BAT FACT FILE:

The Bat Interest Group of KZN (Bats KZN) was formed almost 10 years ago by Peter Taylor, Curator of Mammals at Durban Natural Science Museum, and Kate Richardson.
Its objectives are:
* To promote bats and their value to the environment and to humans by educating members of the public and dispelling myths;
* To conserve bats by maintaining existing bat populations, by rehabilitating injured bats, and by aiding human/bat interactions;
* To promote and undertake research to find out more about the bats of KZN and southern Africa
Wendy White is a bat rehabber and the group’s representative on the Wetlands Park’s NGO Forum. She is actively involved in surveying bats in the Park. Wendy’s interest in bats started several years ago when she found an injured Yellow House Bat in her house.
Bats KZN train pest controllers in identification and humane exclusion of bats and are happy to provide details of pest controllers who have had this training and who exclude bats without the use of chemicals. The group also provides a DIY leaflet for householders.

Bat Interest Group of KZN
Box 4085
Durban
4000
Tel: (031) 311 2256
Fax: (031) 311 2242

ECOFACTS

Peter Taylor
Durban Natural Science Museum

In May and in September, rufous hairy bats were twice collected for the first time within the Park.
In May, David Jacobs and students from University of Cape Town mistnetted individuals at Sugarloaf campsite in St Lucia, and at the Mfutululu Forest Station in Dududuku forest.
In September, Wendy White caught seven flying together along the Mkuze river in the reserve. The new records extend the known distribution some 300 km southwards.

This bat can be identified by long, coppery-reddish fur, six pairs of cheekteeth in the upper and law jaws (other bats have fewer), black ears and wings, and its small size.
Previously, they have been recorded from only two SA localities in Kruger National Park. Unpublished records in the Transvaal Museum and Durban Natural Science Museum add two further records: De Hoek Forest Station, west of Tzaneen, and a farm, Laughing Waters, 18km south of Malelane and some 70 km south of Skukuza, making this the southern-most known record at the time.
Very little is known of their biology: information on diet or reproduction is available for the subregion. They are thought to occur in savanna woodland habitat. They are believed to be solitary and to roost individually or in pairs.

Clearly we have much to learn about this rare bat. Existing “beliefs” need to be challenged by new data.

Wendy White

1. Bats are more than a quarter of all mammal species.
2. South Africa has 57 of the world’s 1009 bat species.
3. Most bats have just one baby a year, some bats take 5 years to leave 2 offspring.
4. 70% of baby bats die before they are one year old.
5. Bats can live up to 35 years.
6. The world’s smallest bat, the Bumble Bee bat weighs 3 grams and is the size of a R2 coin.
7. The world’s largest bat, an Indonesian Flying Fox, has a wingspan of 1.6 metres.
8. No bats are blind, they can all see very well. Fruit bats can see colour in the dark.
9. Insect eating bats eat one third of their weight in insects every night.

i-Ezemvelo KZNW ithi...

QAPHELA IZILWANE EZIYINGOZI EPAKI!

iWetlands Park iyikhaya lezilwane ezinjengezindlovu, izinkonkoni, obhejane,
imvubu nezingwenya konke okungaqondakali ubungozi bazo ikakhulu uma ziphazamisekile noma zilimele.
Nakhu okumele ukwenze ukuze uphephe:
* Ukuqalaza ngasosonke isikhathi ungabheki nje phambili
kuphela. Funda ukuqaphela ubhekisise konke kukuzungezile uma uhamba ehlathini.
* Ungasondeli kakhulu ezilwaneni. Xwaya ukuhamba emahlokozini ahlangene kakhulu lapho kunzima ukubona okuzayo.
* Qaphela ukuthi umoya ubheka ngaphi. Zama ukuphambana nomoya ukuze izilwane zingasheshe zizwe ukuthi ungaphi. Lokhu kungakubambezela
ohambweni lwakho kepha kungcono ukuphepha.
* Ungangcebeleki noma uphumule eduze namaxhaphozi angahle adonse izilwane ezinobungozi ebusuku noma eduze nemizila yezilwane.
* Qaphela izinkomba ezexwayisa ngezilwane ezinobungozi.
* Iphunga elibi lingasho ukuthi kukhona izindlovu noma
obhejane eduze kanti uma leliphunga liya ngokuhlaba kungasho ukuthi lezizilwane ziseduze kakhulu.
* Qaphela ubhekisise izimpawu zobulongwe bunjengobezinkomo kungasho ukuthi kukhona izilwane ezinjengobhejane noma izinkonkoni eduze.
* Ezikhathini zesomiso njengamanje, kujwayelekile ukuthi
izilwane ziphume enkambini.
* Abasebenzi bethu bafundisile ezikoleni basebenzisana
nemiphakathi engomakhelwane ukunqanda lezinkinga.

WETLAND PARK’S BATS ARE WILDLIFE TOO

Wendy White, an enthusiastic individual making a different for bats and the Park

Bats form a quarter of all mammal species yet they are the most persecuted, misunderstood and in danger of extinction of any mammal group.
In South Africa, it is illegal to use any chemical to kill or try to control bats. Yet hundreds of thousands are killed every year by pest control companies either through ignorance or deliberately flouting the law, risking a R45 000 fine.
Problem bats can be legally and humanely excluded from roofs during the months of May to early October, when no flightless young are likely to be present.
The saddest thing is that of all wild mammals bats are probably the most useful to us. One little insectivorous bat will eat around 2 500 mosquito-sized insects every night. Fruit bats are the propagators of many indigenous trees and will play a major part in rehabilitating the clear-cut forestry areas of the Wetlands Park. Birds mostly eat fruit in the parent tree and drop the seeds underneath where the seed will have difficulty germinating. Bats carry the fruit away, effectively dispersing the seeds.
Bats are very clean, do not carry rabies or other dread diseases, nor fleas, ticks, mites or any other parasite that can be transmitted to humans. They do not get tangled in your hair or chew your ears or toes. These are all myths. There are no vampire bats in South Africa.
The Park falls within the range of 38 of the world’s 1 009 bat species, an amazing number; the whole of the United Kingdom for example has only 16 species. Some of our bats are extremely rare and endangered and Bats KZN is working closely with the Authority to locate and protect bat roosts and develop a management plan.
The commercial value of bats to the Park should not be ignored, Bat ecotourism is becoming increasingly popular and Bats KZN is planning a visit of overseas enthusiasts next year; this one group will be directly contributing at least R500 000 to our economy.

So next time you encounter a bat don’t be scared of it or kill it, think of its essential contribution to our environment, let it go in peace and remember - bats are wildlife too.

"Success is 13 bats in catchbags", says one of the volunteers of the threatened species working group in the GSLWP.