Wildlife Clubs spot world's rarest bat |30 August 2004

The volunteer leaders and Wildlife Clubs coordinator Terrence Vel met recently with the  “Seychelles Bat on the Brink” team members in search of the bat, consisting of researchers from three different UK universities, Nature Seychelles and the Ministry of Environment.

The group gathered at Port Launay to discuss the bats and how to observe the presence of feeding bats, particularly through the use of bat detectors.

The Sheath-tailed bat, which researchers believe to be the rarest in the world, feeds on insects at night-time using echolocation – ultrasonic calls to detect objects such as trees and insects.

Since humans cannot hear their calls, so a bat detector is used to translate their calls into a sound we can hear. These detectors are being used in the current intensive study on Mahe to locate points of regular bat activity.

Mr Vel said the Wildlife Club leaders were anxious to see the bats.

“None of the leaders were very familiar with these spectacular bats,” Mr Vel said. “Feedback from a questionnaire revealed that some members of the group had in fact seen the bats before, but not in recent years. One leader used to see many in Belonie, but unfortunately that was 40 years ago.”

Members of the group pointed to habitat destruction, vegetation loss and bush fires as possible factors that may have caused the bats to disappear from that area.

The group was also able to take advantage of recent pictures and digital camera footage of the bats, Mr Vel said, as well as a short demonstration on bat detector use.

Equipped with several of the detectors, the group travelled to where researchers had heard bat calls on previous nights.

“Right on cue, the group picked up the sound on the detectors and minutes later saw a bat fly along the road,” Mr Vel said, noting that the leaders were able to see the bat clearly from the lights from nearby houses. “Feeding calls of the bat could also be heard on the detectors.”

Mr Vel says the enthusiasm generated among the wildlife club leaders will hopefully spread to more people and help to educate Wildlife Club participants in schools.

“We must now have an all out effort to conserve and save this endangered bat species,” he added.