Bat research cutting-edge

‘‘The research team captured a number of bats and placed transmitting devices on a small sample.’’

Thermal imagery, acoustic monitoring, expeditions in the dead of night and a bat named Kathy might sound like a sci-fi storyline, but it’s all happening south of Hamilton.

The NZ Transport Agency and Hamilton City Council have been conducting environmental research into bat behaviour as part of the Southern Links road transport project, and the data is providing exciting information for scientists and bat enthusiasts.

Hamilton City Council’s Nathanael Savage said the research was still in its early days but was already adding new information to what was previously thought about bat habitats and flight patterns for the long-tailed bat (pekapeka-tou-roa), one of the two surviving native bat species in New Zealand.

Among the findings has been the confirmation that bats are roosting in man-made bat houses.

This is first time detailed recordings have been made of groups of bats using the artificial houses in Hamilton.

Tracking has also shown extensive bat flight paths, including across open countryside.

‘‘The research team captured a number of bats and placed transmitting devices on a small sample of them.

‘‘The tiny radio transmitters only last a few weeks before they fall off the bats, but we’ve been able to follow the movements and record them,’’ Savage said.

‘‘Over the course of two weeks one female bat, nick-named Kathy, seemed to travel extensively to forage and roost.’’

The bat houses have been made and sponsored by local schools, scout groups and volunteers, since 2011.

The initial project was the brainchild of a University of Waikato student Darren Le Roux while undertaking his masters study and promoting bats within the city.

The concept initially was that bats one day might roost in the artificial houses and at the time he thought it could be years, if ever at all, before this happened.

The houses are made from untreated wood, with a mix of design versions adapted from overseas experience with similar bat species. They have either single or multiple chambers, and are situated in areas to maximise the potential roosting habitats characteristics of both female and male long tailed bats.