Bats KZN - The Bat Interest Group Of KwaZulu Natal

12/06/2024

Introduction to Bat Rehabilitation 🦇

Our Introduction to Bat Rehabilitation course caters to wildlife carers, rehabilitators, veterinarians, nurses and all those looking to support our bat populations through rehabilitation. ❤

This lengthy course will take place over two full Saturdays. In the interest of time, we will facilitate a discussion on the following Monday evenings to answer questions and discuss cases.

PLEASE NOTE ❗️❗️❗️
This is a specialized course and all attendees are required to have attended our Introduction to Bats course or have prior experience with bats.

BatsKZN is only able to offer a practical workshop to those living in KwaZulu Natal. As such, attendees planning on using this information practically must be able affiliated with a permitted rehabilitator, rehabilitation centre or working under the supervision of a veterinarian.

For more information, email us at [email protected] or Book now @ https://forms.gle/FQcNAXYnkZw6tsAb7 😁

12/06/2024

Introduction to Bats Course 🦇

Our Introduction to Bats course caters to all animal enthusiasts. It is a fantastic overview of the fascinating world of bats. Learn how to identify them, how they survive and how vital they are to our environment.

Book now @ https://forms.gle/mFMXUQsj8LUWDTUj8 😁

09/05/2024

Join us for a wonderful bat talk 🥰🦇

18/04/2024

How's that for a smile!

!!! ❤️🦇

It's !!! A shoutout to all of the amazing bat species around the world. Not only are bats present in varying habitats around the world, but different species hold diverse diets: insectivorous, nectivorous, frugivorous, omnivorous and blood-based. Bats also vary greatly in size, with wingspans ranging from 6 inches to almost 5 feet! There are so many unique bat species to appreciate; through our work at Species from F***s, we can help to identify these wonderful species. Which are some of your favorite bats?
» Photo: LANO face side profile (by José Gabriel Martinez-Fonseca)
•
•
•
***s

12/04/2024

Not what you would expect! 🦇

When it comes to the evolutionary tree, bats have some unique close relatives.

31/03/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/Ao9idTzT5QQ8wWcb/?mibextid=oFDknk

29/03/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/bEFuUivxhqc2qzCP/?mibextid=oFDknk

We heard a fascinating yesterday from Eleanor (Kate) Richardson. She shared '30 years of Bats KwaZulu-Natal – where we’ve been and what we’ve learned along the way'. It was full of inspiring stories and lessons...highly recommend catching up 🦇

Check out all our past webinars here: www.batswithoutborders.org/webinar-catch-up

26/03/2024

🌟 TOMORROW! 🌟

Join us for our first webinar of 2024!

Eleanor (Kate) Richardson will be sharing: '30 years of Bats KwaZulu-Natal – where we’ve been and what we’ve learned along the way' 🦇🦇🦇

To sign up for this free webinar please visit: www.batswithoutborders.org/webinars
Please note the webinars are 1 hr long and always at 3pm southern African time (currently 1pm BST |1pm GMT | 9am EDT).

21/03/2024

"If you’ve ever enjoyed coffee, tomatoes, corn, bananas, mangoes, walnuts, chocolate, tequila or mezcal, you may just owe bats a thank-you."

Be nice to bats! Have a read. 🦇

Some of our favorite foods and drinks rely on these oft-misunderstood mammals, which are facing multiple threats

20/03/2024

Book your spot now, you don't want to miss this one! 🦇

🌟 One week today! 🌟

Join us for the first of 2024!

On Wednesday 27th of March, our speaker Eleanor (Kate) Richardson will share '30 years of Bats KwaZulu-Natal – where we’ve been and what we’ve learned along the way'.

The Bat Interest Group of KwaZulu-Natal started in 1994 at an inaugural meeting at the Durban Natural Science Museum. Since then, they have learned about bats, talked about bats, cared for bats, learned about the environment, made friends, had fun, and learned a lot about themselves along the way. In this talk Kate Richardson will take a trip down memory lane to discuss some of the highlights of the years, what worked (and what did not work), and how things have changed in bat work over the years.

Please note the webinars are always at 3 pm southern African time (currently 1pm BST | 1pm GMT | 9am EDT).

Register here: www.batswithoutborders.org/webinars

18/03/2024

Join us on the 13th of April for an exciting Introduction to Bats course! ❤

This course is designed for conservationists, biologists, bat lovers, bat haters (you won't be by the time we are done!) and for everyone who is just interested in learning something new. Basically, you are all invited! 😁

From bat identification and fun facts to ecosystem services and surveying, you will learn everything you need to know about South African bats. 🦇

The course will be hosted online on Zoom to accommodate bat lovers from all over the country.

To book, email us at [email protected] or send us a Facebook message!
Membership Sign up: www.batskzn.org.za/membership/

11/03/2024

Let the learning begin! 🦇

We will be kicking the year off with our Grounded and Baby Bat rescue course. This is going to be catered to the amazing people that assisted us through baby season and got addicted to bats! However, we do welcome anyone that is interested in becoming an ambulance driver for our group, or your provincial bat group. 🥳

Throughout the year, we will be conducting a number of talks and courses on a variety of subjects. Some will be catered to specialists such as pest control companies and rehabilitators while others will be catered to those that are just keen to learn something new!

We will be conducting the following courses and will share the dates with you all when they are confirmed. If you would like to prebook for any, or get onto our mailing list for invites. Email us at [email protected], or Facebook message us with your details.

Our courses will include (but are not limited to…)

1. Introduction to Bats (April, August)
2. Grounded and Baby Bat Rescue (March, April, September)
3. Introduction to Bat Rehabilitation
4. Practical course work for rehabilitators
5. Pest Control Workshop.

Please note that those interested in participating in the rehabilitation course will have to complete courses 1 and 2!

If you would like to sign up as a member, and enjoy the fabulous discounts, you can do so here https://batskzn.org.za/membership/

Looking forward to learning with you all! 😁❤

16/02/2024

We are only now coming down from the INSANE baby bat season. Over the last 4 months, we have rescued and released over 50 adult and baby bats!!

We would never have been able to do this without the support of our community, ambulance drivers and, of course, the wonderful members of the public that rescued the bats. 🥰

We can proudly say that we have managed to convert many people into bat lovers.😁 With that, we have had several requests to conduct courses and welcome new members from around South Africa.

To make the most of our *quiet* time between seasons, we are preplanning our year and the courses and talks we will be offering. If you would like to join any of these or have suggestions for future talks, please fill out the following survey!

https://forms.gle/WEHf3cT7CeEeHLqY8

01/01/2024

Wishing you all a bat-tastic new year! 🦇🥳

29/12/2023

We would like to send out a giant shout of appreciation to our valued member Amy Panikowski!

While most of us have been enjoying the festive season, she has been instrumental in keeping our bat helpline running and ensuring that all of our of orphaned and injured bats receive the best care that they can get! ❤🦇

If you are interested in joining our group, and becoming a bat hero, you can sign up online! https://batskzn.org.za/volunteer/

25/12/2023

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

May it be filled with love and bats🦇🦇🦇

01/12/2023

Over the past month, we have been posting warnings about the upcoming baby season, but we didn’t quite expect it to get this bad this quickly! It may be the severe weather changes or a simple lack of food, but it appears that our bats are more in trouble than ever. 🦇

Over the past week, we have received a whopping 34 baby bats. Some of which we have been able to reunite with their moms, the rest have moved to our dedicated rehabilitators for hand rearing. Baby bats, like all wild animals, do best with their mothers and unfortunately, we end up suffering a few losses, especially the pups that have been orphaned for a few days before being found. 😔

In this video, you can see just how delicate these little creatures are and how careful we need to be when feeding them. Baby bats need to be fed anywhere between two and six hours, depending on their age. This little girl weighs only 1.3grams. She has no fur as yet, and her eyes are still fully closed.

This is not easy work, and each day we find ourselves inundated with even more calls. We urge the public to get into contact with us as soon as possible so that we can work with them to reunite these pups with their families before it’s too late. ❤️

If you find a bat, join our WhatsApp helpline immediately by using the following link or the QR code in our Facebook banner! chat.whatsapp.com/Eqw7s2lokLCEmM9g9PNUB7

17/11/2023

😂🦇

Is your child texting about bats?

If they are, they're cooler than you.

31/10/2023

Wishing you a spooky and candy-filled Halloween! 🦇

17/10/2023

It's that time of year… baby season has begun! 🤯🦇

10/10/2023

Bats use echolocation to navigate their surroundings and to pinpoint and catch prey. These are high-frequency calls (above human hearing range) which are specific to each species. This makes it relatively easy to identify bats by recording and analyzing their calls. Bats have various vocalizations that they use to communicate with each other. These range from audible squeaks to communicate and resolve squabbles in the roost, to the unique calls that moms and pups produce to identify each other. 🦇

Bats are also capable of producing high frequency social calls, which are entirely unique from their hunting echolocation calls. These calls are made in flight and while they are not fully understood, it has been noted that some of these social calls are used in conjunction with chasing behavior. This means that they are likely used to announce and defend the bat's feeding territory.

While the world of echolocation has been studied extensively, the presence of these undefined social calls, which appear to be unique to each species, shows that the learning has only just begun! 😁

06/10/2023

Lulu loves to flash those big puppy dog eyes when she wants some extra dinner. How could you say no? 😍

Lulu is a Wahlberg's epauletted fruit bat (Epomophorus wahlbergi). She was only a few days old when she was found, and sadly, we were unable to reunite her with her mom. Fruit bats rely heavily on their mothers to teach them how to fly, seek safety and navigate their way through specific foraging paths. 🦇

For this reason, and due to her incredibly young age, it was simply not fair of us to return her to a wild world that she was not prepared for. However, Lulu's life is far from over, and she enjoys a pampered, enriched and love-filled sanctuary life with one of our dedicated rehabbers. 😁

02/10/2023

On the 14th of October, we will be hosting a grounded and baby bat rescue course!🦇🦇

This beginners course is catered to all rehabilitators, rescuers, and ambulance drivers that are looking to get more involved in Bat rehabilitation.

The Bat Interest Group of KwaZulu-Natal is run entirely by dedicated volunteers and with only a handful of permitted rehabiliators, we can’t be everywhere at once. We are looking for enthusiastic rescuers that would be able to assist in the rescue, potential release and transportation of injured bats to the closest rehabilitator.

With baby season fast approaching, we will also be training participants on how to rescue, briefly care for and reunite these pups with their mothers. We are specifically looking for new members from the South Coast, Northern Zululand and Camperdown/Ashburton area, but will happily welcome all the help we can get. 🥰

To book, email us at [email protected] or fill in the RSVP form in the link below.
https://forms.gle/2bXf5XLmB1JCZfv76

24/09/2023

If haven't already, be sure to sign up for Bats without Borders Winged Wednesday Webinars!

08/09/2023

The weather is expected to be quite warm this weekend! Please be spatially aware and observe your surroundings. If you find a grounded bat, that is a bat the needs assistance. Please contact us ASAP - don't forget that we have the QR code to our Emergency WhatsApp group pinned above should you need real time assistance!

Any bat that comes into our care has to be returned to the location it was originally found. Please be sure to provide us or our drop-off points with accurate contact and location details so that we can achieve this! 😁😁

Please share widely so we can assist as much as possible!🦇

For more details, visit our website.
www.batskzn.org.za/i-found-a-bat/

26/08/2023

Last weekend, we hosted a Grounded and Baby Bat Rescue Course, and we had an absolute blast!

These courses take a ton of work to prepare and present, and our (perfectionist😆) facilitators take extra time to fact-check each other to ensure that we are only giving out the most updated and accurate information available to us.

Which is why it has been so heartwarming to receive such positive feedback from those that attended. ❤

Our goal has always been to create a like-minded, conservation-based community in which we can share information, assist each other with cases and most of importantly, save bats! 🦇

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us and made the day so much fun! 🥳

19/08/2023

What an incredible video!

18/08/2023

Its Friday!! Wishing you all a bat-tastic weekend. Remember to drink responsibly! 🦇

09/08/2023

Bats KZN wishes you a Happy Women's Day to all the wonderful and amazing women out there! We hope it's been a great day for you!🦇

Photo: "Lupin" (aka Lulu) is a Wahlberg's Epauletted fruit bat (Epomophorus wahlbergi) pup currently in care of one of our rehabbers.

06/08/2023

On the 20th of August, we will be hosting a grounded and baby bat rescue course!🦇🦇

This beginners course is catered to all rehabilitators, rescuers, and ambulance drivers that are looking to get more involved in Bat rehabilitation. If you are new to the bat world but would like to get more involved in caring for them, you will be invited to join our full rehabilitation course on completion of this one.

The Bat Interest Group of KwaZulu-Natal is run entirely by dedicated volunteers and with only a handful of permitted rehabiliators, we can’t be everywhere at once. We are looking for enthusiastic rescuers that would be able to assist in the rescue, potential release and transportation of injured bats to the closest rehabilitator.

With baby season fast approaching, we will also be training participants on how to rescue, briefly care for and reunite these pups with their mothers. We are specifically looking for new members from the South Coast, Northern Zululand and Camperdown/Ashburton area, but will happily welcome all the help we can get. 🥰

To book, message us on Facebook, email us at [email protected] or fill in the RSVP form in the link below.
https://forms.gle/GLmnvZAySQ21d3Li8