Pampered young bats going home

massey-university

Tue Mar 17 2009 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Pampered young bats going home

Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 12:09 pm
Press Release: Massey University

One of the four short-tailed bats.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Four juvenile short-tailed bats will be taken home today after being nursed back to health at Massey’s wildlife ward.

The bats were affected by an anti-coagulant poison used to control rats at the Pureoa Forest Park near Te Kuiti. The poison killed more than 100 of their colony.

The bats have been recuperating in the ward and senior lecturer in avian health Dr Brett Gartrell says they have now recovered sufficiently to return home.

“They came here as unfurred babies so at first were kept warm in a small humidicrib,” Dr Gartrell says. “They were initially fed by syringe but have lately been feeding on artificial bat milk replacer, nectar and mealworms.”

It is the first time bats have been found dead due to the effects of the poison (diphacinone) in New Zealand, Dr Gartrell says, and has implications for pest control in bat habitats.

Some extra special care was needed to aid the juvenile bats’ recovery, he says.

“Vitamin K was given to them every day for three weeks as an antidote. The humidicrib dried them out so we actually rubbed moisturiser into their skin. They’ve now grown fur and are able to forage on their own. It took a while for them to learn but once one started they all followed pretty quickly.”

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Short-tailed bats forage both in the air and on the ground so it was important they were grown sufficiently to fend for themselves to avoid predators such as ferrets, stoats and weasels.

The bats will be transferred back to the forest by Conservation Department staff today. Specialised wooden bat-houses have been constructed, which will be attached to trees in the forest, opened and left there, allowing the bats come and go as they please for a while.

“Bat colonies don’t stay in one place for too long and the rest of their colony has moved on already, but they won’t be too far off and these four should find them pretty quickly,” Dr Gartrell says.

The short-tailed bat is listed by the department as a species of highest conservation priority.

• Short-tailed bats are grayish in colour, have large, pointed ears and weigh 12-15g.
• They are found in native forests where they roost in hollow trees.
• Males sing to females in a voice inaudible to human ears.
• Sort-tailed bats eat insects, fruit, nectar and pollen.

ENDS

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