Bats are New Zealand’s only endemic land-based mammals – that’s something worth conserving!
It’s International Bat Day and what better day to celebrate these marvellous creatures and the ongoing mahi to protect them.
Ongoing mahi to protect native bats
Aja Pendergrast, Auckland Zoo
Our Zoo team have been helping with local bat monitoring for the past three years, helping on projects with conservationists at Auckland Council, EcoQuest and the Department of Conservation, to understand more about pekapeka-tou-roa / long-tailed bats in Franklin and Whirinaki Forest.
In March, our Zoo staff Grace, Steph, Ruth and Jeff went to the National Pekapeka Hui hosted by our friends at Finding Franklin Bats. This hui brought together community groups, scientists, private landowners, government agencies and mana whenua to share knowledge and strengthen partnerships for bat conservation.
The hui included hands-on workshops covering a variety of topics like bioacoustic technology to use for monitoring and decoding bat calls, predator control, pekapeka habitat creation and hosted a variety of speakers from around the country discussing the latest pekapeka research, knowledge and ideas.
Like with many of our native species, these pekapeka face threats including habitat fragmentation and predation by introduced species, which is why active predator control is so important.
“If you’d like to help pekapeka in the wild, getting in touch with your local community group is always a great place to start! They may know if there are bats in your area, and could already be involved in important predator control, bat monitoring or replanting projects helping to conserve local populations,” explains keeper Grace.
If you’d like to see more of this bat conservation in action, check out the latest season of Wild Heroes. 7pm each Sunday on Three New Zealand, or streaming on Three Now.