Going batty

More than a century after they were last spotted, long-tailed bats may have returned to Christchurch.

- 

Balmy evenings have returned, so it's time for sweet-blooded people to dig out the insect repellent. It's no coincidence that it's also the season for pekapeka (bats) to emerge in force. These native mammals hunt mosquitoes and other flying insects then gobble them with their sharp little teeth. It's useful behaviour, and a recent discovery of usually invisible bat signs suggests it might be happening in more parts of the country than previously thought.

The pekapeka-tou-roa (long-tailed bat) became famous as the controversial Bird of the Year winner in 2021, but few people get to see their mozzysnatching aerial acrobatics. That's partly because bats are night creatures, emerging at dusk. During the day, they sleep in trees - upside down, of course - mostly under bark flakes and in holes. They also take refuge in such places when weather makes insect pickings thin, and they can enter an energy-conserving torpor.

Spotting bats is also tricky because they are small, with a mouse-sized body. Their wings span about 25cm and are shaped as distinctively as Halloween bat cutouts. They "flit like dark butterflies at dusk", states the Department of Conservation website.