bats in beds oct 2020 vol 128
TRANSCRIPT
Bats in Beds Oct 2020 Vol 128 www.bedsbatgroup.org.uk E mail: [email protected] Facebook –The Bedfordshire Bat Group.
Bushbaby in Malawian Bat Box.
Renewal
Just to remind you, renewal of Bat Group
Membership is due in January but because of
Covid 19, we are extending all 2020 subs until
January 2022. Happy Christmas!
Editor’s Bit 2
Summer adventures 3
The Bats of Malawi 4 -5
The Bats of Toronto 6-7
Bedfordshire Bat
Care
8-9
The Day it rained
bats
10
Cognitive maps 11
Cats and Bats 12-13
Making Bats 13
Bat and Spells 14-15
Drunk Bats 15
Renewal 15
Daylight Bats 16
The Swan problem 17
Motherese 18
Balinese Bats 19
Cartoon 20
Bushbaby in Malawian Bat Box Photo Gwen Hitchcock
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 2 ____
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Editors' Bit
By the time you read this the
bat season will be more or less
over. Not that there will be
that much difference.
We were all too aware of the
things we couldn't do this
season because of the need for
social distancing from humans
and bats but we did manage to
get some things done. I have
tried to document as much of
this as possible. If I missed out
stuff you've been doing, let me
know and I'll try to include it
in the next issue.
Other surveys not mentioned
here will be covered in the
Survey Leaders' Meeting
which we will be holding on
Zoom. Details will be
announced on the newsgroup.
Bat Care
The
madness
continued
here as it
did elsewhere in the country
with large numbers of bats
falling foul of the weather and
this is reflected by the volume
of bat care articles in this issue
and we had a number of
enquiries to the website as the
National Bat Helpline was
overwhelmed.
The Facebook page now has
630 members, a number of
whom have given us bat
records and requests for help
with grounded bats
Hibernation Surveys
At the time of
writing BCT has
yet to say whether
or not these can
go ahead. If they
do, then the safety
of bats is
paramount (there is still a
theoretical possibility that
Covid-19 could be passed to
bats). This is likely to be
involve fewer people than
usual. Once again we will put
details on the newsgroup.
___________________________
Welcome to new
members
Matt.A. Moore (Winslow),
Becky Meredith Shaw
(Flitwick), Mara Gravenieks
and family (Harpenden).Helen
Moore & family (Bdford)
___________________________
Thanks to everyone
who helped with the
production of this
newsletter:-
Gwen Hitchcock, Toby
Thorne, Dave Bicknell, Tyrone
Capel, Becky Meredith Shaw,
Steve Parker, Alexia Fish,
Robyn Grant & Kirsty
Shawsee, Bob Cornes,
Geraldine and Dick Hogg.
Ideas for Batty gifts for
Christmas https://www.batgoods.com/
£11.00
£18.00.
Printed by
Fidelity Print and Design Unit
7 Kenneth Way, Wilstead
Industrial Park, Wilstead,
Bedford MK45 3PD
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 3 ____
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What we did in the
lockdown (with some
restrictions lifted)
Barbastelle radio
tracking in Herts.
This Herts. and Middlesex bat
Group project took an
enormous amount of work in
the planning stage by Chantal
Helm to keep people and bats
safe. Briefings were held by
Zoom. She let a number of the
Bat Group join her. Bob got to
try trapping processing and
radio tagging in masks and
gloves (wearing disposable
gloves in addition to ordinary
- a processes he found tricky
and sticky). Gwen Hitchcock
got to radio tag her first live
bat., much to her delight The
trapping and tracking teams
were kept separate and as well
as finding new roosts were
also able to 4 track bats in the
surrounding countryside.
George and Carole Baber, Phil
Cannings, Danny Fellman,
Claudia Harflett and John
Salisbury helped with radio
tracking. This provided
invaluable information to the
wood owner, who is planning
coppicing this year
___________________________
The Henlow Survey At the start and end of the first
survey Noctules were heard
by the car-park. From the car-
park the survey proceeds
toward the parish church
across the graveyard/cemetery.
On both surveys there has
been plenty of activity by the
church with Common &
Soprano Pips. One Noctule
pass and one Serotine pass
were recorded by the church
on the August survey. From
the Church the walk then goes
towards Champneys but turns
off towards the River Ivel. The
bridge by the river has plenty
of tree cover and is good for
bats including Soprano Pips,
Common Pips, and
Daubentons. The survey then
continues along tree lined
paths and tracks (with bats
including Pips and Myotis)
towards the Millennium
Meadows. The river Ivel
meanders through the
meadows with some tree
cover. Pips were heard in the
meadow, and on the August
survey a Natterer's Bat was
recorded. This survey has been
very good with plenty of bat
activity, and looks very
promising for future surveys.
The church with its Pip
activity may have a roost and
we know that Bob is
investigating this.
Dick and Geraldine Hogg.
Bats in Churches Like everything else, the
national Bats in Churches
Project was restricted by Covid
restrictions, but church
surveys were cleared to go
ahead from July. Bob did a
Bats in Churches Study survey
at Swineshead church and
"Bat Detectives" surveys at
three others. All produced
evidence of bats, with 4 species
at Swineshead (although
perhaps not all roosting).
Ampthill had droppings in the
belfry and Langford and
Millbrook had roosting Brown
Long-Eareds in the nave.
Henlow church was on the list,
but the survey couldn't be
fitted in this year. Given the
bat activity in the churchyard
(see above), it will be
interesting to see what turns
up in the church when the
survey is done next year. We
don't yet know whether
anyone else has carried out Bat
in Churches surveys in
Bedfordshire
Bob Cornes
Millbrook Church
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 4 ____
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Out of Africa….
I was lucky enough that the
Wildlife Trust BCN, who I
work for, agreed I could take a
month’s sabbatical to
volunteer with Africa Bat
Conservation (ABC) in
Malawi. ABC is an
organisation conducting
applied research, conservation
and education to conserve bat
populations in Africa. Because
of my workload I could only
take the time over the winter
months, which coincides with
Malawi’s rainy season, when
fieldwork is restricted to the
Urban Wildlife Project. Luckily
the Lilongwe base camp is
situated on the edge of the city
and doesn’t feel very
urban at all, which
was perfect for me.
Whilst the survey
methods used are
basically the same as
here, there are a lot
more bats to be
caught with at least
64 species from eight
families compared
with our 18 from two
families. After a few
false starts when
trapping nights were
rained off I finally
got to handle some
bats! We set up some
harp traps outside an
to catch the
Sundevall’s and Noack's leaf-
nosed bat (Hipposideros caffer &
H. ruber) which roost
inside. On a previous
evening we had done an
emergence survey and I
had counted 799 coming
out so even though these
little bats are experts at
avoiding the nets we were
hopeful that we’d manage
to catch some. In spite of
watching many of them fly
over, around or even
through the harp trap we
caught several. Besides the
usual data collected wing
tracings and photos were
taken, as well as a sonogram
recorded when the bat was
released, for detailed analysis
in a student project. These two
species are very similar, with
grey and orange forms of both,
however in glancing over the
photos the wing tips look
different and I am eagerly
awaiting the results of the
analysis.
Over the month I helped with
many surveys, further
trapping surveys at various
different sites using harp
traps, mist nets and hand nets,
and also bat box checks, roost
visits and weekly counts of the
straw-coloured fruit bats
(Eidolon helvum) roosting in the
trees by a church in Lilongwe.
These straw-coloured fruit
bats are an amazing species,
that migrate around sub-
Saharan Africa in massive
colonies. Every year up to 10
million straw-coloured fruit
bats congregate in Kasanka
National Park, Zambia. This is
the largest mammal migration
in the world! Whilst I only got
to see these large fruit bats at a
distance, I handled several of
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 5
the smaller little epauletted
fruit bats (Epomophorus
labiatus) and a Peters’
epauletted fruit bat
(Epomophorus crypturus) - . see
above. Such lovely bats to
work with!
Between surveys there was
lots of work to be done back at
camp, helping with mending
mist nets, restringing harp
traps, patching a broken harp
trap bag and updating the
interpretation trail at the
Lilongwe Wildlife Centre. We
had a few training session on
various techniques including
ringing, fur clipping and
taking wing punctures for
DNA analysis. On top of this
were general camp chores
including cooking and
cleaning which were
shared out on a rota
system. We were also
given some basic
Chichewa lessons so we
were able to greet and
thank people in their own
local language.
Despite several
evenings of
torrential rain
and life-threatening
lightning storms –
during which I
became very adept at
taking down traps
quickly! – I was lucky
enough to see around
a fifth of the species
recorded from
Malawi (14 species)
from six different
families:
Pteropodidae (fruit
bats), Hipposideridae
(leaf-nosed bats),
Rhinolophidae
(horseshoe bats),
Molossidae (free-
tailed bats),
Emballonuridae (tomb bats)
and Vespertilionidae (vesper
bats).
Everyone was so welcoming
and easy to get on with which
was a real blessing when you
have to live and work closely
with the same people 24/7. It
was a great opportunity to
work with some very
experienced bat workers and
amazing to see and handle so
many new bat species of
several families as well as
picking up new techniques
which will stand me in good
stead in the future.
For more information on ABC:
http//www.africanbatconserva
tion.org/ (or follow them on
facebook/twitter), There latest
newsletter is also available
here:
https://shoutout.wix.com/so/4
dN71LtU8#/main (with sign
up for future newsletters at
bottom)
https://www.travelblog.org/Bl
oggers/Dr-Gwen/Trips/34440
https://www.flickr.com/photos
/24620701@N03/albums/721577
13473067482
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 6 ____
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Some strange Canadian Bats
We asked Toby Thorne to do a
Zoom talk on his work on at
the Toronto Zoo on his work
with Canadian Bats. I had got
used to the idea that Africa
and other exotic climes
bristled with unusual bats, but
thought Canadian bats
wouldn't be so different from
British ones. How wrong I
was!
Some sound like British ones
Take Myotis liebei, the eastern
small footed myotis - like one
of ours but with small feet
right? Well only up to a point.
It is an uncommon bat with a
patchy distribution.
It hibernates in small caves
overwinter from Nov to April.
They are often found near cave
entrances where temperatures
fall lowest and humidity is low
which makes them less
susceptible to the dreaded
white nose syndrome (WNS).
It is estimated that there was
only (sic) a 12% decrease in
population between 2006 and
2011.
They hibernate in groups of at
most 50 and often far less
which also protects them from
WNS to some extent and a few
have been outside of caves
hibernating in crevices.
Not so odd I hear you say.
Wait for it. One of the big
puzzles was where they go in
summer. Bat biologists hunted
high and low with no success,
because the critter have a
counter-intuitive hiding place.
In 2011 they were found using
ground level rock roosts in
talus slopes, rock fields and
vertical cliff faces for their
summer roosts (see photo
below).
On average they change their
roosts every 1.1 days, males
travel about 41 metres
between consecutive roosts
and females around 67 metres.
They also found that females
roosting sites were closer to
ephemeral water sources than
male's roosts. Females who
have young require roost sites
that receive a lot of sunlight in
order to keep the pups warm
while the mother is away from
the roost.
To make things more crazy the
females often bask in the sun
during the day time. It is
worth bearing in mind that
there are 8 species of snake in
Canada.
A lactating female (left) and a
juvenile (right) Eastern small-
footed bat visible in the entrance
to their maternity roost.
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 7 ____
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The Tricoloured Bat gets its
name because it has blond fur
that is distinctly tricolored on
its back. Individual hairs
tricolored: dark gray at the
base, (yellowish brown in the
middle, and brown or reddish
brown at the tip. It is the
smallest Canadian bat
weighing 4.6 to 9 grams.
In 2019 it underwent an
identity crisis. For years it was
known as the Eastern
Pipistrelle, but has now been
put into its own inclusive
genus and answers to the
name of Perimyotis subflavus.
(because although it is
Myotis-like it is not Myotisy-
enough to get into that
particular club).
It hibernates deep in caves and
mines and has suffered greatly
with WNS with losses of 70%
of its population. It doesn't
hide in crevices or
hangout in groups, like
the British horseshoes it
hangs up alone.
The litter size is
typically two
individuals. As
newborns, the combined
mass of twin pups can
be as great as 58% of the
mother's postpartum
mass. Offspring develop
rapidly, beginning to fly
at three weeks old. By
four weeks old, they are
foraging for themselves
(much no doubt to
mum's relief).
Individuals can live at
least 14.8 years in the
wild; juveniles have
higher mortality rates
than adults, and females
have higher mortality
rates than males. Their
roosting behaviour is strange
to our British eyes. They hang
up in oak leaves or amongst
bony beard lichen (Usnea
trichodea) and some researchers
think it may use the lichen's
usnic acid to ward off
parasites which aren't found
on these bats.
Stopping there doesn't
mean the other Canadian
bats are dull. I just ran out
of space.
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 8 ____
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A bat care story with a happy ending
Episode 1 August 20th
It all began when a mother
and baby BLE were found in
an areas of Whipsnade Zoo
not open to the public. Enter
Tyrone who contacted UK Bat
Carers for advice
"So I'm looking for a bit of
advice from others who may
have experienced this before.
I've a BLE mum and pup just
come in today.
Mum is currently still feeding
baby but our thoughts are the
pup might be a little big and
making her weak and
subsequently unable to fly
with or without the youngster.
The toss up is whether to try
and keep them together and
focus on keeping mum healthy
to feed the baby or separate
them and rehabilitate
separately.
Any thoughts or experience
dealing with a pair in this way
would be much appreciated!"
Within minutes, advice was
forthcoming
Maggie Brown
"Water is essential for mum
(for milk production) but the
youngster will very likely copy
mum if she is taking
mealworms from a shallow
dish if he/she isn't getting
enough from mum."
Christine Sherlock
"Bat pups by definition are big
compared to Mum. I think as
long as she can feed herself
and you provide plenty of
mealworms including with
calcium supplements in the
mealworms (powdered
puppy milk) and the
mealworms have a good
source of moisture and there is
water in the cage she should
be ok. Better for pup for sure.
Is she injured? Do you know
where the roost is? Can they
go back soon or is this the long
haul? Complicated decisions
to make."
Kari Bettoney
"I wouldn't separate them
either as they will be able to
hear each other in the room
and will both be stressed. Just
give her extra food gut loaded
with RC Babydog and she
should be fine. She would
reject the baby if she couldn't
cope. BLE babies are very
immature developmentally,
and very clingy until they are
full size (and even then!) but
BLE mums are used to this!"
Tyrone took their advice and
the pair thrived.
Episode 2 1 September at 20:51 ·
"Happy to say that the mum
and pup Brown long eared
bats that came in to care a few
weeks back have been
successfully released !
Mum was released last week
and the pup released this
evening.
What was a very strange
rescue having mum and baby
together and being quite a
handful in care to say the least,
its brilliant having them
released.
Though this is just one of
many bats released this year,
this has certainly been a great
experience with an even better
result.
Thanks to Soggy and Dave for
the help and guidance as
always
And a big well done to
Lauren Timson and Mark
Wallington whose fast action
certainly made this all
possible "
Tyrone Capel
Meanwhile Dave has been
very busy. 34 Bats rescued so
far in 2020 - 3 BLE, 31 Pips,
12 Successfully released,
5 Still in care. (as at 14/09/2020)
Of the total 16 were Pups,
8 Juveniles & 10 Adults
12 Died, 5 Euthanized,
So looking on the bright side
50% survived so far.
(But obviously looking on the
dark side 50% didn't make it.)
Dave Bicknell
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 9 ____
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Becky' s Case Notes
27th July
"We were called to collect
Tuckerson from a lady's living
room. He was a tiny baby and
attempts to reunite him with
his mum failed"
So instead he was hand reared by
Becky and thrived
August 22nd
Exciting news! Frederick
Tuckerson has been at intense
‘flight school’ this week with
Irene, from the Bedfordshire
Bat Group and is ready to be
released back into the wild!
But he liked the idle life
"So after several release
attempts, it would appear
Frederick Tuckerson (the hand
reared pip) has no
stamina/hasn’t built up
enough flight muscles to
survive in the wild at the
moment. He does a few lovely
loops when released from the
hand, then ultimately crashes
on the floor! He’s done up to
10 mins in the polytunnel
previously, but now seems to
be struggling?"
10th September
He’s living loose in my big
empty shed with lots of
hanging tea towels and I’m
using a light to draw in live
insects for him to supplement
his feeding- but as this rate
Soggy and I think he may well
end up staying over Winter
and hibernating in the shed.
I've been trying to monitor
Frederick Tuckerson on my
wildlife camera for a few
nights now, he didn't do much
at all until Wednesday night-
when something seemed to
click! He did about 45 minutes
of flying, fair few crash
landings, but he's still building
up flight muscles and he's
obviously in a limited space. In
this clip it also looks like he
does attempt to catch some of
the insects I've been drawing
in with a light trap.
You can see one of attempts on
the Bat Group Facebook page
at
https://www.facebook.com/gr
oups/109943449023992
Stop Press19th
September
He was successfully
released
photos by
Becky
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 10 ____
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The Day it Rained Bats
Manchester resident Tim
Eaton started finding tiny
pipistrelle bat pups falling to
the ground from his roof,
seemingly due to their loft
maternity roost becoming too
hot during the day. Many
more were still inside the
roost, apparently abandoned
by their mothers.
He said: “I came home around
1.45pm on Wednesday and
found one bat outside my back
door. That was just the start.
After ringing the RSPCA they
put me in touch with the Bat
Helpline. During the next
couple of hours myself and my
daughters found 40 plus bats! I
contacted South Lancashire
Bat Group and with their help
we counted 60 plus young
bats.
“When the caller rang there
were 16 bats walking around
on the ground. Lots more were
exposed on the roof. Babies
were falling down into the
garden. Bats were also falling
into the neighbour’s property.
Pipistrelle pup(c) Alexia Fish
Carers from South Lancashire
Bat Group soon came to the
rescue.
They gathered
the babies,
rehydrated
them with
water and
checked their
condition.
Steve Parker
said: “These
were our first
babies to
arrive this
year. Not one
- but 63 of
them. It was a
bit of a shock
that there
were so many.
The pups
were all
between two
days and two
weeks old.
Each one was
about the size
of a cherry.”
Later, when it had cooled
down, the rescuers were able
to return the infants to the
maternity roost, and then they
carefully monitored it and
were relieved to finally see
many of the mothers returning
to collect their pups.
It is thought the dramatic rise
in temperature probably
became critical - that it became
too much for the mothers, so
they flew off somewhere
cooler during the day and left
their pups behind. When there
is warm weather they will try
to move somewhere cooler. I
saw this happen two years
ago, during another heat
wave.
Dr Orly Razgour, bat
researcher and senior lecturer
in ecology at the University of
Exeter, said: “Under global
climate change we expect to
see an increase in the
frequency and severity of heat
waves. Heat waves in
Australia over the last few
years have resulted in mass
mortality of tree roosting bats.
“There is not much known
about the effects of heat waves
on UK bats, but this is exactly
the kind of evidence we need
to be able to understand and
predict impacts of future
climate change. What this case
shows is that it is not just tree-
roosting bats, but also
maternity roosts in buildings
that are sensitive to the effects
of heat waves, and that heat
waves can negatively affect the
reproductive success of UK
bats."
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 11 ____
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Cognitive maps identified in free flying Egyptian Flying Bats
Cognitive maps allow the
construction and accumulation
of spatial knowledge, allowing
the mind's eye to visualize
images in order to reduce
cognitive load, enhance recall
and learning of information
Seven decades of research on
the “cognitive map,” the
allocentric representation of
space, (relating to spatial
representations: linked to a
reference frame based on the
external environment and
independent of one's current
location in it. For example, giving
the direction as "north" as
opposed to "right"); have
yielded key neurobiological
insights, yet field evidence
from free-ranging wild
animals is still lacking.Using a
system capable of tracking
dozens of animals
simultaneously at high
accuracy and resolution, we
assembled a large dataset of
172 foraging Egyptian fruit
bats comprising
>18 million
localizations
collected over 3449
bat-nights across 4
years. Detailed
track analysis,
combined with
translocation
experiments and
exhaustive
mapping of fruit
trees, revealed that
wild bats seldom
exhibit random search but
instead repeatedly forage in
goal-directed, long, and
straight flights that include
frequent shortcuts.
Alternative, non–map-based
strategies were ruled out by
simulations, time-lag
embedding, and other
trajectory analyses. Results are
consistent with expectations
from cognitive map–like
navigation and support
previous neurobiological
evidence from captive
bats. home range.
Researchers suggest
that such complex
foraging navigation,
considered to reflect
high cognitive ability,
may have evolved
under selective forces
similar to those
proposed for long-
lived, forest-dwelling
frugivorous primates.
(Egyptian fruit bats
feed on spatially
patchy yet temporally
predictable long-lived
resources (fruit trees), have
extreme longevity (25 years
and more) relative to body size
and are social central-place
foragers that return home to a
cave at the end of the night
rather than roost on trees
within their foraging range.
We suggest that these features
may have selected for
extended spatial memory and
high foraging navigation
performance of this and
perhaps other similar species
as well. It is interesting that
Pteropodid bats have the
largest relative brain size
among bat families, surpassing
even basal primates
reminiscent of frugivorous
primates that tend to have
larger relative brain sizes than
mostly folivorous primates A
genuine integration between
lab-based neurobiology,
experimental animal cognition
research, and field-based
movement ecology could open
new opportunities to further
unravel the components of
spatial cognition. Such
integration may also help in
understanding other long-
lasting key questions on the
neural, behavioural, and
ecological mechanisms
underlying cognitive
performance of wild animals
in their natural environments.
Source:https://science.sciencemag.
org/content/369/6500/188?fbclid=I
wAR3cOWJEA4e2JnztRXUCTbxQ
DlC2TOlLXe0axCQh64rCn4SyIue
cwcXJRX
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 12 ____
_______________________________________________________________
Do cats eat bats?
“And here Alice began to get
rather sleepy, and went on saying
to herself, in a dreamy sort of
way, 'Do cats eat bats? ... and
sometimes, 'Do bats eat cats?'
for, you see, as she couldn't
answer either question, it didn't
much matter which way she put
it"
Alice in Wonderland Lewis
Carroll
Wrong, Lewis, it does matter!
Illustration Tove Jannsen
Blog written by Robyn Grant &
Kirsty Shawsee references at end.
This from the Wiley online
journal which gives free access to
papers as long as they are cited,
Thanks to Steve Parker for
pointing me to this
In the UK, thousands of bats
are found and rehabilitated by
specialist bat carers every year,
many of them for wing tear
injuries. Indeed, when we
surveyed bat carers around the
UK, more than 2000 bats with
wing tear injuries were
reported to be taken to rescue
centres annually. This is not a
problem that is specific to the
UK, wing tears are commonly
found in bat populations
worldwide. Tears are
considered significant and
severe injuries. Despite bat
wings having resilient fibre
structures and a good blood
supply to encourage healing,
rehabilitation in captivity can
take a long time, which can
significantly affect a bat’s
health and welfare.
The causes of wing tears are
not always clear, but may
include collisions, fungal
infections and predator
attacks. We spoke to many bat
carers around the UK, and
they believed that the main
cause of wing tears were cat
attacks; however, positively
identifying a cat attack can be
difficult. In some cases cats can
present a bat to their owners,
or the tears “appear” to be
made by claws. Previous
studies have identified that 20-
68% of bats admitted to rescue
centres may be as a result of
cat attacks; however, there is
not yet an objective method to
corroborate this.
We applied an objective,
forensic DNA analysis method
to identify the presence of cat
DNA on bat wing tears. We
asked bat carers to swab bats
with wing tears and send us
the swabs. We also asked them
to take a photograph of the
tear, and tell us what they
think caused it. Overall, we
collected 72 samples from bat
carers, including 40 Common
Pipistrelles, 18 Soprano
Pipistrelles, 4 Whiskered bats,
4 brown long-eared bats, 2
Natterer’s bats and one
Serotine, as well as 3 swabs
from unknown species.
Bat wing swab sampling kit
provided to bat rehabilitators
Our results showed that 48 out
of 72 (67%) samples had cat
DNA present. The presence of
cat DNA appeared relatively
equally across different bat
genders, ages, and species,
indicating that all bats may be
targeted equally. While our
method is a very sensitive
technique for the detection of
cat DNA, this value of two-
thirds could still be an
underestimation, due to bats
not always being brought to
carers, low amounts of DNA
being transferred from the cat
to the bat during the attack
and variability in swabbing
and storage techniques.
Bat carers tended to receive
bats from a small working area
within a 20 mile radius. The
same bat carers sent us many
samples, especially in Kent
and East Dorset, so we also
looked at using forensic DNA
profiling to identify individual
cats within these areas. We did
not identify any of the same
individuals. Other studies
have suggested that there are
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 13
likely to be “super predator
cats” that repeatedly target bat
roosts, so identifying any
individuals that repeatedly
predate on bats within a small
area will be a useful thing to
do in the future.
Photographs of the tears
showed that when cat DNA
was present, these tears were
often large, running from the
internal membrane to the
trailing edge, and tended to
appear in the more proximal
wing sections, close to the
body. When bat carers
supplied the suspected cause
of the tear, they successfully
identified a cat attack in all but
one sample (in 93% of all
cases). This confirms that bat
carers are able to make strong,
positive identifications of cat
attacks.
An example of a bat wing tear
close to the body, and an
illustration of the most commonly
affected areas of the bat wing
Free-roaming domestic cats
cause a huge number of bird
and mammal fatalities and,
with the number of cats
increasing annually, the effect
of cat predation on wildlife is
only likely to rise.
Unfortunately, this means that
the number of injured bats
from cat attacks is also likely
to increase in the future. As
well as causing wing tears, cat
attacks can also lead to
bacterial diseases in bats. Cats
may even receive a viral
infection from the bats, such as
Nipah virus and European bat
lyssaviruses, which can lead to
cat mortality. We would
suggest that night-time
curfews for cats, as well as
anti-predator collars, will have
beneficial impacts on the local
bats as well as other nearby
wildlife.
This is the first time that cat
attacks on bats have been
objectively identified using
forensic DNA analysis
techniques. Our results
suggest that cat predation on
bats, at least in the UK, is
likely to be much higher than
previously estimated. A better
understanding of cat and bat
interactions has implications
for both cat and bat
populations, as well as their
welfare.
/ecologyandevolution.blog/202
0/07/07/bat-catastrophe-the-
cause-of-many-wing-tears-in-
uk-
bats/?fbclid=IwAR0RMe1SRyj
H6dwhgNlpKkMPtVbM3nqp
A7NcjZ0XZDt2LU9HMU0wq6
HiCVQd
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com
/doi/full/10.1002/ece3.6544
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
What to do in lockdown
With the coming of Autumn
why not make some of these
bats. Cut cardboard bat shape
and add twigs and leaves and
a couple of goggle eyes
Note I managed this Gill, so
think it is easy.
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 14 ____
_______________________________________________________________
Another trawl in the
archives
101 Uses for a dead bat. Nos. 13-32 “Eye of Newt, and toe of frog
Wool of bat8and tongue of
dog” Macbeth iv:1:15
*”Wool of bat” is actually
probably a reference to a
plant, but what the heck
As Halloween draws close, maybe now is the time to dust down that spell book and start casting.
With apologies to all the witches
amongst you for the use of such
stereotyped imagery
For men If you want a girl to dance with you, write her name in bat’s blood on a piece of paper and drop it on the ground. If she walks on it she is yours.
For women According to an ancient Egyptian papyrus to attract a man, take the eye of a bat while still alive, then let it go. Take uncooked flour or unrefined wax and make a dog figurine out of it. Insert the bat’s eyes into this model. Place it in a vessel and leave it at the crossroads. The man will then come to you
To punish an erring husband Place a live bat in a pot and roast it. The man will feel the same pain
Protection spells According to an old Syrian text “Put a bat’s head in the covering of thy head and though shall never be vanquished. Hang its eyes on thy person and thou shalt not be afraid of the scorpion” . USA Ozark pioneers
believed that to protect
yourself from bullets, you
should carry a
powdered bat’s
heart about your
person
To become invisible If you are a Tyrolean gypsy,
carry a bat’s left eye with you.
In Oklahoma carry the right
eye of a bat which has been
pierced with a brass pin. In
the West Indies drink bat
blood.
To see in the dark or darken
sight
Some spells say that rubbing bat’s blood into your eyes. Helps you see in the dark, though another spell says you do that to blind an enemy
To induce lust A spell from Texas:- Place a
bat on an anthill and leave it
there till all the flesh is
removed. Wear its wishbone
around your neck. Pulverise
the remaining bones and mix
with vodka. Give this to the
object of your affection and
you’re home and dry. There is
a German version of this spell
that involves mixing pulverised
bat bones in beer. Pliny, a first
century Roman wrote that
surreptitiously placing a clot of
bat’s blood under a woman’s
pillow would induce desire.
To stop a baby crying
Apaches used to attach a
bat skin to a baby’s
cradle to stop it being
frightened. In Canada,
the head and dried
intestines of a bat were
dried and hung over the baby’s
crib to make it sleep all day.
To remain vigilant at night Didymus the Blind, a fourth
century mystic claimed that if
you cut the head off a live bat,
tied it up in black skin and
placed it by a person’s left arm
they will not sleep until the
parcelled bat is removed. A
Greco-Roman spell for
preventing sleep involved
putting an engraving of a bat
under your pillow.
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 15 ____
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Native American Dog soldiers
were elite warriors, one of
whose task was to guard the
camps at night. Their ferocious
appearance was designed to
scare. Their totem animal,
perhaps not surprisingly, was
the bat.
And finally, just in case you
think only nasty pagan types
come up with rituals involving
bats: -
To save souls It was once believed that damaged souls came back as bats, which might explain the following grotesque Christian ritual. Take a bat and let it bleed to death over a piece
silk. Each drop of blood you count is one soul saved from hell
The Bedfordshire Bat Group strongly advises its members not to try any of the above at
home or a policeman will be knocking at your door, not because your man- summoning spell has worked, but. because it is illegal to harm bats.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Why do you never see a drunk bat ?
Humans’ evolutionary history
with ethanol (alcohol) pre-
dates anthropogenic sources -
possibly, frugivorous
ancestors are responsible for
modern humans’ unusually
efficient ethanol metabolism.
Naturally fermenting nectars
and fruits produce ethanol
concentrations of 3.8% and
8.1%, respectively, and
“*b+eing able to eat a lot of
fruit or nectar without being
subject to the effects of ethanol
would certainly open up an
important food resource.”
Similarly, some frugivorous
and nectarivorous lineages
(e.g., great apes, aye-ayes,
bats) are capable of efficiently
metabolizing dietary ethanol -
phyllostomids (leaf-nosed
bats), for example, “seem to be
able to tolerate ethanol and
imbibing has no effect on their
flying abilities, even at blood
alcohol concentrations that
qualify a human as legally
intoxicated.”
Learn more @ https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/
10.1098/rsbl.2020.0070
and
https://www.newscientist.com/article/
2242002-analysis-of-85-animals-
reveals-which-are-best-at-holding-
their-
alcohol/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSN
S&utm_content=news&utm_medium=
RSS&utm_source=NSNS
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ariel, (′′spirit of the Air ", one
of the characters of William
Shakespeare's ′′ The Tempest ′′
comedy), riding a Bat.
Work based on the painting by
Joseph Arthur Palliser Severn
(1830). Cameo in shell, 18 ct
gold frame., probably a work
by Saulini.
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 16 ____
_______________________________________________________________
Daylight Feeding Time
Blyth’s horseshoe bat
(Rhinolophus lepidus) on
Tioman Island, Malaysia—an
isolated forested island in the
South China Sea, is the first
known bat in Asia to be
recorded flying and hunting
during the day*. Insect eating
bats are rarely seen flying and
feeding during the day
presumably because of the
strong competition and threat
of being hunted by birds.
Nonetheless, rare reports of
day-active bats have been
recorded during times with
extended or continuous
daylight during summer, at a
sheltered forests site with high
insect food supply, and on
isolated islands with few bird
predators. That these bats
hunted by day was confirmed
by feeding
buzzes on
sonograms.
In Europe
the Azorean
bat
(Nyctalus
azoreum) is a
species of
bat found in
the dry
forests of
the Azores.
It is the only
species of
mammal
endemic to
the Azores
and is
related to
the Lesser
Noctule.
Like the Blyth's Horseshoe it
thrives as there are no birds
about to predate on it.
Blyth's Horseshoe bat photo ©
Marcus Chua/De Gruyter
Azorean Bat internet
* During our Borneo trip in 2007, Bob
and I saw Bornean Horseshoe Bats
foraging in woodland during the day. We
assumed it was a well-known
phenomenon there, but perhaps it wasn't.
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 17 ____
_______________________________________________________________
The Swan Problem Remember this beast from the
June issue? She and her young
caused chaos at Stockgrove,
coming over to explore
potential swan feeders, who
appeared at the lakeside with a
torch (so kind of them tro
advertise their preseence lke
that) and then swimming in
the light beam keeping the
bats away.We were getting
counts of zero.A number of
solutions presented
themselves:
1. Shoot the swans
a non starter, before you ring
the RSPB.
2. Position someone with food at another location
Likely to fail, cunning
creatures swans, they would
just tip off their friends and
relations and still come to the
light.
So let's try another approach.
3.Lets get rid of the torch. The bats can fly but we can't
see them O LET'So
4. Use the thermal imager Trouble is ours will not be
powerful enough to "see" the
far side of the lake. and ones
that are cost a fortune.
5. Get horribly technical Use a bat detector in the dark
on a very narrow "beam" so
we swample a thin slice of
water, the width of the current
torch beam.
This will take time to develop.
Working plan so far is to build
some kind of parabolic
reflector whch can be fitted
onto a detector.
Parallel rays coming into a
parabolic mirror are focused at
a point F. The vertex is V, and
the axis of symmetry passes
through V and F. For off-axis
reflectors (with just the part of
the paraboloid between the
points P1 and P3), the receiver
is still placed at the focus of
the paraboloid, but it does not
cast a shadow onto the
reflector (thank you
Wikipedia).
It will come as no surprise that
such a thing is not available
commercially. So it is back to
the drawing board (literally).
And lo, we have a project for
the winter. If this was an
American TV show we would
make a successful model in
afternoon. It isn't, we won't.
And if we do succeed there is
no guarantee the swans will
leave us or the bats in peace.
However you may still
remember from earlier edition
that Gill and Ant spent
lockdown playing with their
new 3-D Printer. So Bob rang
them and was told it was a
possibility and was given a
website much loved by 3D
printer nerd which might be a
useful resource.
As the season wore on the
swans got less interested in
our activities, but they may
have guessed what we are up
to. Cunning creatures, swans.
gulp
spit
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 18 ____
_______________________________________________________________
Mother-pup pair of the greater sac-
winged bat, Saccopteryx bilineata, in
their daytime roost. The pup (dark fur
colour) is holding on to the mother's
belly (light fur colour). Credit:
Michael Stifter
Mother bats use baby talk to communicate with their pups
When talking to babies,
humans slow down their
speech, raise their pitch and
change the "colour" of their
voice. This 'baby talk,' as
people know it, increases the
infant's attention and
facilitates language learning.
Among animals, mothers often
engage in pup-directed
vocalizations too, but does this
also imply voice changes? A
team of scientists that included
Smithsonian Tropical Research
Institute (STRI) researchers
explored whether infant-
directed communication in
bats resulted in vocalization
changes.
They focused on the greater
sac-winged bat Saccopteryx
bilineata, a common Central
and South American species
with a large vocal repertoire
employed in the elaboration of
complex songs for territorial
defence and courtship. Female
choice in mating is very
pronounced in this species,
which probably led to the
complexity of courtship
vocalizations in males.
During their first three months
of life, as S. bilineata pups start
experimenting with their
'speech,' female and male
adult bats respond to them
differently. Through sound
recordings of their vocal
interactions, the research team
found that mother bats interact
with pups as they "babble,"
which could be interpreted as
positive feedback to pups
during vocal practice.
Much like human baby talk,
the pup-directed vocalizations
of adult females presented a
different 'colour' and pitch
than the calls directed towards
other adult bats. Male bats also
communicated with the pups,
but in a way that seemed to
transmit the "vocal signature"
of their social group.
"Pup isolation calls are
acoustically more similar to
those of males from the same
social group than to those of
other males," said Mirjam
Knörnschild, STRI research
associate and co-author of the
paper. "These results suggest
that adult male vocalizations
may serve as guidance for the
development of group
signatures in pup calls."
This is the first time that
scientists describe a
phenomenon that could
resemble baby talk among
bats, indicating that parent-
offspring communication in
bats is more complex than
previously thought and
opening new avenues for
further research.
"These results show that social
feedback is important during
vocal development, not only in
humans but also in other
vocal-learning species like
Saccopteryx bilineata," said
Ahana Fernandez, former
STRI visiting scientist who
conducted this research as part
of her doctoral thesis at the
Free University Berlin and is
now a post-doctoral researcher
at the Natural History
Museum in Berlin. "I believe
that bats are a very promising
taxon to investigate key shared
features of language, such as
the vocal learning ability, and
that this study will inspire
further studies in the
biolinguistics field."
https://phys.org/news/2020-08-mother-
baby-
pups.html?fbclid=IwAR3odR4zfW0o7
LRvMHBQCYjn6rj0zYFd2X_g0JY-
IYwljtyEjYFK43tF9ko
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 19 ____
_______________________________________________________________
Bali - Indonesia
Pura Goa Lawah, the Bat Cave
Temple, is located along the
coast of southeastern Bali, The
Bat Cave Temple indeed lives
up to its name, Lawah is Bat in
Balinese language, for three –
tier structure stand at the
entrance to a large cave. The
cave is inhabited by thousands
of flying bats that hang from
the rocky ceiling by the day
and depart on food hunts in
explosion of black wings every
evening. These large fruit bats
are believe to be the temple’s
guardians and are considered
sacred – as are the large
python that live in the
neighbouring rocks. The bats’
lair is rumoured to lead
underground all the way to
Pura Beakih; other stories have
in tunnelling beneath the
Badung strait to the Pura
Peed temple on Nusa
penida. This sacred temple
was founded in 1007 by the
holy Sage from Java, Mpu
Kuturan. The temple is one
of Sad Kahyangan (six
great temples of Bali). the
temple and the cave is an
obligatory site of Nyekah
(deification of the deceased
family member soul)
pilgrimage. Balinese
believe the cave harbours
an enormous dragon, Naga
Basuki, the mythical
serpent of universe and the
caretaker of the earth’s
equilibrium. A tale is told
how a prince of Mengwi
actually entered the sacred
cave to prove that he was the
rightful descendent of Mengwi
king, and emerged at Besakih,
but his feat was never
duplicated – entering the cave
is now forbidden.
By Schnobby - Own work, CC BY-SA
3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/ind
ex.php?curid=28006152
Gold encrusted bat
sculpture
Bats in Beds - The newsletter of the Bedfordshire Bat Group Oct 2020 Vol 128 20 ____
_______________________________________________________________ My favourite cartoonist has been at it again:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/28/despite-bats-being-critically-important-to-our-ecology-and-
adorable-we-treat-them-with-disdain