscoveredin
AucklandandHamiltonhaveproved a
populardrawcardforsummercom-
munityevents.
Organiserscanbarelykeepupwith
demandforbatwalks,andAuckland
Council’sbatdetectors– whicharefree
forresidentsto borrow– “gooutthe
doorlikehotcakesduringthesummer”.
“Thereis a longwaitinglist,andthe
morepeoplethatrealisewehavebats
here,themoretheirpopularitywillcon-
tinueto grow,”saysParis.
Despitethisgrowingpopularity,the
fundingavailableforNewZealand’s
onlyendemicmammalisn’tenough,
Parissays– “it usuallygoestowards
thecuteandfeathery,ratherthanthe
cuteandfurry”.
Headmitsrelativelylittleis known
aboutthetwoendemicbatspeciesthat
stillresidein NewZealand,anda third
whichbecameextinctin the1960s.
The more widespread species – theABOVE:Com-
munitybatwalk
attendeestryto
detectbatsin
WestAuckland’s
HendersonValley
LEFT:The‘bat
man’BenParis
showsoffa bat
detectorat a
community event