We have bats?
That's the common reaction from people living in Taupō hearing that pekapeka-tou-roa — long-tailed bats — have been detected in a number of forested places in the Taupō district.
Wildlands senior ecologist Dr Kerry Borkin works from home in Taupō and she says that New Zealanders are generally unaware of the presence of bats.
"Lots of people that notice bats are from overseas, because they are used to seeing them."
Recently Kerry was awarded a QEII Technician's Study Award, a professional development scholarship so she can learn more about our bats for her own professional development, and also so she can bring knowledge to New Zealand that will benefit us all. She is using the scholarship to learn how bats are managed in urban areas in Australia, and to trial some of the techniques to manage and protect bats found in New Zealand.
As part of her scholarship she toured an innovative bat restoration project where artificial roost structures known as bat boxes were installed, went to a bat rescue centre where injured bats are rehabilitated, and visited a 'flight centre' — a sort of bat aviary where injured bats can practice flying while recuperating. On her next trip she is going to Melbourne for a few days to help out at the world's longest-running bat box installation project.
She says that a big part of her learning is about how to educate New Zealanders and visiting tourists about bats, saying that bats are either loved or hated in Australia and that popular fiction has given bats a bad reputation.
