Tolga Bat Hospital News Oct 2016. Tick Season, Farewell to Deb, Volunteers, Visitor Centre, Wildlife Friendly Fencing Project, Garden Competition, Worm Farms, Did You Know?

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WELCOME to the Bat Hospital newsletter. We've sent out one or two newsletters in the past but did not maintain the momentum. This time we’ve got great professional support and intend to send 2-3 issues a year to keep you informed of our activities. Those on Facebook can also receive more regular updates. Any feedback to improve the newsletter will be gratefully received.

Photo of Little Red flying foxes taken by our batographer Jurgen Freund (better known as Yogi), who recently won an IUCN prize for a story about the Hospital. Many versions of this bat story have occurred in publications around the world (except Antarctica!).

TICK SEASON

It’s that time of year when we brace ourselves for months of little sleep and going a little bit crazy. The vets are having a difficult season with tick paralysis in cats and dogs this year but this doesn't always mean it will be bad for flying foxes. It will depend on how much food there is high up in the forests so the bats are not tempted to come down low into the noxious wild tobacco. This is where they encounter the paralysis ticks.

Last year we reared over 400 Spectacled flying fox orphans and in the same months had over 400 Little Red flying foxes come into care from entanglement on barbed wire fences. We are hoping for an easier time this year with fewer bats needing our care. Go to our Facebook page for regular updates.

FAREWELL TO DEB

Deb Melville (right) has been part of the core Bat Hospital team since September 2015. With a PhD in flying fox reproduction and 5 years experience working with the Queensland Hendra team, Deb fitted well into the needs of the Bat Hospital. She is returning to Brisbane for family reasons. We thank her for her work and wish her the very best.

MEET THE OTHER TEAM MEMBERS.
Founder and director of the Bat Hospital Jenny McLean (middle) has worked with bats since 1990. Her background as a physiotherapist provides excellent grounding for rehabilitating bats.
Ashleigh Johnson (left) has volunteered at the Bat Hospital for over 10 years. As an occupational therapist she also has excellent rehabilitation skills.

VOLUNTEERS

The Bat Hospital relies largely on volunteers: local, national and international. In the last year we've had fabulous volunteers from many different countries - Sweden, Denmark, Mexico, Germany, Canada, USA, UK and Australia. Without them the workload would be impossible.

VISITOR CENTRE

We are once again #1 on Trip Advisor for attractions on the Atherton Tablelands. Our Visitor Centre was recently audited by Ecotourism Australia and passed with flying colours, and so far this year we’ve had over 1600 visitors. Below is a taste of what our visitors have been saying about us, but please read more on our Trip Advisor page.

Very personal tour, knowledgeable volunteer guide; beautiful displays; very nice mementos to buy. We got right up close with various bats, got to see some interesting equipment, learn all sorts of details and all in a very atmospheric native forest ("jungle") setting. We went away feeling like we'd stumbled across a fab surprise and took a great non-fiction book about the bat hospital home, plus they have beautiful bat T-Shirts for sale - all supporting their work with the bats.

WILDLIFE FRIENDLY FENCING PROJECT

We began this project with funding through Worldwide Fund for Nature in 2006 to raise awareness of the impact of fencing on Australian wildlife, develop guidelines for good practice and provide resources such as the website and brochures for groups to use around Australia. Read more...

This year we are improving the visibility of entanglement hotspots by painting the top strand with white paint. The Little Red flying foxes have just arrived this week in Tolga Scrub and we can expect entanglements to begin as soon as we get windy weather. This video is a rather graphic account of a day in early October 2012 when 108 bats were rescued in one day along one road.

GARDEN COMPETITION

Visitors often comment on our beautiful landscaping and gardens so this year we’ve entered the local Garden Competition.

WORM FARMS

We recycle the waste from the flying foxes every morning into four large worm farms. The bat poo and spat is recycled into worm poo and then put onto the garden. Read more at the bottom of this page...
(it’s rather a long web page !)

DID YOU KNOW?

Microbat and Yinpterochiroptera

Microbat and Yangochiroptera

Megabat and Yinpterochiroptera

The 1330 species of bats in the world can be divided into 2 groups, those that echolocate (Microbats) and those that don't (Megabats). They can also be divided into Yinpterochiroptera (a.k.a. Pteropodiformes) and Yangochiroptera (a.k.a. Vespertilioniformes) based on molecular genetics.

In this classification the leaf-nosed microbats belong with the megabats. The leaf-nose is an interesting structure on the face that helps focus or direct echolocation calls, so the calls are emitted through the nostrils rather than the mouth. The repeat of the word Chiroptera reflects the name of the Order to which all bats belong, a word meaning 'hand-wing'.

NEXT NEWSLETTER

Eradicating coffee, a major weed in the local rainforest
Bat Tattoo Competition
Update on Tick and Barbed Wire Seasons
…and more

Copyright © Tolga Bat Rescue and Research Inc 2016 All rights reserved.
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PO Box 685 Atherton, Queensland 4883, Australia.
info@tolgabathospital.org
07 4091 2683
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