AfriBats highlights
Hi everyone!
To celebrate the 500th bat observation on AfriBats & iNaturalist, I thought I go through the archive and pull out my favourite top ten observations. Well, it's been extremely exciting since the start of the project, so the list is a bit longer than just 10, but I promise that each of them is worth looking at!
Two spectacular predation events have been documented: A Black Mamba systematically searching the holes in the pole of an electricity line and getting a house bat (probably Scotophilus viridis) as a reward:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/180834
http://youtu.be/JqQ5unQy5VQ
plus a Grey Kestrel snatching a Lavia frons:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/276334
I've also enjoyed bat observations in their nocturnal environment, e.g. photos of fruit bats while feeding:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/136599
www.inaturalist.org/observations/137261
www.inaturalist.org/observations/218949 – yes, you've been caught in the act!
www.inaturalist.org/observations/219819
Or a stunning series of Lavia frons and a Nycteris feeding on insects:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/194894
www.inaturalist.org/observations/194524
And a Nycteris snapped with a camera trap during foraging:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/173071
http://remotecamera-sa.blogspot.com/2012/08/from-out-of-blue-eh-black.html
Bats as bushmeat: as many of you know, this is a huge challenge for conservation in some parts of Africa and surrounding islands. Observations show Eidolon helvum being sold on the markets in Congo-Brazzaville, and other fruit bats (Pteropus & Rousettus) being hunted and prepared on Madagascar:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/210692
www.inaturalist.org/observations/210296
www.inaturalist.org/observations/277993
www.inaturalist.org/observations/284472
www.inaturalist.org/observations/297146
Probably most of you will find these pictures disconcerting, but I feel that sharing this through AfriBats will help to assess the scale and extent of bats as bushmeat, and eventually inform conservation actions where required.
Simply amazing is the offshore record of Taphozous mauritianus, demonstrating the excellent dispersal capacity of this species (these bats have colonized São Tomé & Annobón in the Gulf of Guinea as well as several islands in the Indian Ocean):
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/139149
And finally some funny observations, for instance these emballonurids riding a train:
www.inaturalist.org/observations/243412
http://youtu.be/8Sct93WdSZk
Or a Gambian epauletted fruit bat patrolling the patio of a building (you can save the watchdog if you are lucky and have one of these around):
www.inaturalist.org/observations/164603
AfriBats has been a full-blown success due to the commitment of every single contributor and by far exceeds my initial expectations. Still, I'm not only hoping for a steady influx of new observations, but that this project will attract even more interest, e.g. with guides, rangers and managers of protected areas in Africa so as to become viral. Think of an annual BatBlitz in a national park where visitors, bat interest groups and scientists are collaborating to observe as many bats as possible in a single day.
Why not put out a camera trap in front of a baobab flower, a shea butter tree or a roost entrance? Do you know fruit bats roosting under the porch of your house – what about taking a picture every month and thus documenting group size and reproduction of these bats?
For those of you experienced with the identification of African bats: come on board! Not everyone needs to share observations, and additional expertise in species identification is more than welcome.
All in all we're jointly building a wonderful resource, and I'm very much looking forward to the next 500 observations. Stay batty, and see you on iNat!
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