Rare Bats discovered in the Kepler Mountains
- research funded by Distinction Hotels
When you walked (or ran!) the Kepler Track descending alongside the Iris Burn, you were tramping alongside only the second known Fiordland colony of our very handsome long tailed bats/pekapeka-tou-roa.
Being in the nationally critical category of threatened species, finding a population of up to 70 in a previously unknown location along with eight maternity roost trees is as exciting as it gets in the bat kingdom. There is evidence that short tailed bats also live in the Kepler Mountains, making the area one of only two sites in New Zealand inhabited by both species.
In 2011, Distinction Hotels, in partnership with the Trust and DOC, donated $5000 to this important research project. Having discovered them, we now need to ensure we don't lose them. These bats need our help. Rats love the bats too, so rat trapping work needs to be funded to give these cute little critters a fighting chance.
Admittedly beauty is in the eye of the beholder but the long and short tailed bats are New Zealand's only remaining native land mammals. Once gone from the Kepler that's it for this area as we don't yet know how to translocate bats.