[Shane Connolly]

Hi,

Just when you thogut it was safe to go back into the Tararuas…..
http://www.doc.govt.nz/Whats-New/presult.asp?prID=864

Marooned Tararua bats battle on
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13 sep 2002

Take off your hats to the tenacious Tararua Forest Park bats, still battling on after being marooned in the area by glaciation and volcanic activity more than 90,000 years ago.

It has been revealed that the threatened colony of up to 200 short-tailed bats, discovered in the late 1990s, was once part of a huge population inhabiting the beech forest which extended over much of New Zealand when the North and South Islands were connected.

DOC scientist and bat expert Brian Lloyd said the bats, related to those in much bigger colonies in the Rangataua Forest near Ohakune and on the southern edge of the Whanganui National Park, became isolated during a glacial period in the centre of the north island, and through volcanic activity ? more than 90,000 years ago! Mr Lloyd, who has submitted a paper on bats to an overseas molecular journal, said divergence of the entire human race spanned a period not much greater.

?They are the last remaining population of the south of the North Island. They seem to have been apart from the others over a long period.?

Among the bats? closest relatives are the vampire bats of South America. However while short-tailed bats eat ?just about anything?, their diet does not include blood.

Mr Lloyd is keen to see the bats? gene pool maintained through a breeding programme. It will enable a closer examination of bat behaviour, including the sophisticated sonar navigation systems which led to their discovery by DOC staff armed with bat decoder boxes in 1997.

Wairarapa area office programme manager Garry Foster said DOC was looking at ways of ensuring the population remained self-sustaining.

?It?s very exciting to know that we have something so unique and extra special here. All the effort that has gone into looking for these little furry fellows has been worthwhile.?

After spending a decade studying short-tailed bats, Mr Lloyd regards them as the most ?fascinating animal species in New Zealand?

?They?re such high tech little animals with their echo-location abilities and the way they go into hibernation, switching on and off at will. They seem to have a very sophisticated social system too and are incredibly flexible, eating just about anything. They fossick around in the leaves looking for bugs, hook things out of crevices and dig out rotten wood.?

A bat variation of the deer roar sees male bats singing their hearts out to attract a mate from perches within tree crevices. Females seek out the best of the high pitched warblers. Within a week of birth all the offspring in a population are brought to a cr?che in a hollow tree where their mass creates the warmth and humidity needed for their development. Their mums roost elsewhere, returning to their young only to feed them. ENDS

Sleep well under those flys

Shane

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