The Epauletted fruit bats, known to so many visitors in Skukuza as they are a common sight hanging under the eaves of the Skukuza Camp shop and the lapa outside the Skukuza Deli, have been part of an ongoing study for a few years now.
Professors John Winkelmann and Frank Bonaccorso from the biology department of the Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, USA, visited Skukuza recently to do a bit of bat tracking.
The professors and their team of students and volunteers fit tiny radio collars to the bats to see where these elusive creatures disappear to every night.
The light weight collars apparently do not hinder the movement of the bats. Michele says the bats form part of a study that entails looking at their movements and feeding behaviour. Luckily these local bats are easy to find during the day as they roost hanging upside down in the shade. The radio collars transmit a signal that can be detected by a receiver and every evening after sunset, the researchers can determine where the bats are going and which trees they are feeding on. Having witnessed the procedure, she says, fitting the radio collar is a delicate business.
“First the bats are captured in a mist net that is held out below where they roost. As the bats drop down to fly out into the night, they become entangled in the fine net. Once they are out of the net, the bat is put into a cotton bag and taken to the veterinary lab for the collar to be fitted.
Before the collar is fitted, all the vital statistics of the bat are recorded including the body weight. The bat is kept calm by feeding it a sweet sugar solution. Once the collar is fitted and secure, the bat is returned to the roosting site and released to fly free and feed on its favourite figs.”
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