Sign In / Register
New Zealand’s answer to Batman may not be able to fly or save the world from evil, but he is sharing his superpower – an in-depth knowledge and love of bats – with as many people as possible in a quest to save the species.
Scientist Ben Paris earned the nickname NZ Batman due to spending 15 years studying and spreading the word about our native bats.
He is giving a talk this month on the Hibiscus Coast and says he hopes to inspire locals to begin looking for bats in their local parks.
Night walks to look for bats (they are nocturnal) have become popular around the country, including in parts of Auckland. Hand-held bat detectors, which are about the size of a mobile phone, pick up the bats’ eco-location signals, normally not detectable by the human ear, and turn them into a sound that people can hear. Auckland Council provides the equipment on loan to the public (see below).
Ben says bats are the underdogs of New Zealand’s native animals. There are two species – long tailed and short tailed – and both are threatened.
They are very small – about the size of a thumb – and weigh about as much as two $2 coins.
“People know about kiwi and kakapo, but the short tailed bat is found only on Little Barrier and the long tailed bat is really threatened, so it’s important for more people to engage with them,” he says.
Bats are getting bad press at the moment, because of the possibility that they formed the initial link with Covid-19.
So far, the closest match to the human coronavirus has been found in a bat in China’s Yunnan province. A study published last month found that the bat coronavirus shared 96 percent of its genetic material with the virus that causes Covid-19 in people.
However, researchers consider that although bats could have passed the virus to humans, key differences in the two viruses suggest that the bat coronavirus did not directly infect people, but could have been transmitted through an intermediate host.
Ben says it’s important to note that New Zealand’s bats do not carry viruses that people need to worry about. In fact, he says studying them could be useful for human health.
“They are mammals but have a different metabolism to humans, so we could be studying them more to find out why they are so disease-resistant. They could hold an important key.”
Bats are also useful to people in that they feed on mosquitos as well as moths and midges.
Ben’s talk in Orewa will ponder the question ‘are bats living on the Hibiscus Coast?’
He says the habitats they prefer are under loose bark in big old trees on forest edges and near waterways.
As a result of many talks with schools and other groups, Ben is happy to play up the ‘Batman’ tag and has a Facebook page called NZ Batman. However, he says Hollywood has a lot to answer for when it comes to the way people feel about bats.
“I want to change the impression people have when they think about bats,” he says.
Hand-held bat detectors are easy to use and available on loan from Auckland Council free of charge.
To find out more, email biodiversity@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz • Ben’s talk is on March 24 at Estuary Arts Centre, 7.30pm. Info: See What’s On
