| Adopt-a-bat
With the symbolic adoption of a fruit bat, you join Lubee's efforts to save bats. |
 |
Each adoption is fully tax deductible. Adoption kits include a photo and certificate depicting your chosen bat AND a plush bat
Visit our web site Adopt-a-bat |
Honor Roll
Corporate Sponsors for Bat Fest'10!
Satchel's Pizza awarded Lubee $500 for '09.
We would love your company to become one of next year's premier corporate sponsors of this exciting event!
Please contact awalsh@lubee.org for information about sponsorship opportunities, including free passes to BatFest'10. Visit our web page to find out more about BatFest . |
| Visit our Web site |
 |
|
Read about more conservation science projects.
Please forward this newsletter to friends and encourage people to add a link to our site from theirs!  | |
Dear Lubee Friends,
As the end of 2009 draws near, we want to express our thanks for the vital role you played this year in helping Lubee Bat Conservancy raise awareness about flying foxes thru our conservation science projects. It's the season of giving, so please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to support new projects before Dec 31. From all of us here at Lubee, we wish you a peace and joy this festive season! |
|
 Bat Fest 2009
Lubee opened its doors to the local community on Saturday, October 10th and welcomed nearly 2,400 visitors. The 5th Annual Bat Festival was our biggest festival yet and a chance for people to meet the gentle giants of the bat world. Bat Fest is an event designed to promote environmental conservation to a diverse audience. The festival is packed with opportunities to shop with batty vendors, meet local environmental groups, listen to traditional Didgeridoo music, play games and make batty crafts, all while learning about the countries and cultures our bats hail from. Keep checking our web site for details about next years festival. We hope to see you there!
Naming the Pteropus hypomelanus twins
 The winner of our bat naming competition is Mary Smith of Ohio, who we thank for her generous support. Inspired by reading articles about bats by Dr Merlin Tuttle, Mary joined Bat Conservation International, and in 1986 became a docent at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, where she talks to visitors about the exhibit animals, conservation and the need to preserve wild habitats. In 2006 the zoo opened a new Asia exhibit which houses large (Malayan) flying foxes (P. vampyrus) and little golden mantled flying foxes (P. pumilus) from Lubee Bat Conservancy and Mary fell in love with these bats; "Many myths about bats still prevail. I dispel the myths while emphasizing the number of bats in the world and the important roles they play in every ecosystem they live. I point out how beautiful, clean and intelligent they are. It is my hope that my conversations with our visitors, especially the children will lead to a better understanding, appreciation and protection of all bats." The names Mary chose for the twins came from the islands these bats are native to: Chesa, (the female) means Shine and Cahya (the male)means light. |
How Smart are Flying Foxes?
 One of the most commonly asked questions we receive is "How smart are the flying foxes?" Our typical response is that the bats seem fairly intelligent since they exhibit curiosity in novel items and appear to recognize individual people that enter their enclosures. However, quantitative research has not been conducted to determine how intelligent they truly are. University of Florida undergraduate student, Nathan Hall, took on this challenge and his results provide the first empirical evidence for human-like social cognition in bats. We know our bats have the looks, but it seems they have the brains as well! Nathan is one of a core group of students workingwith University of Florida Psychology professor Dr. Clive Wynne, to explore intelligence in animals. Full article here.
Pteropus vampyrus, a hunted migratory species with a multinational home-range and a need for regional management.
 Research just published in Journal of Applied Ecology by Jonathon Epstein at al.outlines the urgent need for coordinated regional conservation attention for the Malayan or Large Flying Fox (Pteropus vampyrus), threatened by unsustainable hunting levels in Malaysia. The research combines data from roosts and satellite tracking with genetic population data (supported in part by Lubee Bat Conservancy) and data on hunting levels to predict future population impacts. With around 22,000 of these bats being legally hunted each year and more killed illegally, models predict this species could be extinct in Malaysia by as early as 2015. Read news media article here . Lubee is committed to the conservation of this species across its natural range - please support the urgent need for greater conservtion efforts for this species by clicking on this link. |
|
Significance of Karst formations to Fruit Bat Conservation In Peninsular Malaysia
 Cave surveys by student Kendra Phelps and Dr Tigga Kingston of Texas Tech University, are highlighting the importance of limestone karst outcroppings to fruit bat diversity in central Peninsular Malaysia. In initial surveys, 5 species of fruit bats were netted in a single karst formation. In the longer term, the project aims to document bat diversity and the level of cave dependance and connectivity across multiple karst formations, and thereby provide key information to formulate management plans to protect cave-roosting fruit bats (in particular three native species of obligate cave roosting Old World fruit bats: Eonycteris spelaea, Penthetor lucasi, and Rousettus amplexicaudatus). Support for this project is provided by Lubee and Cincinnati Zoo. Full article here.
The ecology of potentially-zoonotic viral infections in West African fruit bats
 In order to understand virus infection dynamics within Straw colored fruit bats (Eidolon helvum) in Ghana, survival analysis is required to determine mortality rates, a key parameter for a mathematical model of virus transmission within this species. Given the large population size of a migratory E. helvum colony in Accra, Ghana, Cambridge University student David Hayman is using radio telemetry as a method of marking in a capture-mark-recapture study. Of 98 marked animals, 43% of the bats weres detected at the roost over 11 months after they were initially tagged. The mortality rates results of this survival analysis study will be used to determine the ecology of host-virus interactions, thus enabling informed decisions to be made for public health and bat conservation purposes. |
|
'Tis the season for flying reindeer foxes!
 As the holiday season approaches the bats at
Lubee are sharing a special time of year feasting on bountiful fruits and spending time with new pups and old friends. Read about what our bats are fed, how their lives are enriched, and how the bat's holiday season is similar to ours (including the screaming matches!). Bat Keeper Jordan Borstelman has prepared a feast for you in our Keeper Diaries blog! Full article here |
UF Bat House Update: Down but not out!
 On August 15th as onlookers waited behind the fence near the University of Florida bat house, bat enthusiasts were horrified to see the interior part of the bat house collapse and a wave of bats frantically emerge into the night. Of the 200,000 estimated to be living in the bat house, only 100 perished in the collapse, but the loss of this habitat could have had far reaching effects. In the wake of the partial collapse of the UF Bat House, plans to repair the existing house bat house and design a new "sister house" next door are well under way. Funding the project are Bacardi USA, the University of Florida, UF Athletics Association and batty well wishers from Gainesville all over the US who made generous donations through our web site. The bats have returned in droves! Read about their return. Full article here.
Seed Dispersal By Bats In the Neotropics:Just Published!
 This book summarizes our current knowledge and understanding of bat-dispersed plants and the diets and behaviors of frugivorous bats throughout the Neotropics. It focusses on on detailed long-term studies of the foraging and feeding behavior of fruit bats in French Guiana. The authors wrote an article detailing the work behind the book, which is available here. If you are interested in purchasing this book, it is available on Amazon.com.
Ecological and behavioral methods for the study of bats. 2nd edition, 2009. (T.H.Kunz and S. Parsons, eds.). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
 A long awaited revision of this popular manual for anyone interested in working in the field with bats. Check out a newly added chapter "Methods to Promote Bat Conservation Outreach and Education Through Science- and Research-Based Activities" by Lubee Director Allyson Walsh and Patricia Morton from the Nature Conservancy. If you are interested in purchasing this book, it is available on Amazon.com. | |
|
Lubee is succesful because of its dedicated team of staff, interns and volunteers, and also because of you, the people and organizations who make our work possible. I'd like to extend my personal thanks to each and every one of you for your interest and commitment to the conservation work of Lubee Bat Conservancy. We hope you know how much we appreciate your support.
In these uncertain economic times, non-profit organizations everywhere are suffering, making now an ideal time to give a small gift. Lubee's Bat Center operates from private endowment funds, and thus 100% of gifts received go directly to field conservation science projects.
Sincerely,
Allyson Walsh, Director
Lubee Bat Conservancy |
|
|
