75 species of bat live in Australia, including Lord Howe and Christmas Island.
Microbats are not a very well known species, but they are incredibly intriguing. During summer and autumn, microbats go into a feeding frenzy as they fatten up on insects to see them through the coming winter. Once the nights become cooler and the insects disappear, microbats lower their body temperature and go into a state of mini hibernation until their food returns in spring. Micorbats can eat as much as 40% of their own body weight in a single night or several hundred insects per hour.
The smallest microbat weighs only 3 grams – about the same as a single serve sugar sachet or a single A4 sheet of paper. If these tiny bats cannot find a suitable hollow, they can fit into very small gaps and utilise your roof and walls. This is why artificial roost sites are important as they provide an alternative.
Foundation Projects
Analysis of Bat Data Gathered in the South East Forest National Park
The Foundation funded the analysis of radiotracking and live trapping data collected by scientists in a woodchipped forest and farmland near Bega from 2003 and 2005. This analysis will determine where the bats concentrated their nightly foraging flights, especially in land modified by farming and forestry. The results will enable conservation measures to be shared with land managers and bat ecologists.
