Into the forest, catch bats

Master Vu Dinh Thong, a young scientist who specializes in bat research, reveals something about studying bats in Vietnam.

Specialist Vu Dinh Thong and a foreign colleague are analyzing bat samples.(Photo: MN)

With nearly 10 years of experience in researching bats only, MSc Vu Dinh Thong (Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources) said that he wants to learn bats or catch them to study, there is only way to go to the forest. deep.

Enter the forest, catch .

Basically, bats often live in good current forests, many rocky mountains, luxuriant canopy trees such as Ben En National Park (Thanh Hoa), Xuan Son (Phu Tho), Phong Nha - Ke Bang, Phu Quoc (Phu Quoc Island). Throughout the country, where there are forests, bats can be found.

However, it is not easy to find bats . Often scientists have to walk along the winding trails of the rocky mountains. Meet the dangerous place, scientists still have to . swing the rope to climb the mountainside to find the way.

Boasting a deep, wild forest, Vu Dinh Thong shuddered to recall the scene of camping in the deserted forest, making friends with plants and animals on a quiet night. It is a hot sunny day, a cold night, wild beetles burn each other, suck blood .

But the most miserable is that there is no water because not all the places where scientists come to have water. .

There were times, during the whole week, the field team did not bathe because there was only a small source of water to eat. So miserable that scientists can only swallow a meal every day with . wild vegetables,

Evil one, bats often fly out to eat from sunset to 11pm. After that, they 'dived' again and lost their lives until 3-4:00 am and flew away to feed. Therefore, the scientist has to set a trap to catch bats since sunset. By the time the sun started to grow, the bat flew back to the place of residence and also the field team closed the net.

The field team often started snaring at sunset from 17:30 - 20 hours.

A special kind of trap to catch bats.(Photo: M.Nguynh)

Catching bats is not complicated but requires a professional device, called a translucent mesh. This is a special type of net like a fishing net but when raised, even the daytime we cannot see the mesh. A second type of device is a receptor trap. It consists of an iron frame and freight fibers.

The reason for having 2 types of special equipment mentioned above is that the bat emits conical ultrasound and locates the obstacle very accurately. Therefore, both types of devices are designed to block bat ultrasound, making bats easy to reach.

Speaking of bats, people often mention the ability to produce ultrasound in bat, but according to Vu Dinh Thong, not every bat emits an ultrasound. Only bats eat animal food, insects, hard wings . using ultrasound And bats eat plants, fruit berries have almost no ultrasound.

Bats emit ultrasound from the palate like a person with a vocal cords to make sounds with a very special muscle system. The purpose of ultrasound emission to accurately locate prey and habitat. In addition, the bat emits ultrasound in herd relationships, finds children, finds friends and calls for help .

Day to sleep, night to go fishing

Of Vietnam's 110 species, 31 varieties, 7 families and 2 bat subtypes, there are only two bat species of the fruit bat family with ultrasound: brown fox bat (Rousettus leschenaulti) and gray fox bat (Rousettus amplexicaudatus).

But their ultrasound is very small and slow, whereas the olfactory is very developed even in the dark they can detect bait.

Bats often sleep during the day and work at night when they sense low light when one of them flies out to probe before the flock flies out.

Bats often live in colonies in places with low light. The place of bat is extremely diverse. It could be a banana leaf, palm leaf, under a tree, or in a tree hole, a bamboo hole . bats are also sheltered as long as the surroundings are safe enough, there is enough food and no hunting catch.

The main enemies of bats are animal-eating birds such as owls, eagles and hawks. If living in a cave, the main enemy of the bat is python and snake.

Bats are also attacked by bugs and ticks. Scientists also discovered, like humans, many times also infected with helminths.

Sex life of bats

Bats are quite careful in finding their partners, not every male born is paired with females. Only males who are competitive, or have dances that make their children "super-hearted". During bats' lifespan from 11 to 14 years, males are never paired.

But the breeding season next year they can be paired with other males except for some very common bat species such as the big-nosed bat (scientific name Rhinolophus luctus) they live alone in pairs and couples all their lives. .

Bats often breed in the spring, each bat has only one baby. Pregnancy time of bats ranges from 40-50 days. When I was born, the first two or three weeks of bats were attached to the womb and ate milk, after three weeks my mother would leave me at the shelter and fly for food. The time of bat born to adulthood is 1-1.5 years depending on the species.

The bat's genitals have a difference compared to other mammals that have very good sperm storage and feeding organs. This part can store sperm from this winter to the following winter.

If before mating season they do not mate with any male, or mating they still use sperm in that storage unit and reproduce normally in the spring.

Three new bats

Vietnam currently has 3 newly discovered bats. It is the bat-leaf bats (Rhinolophus shameli), the large smooth bat (Kerivoula Kachinnensis), the ear-shaped bat (Phoniscus jagorii).

After discovering these three new bat species, bat expert Vu Dinh Thong sent samples to the Acta Chiropterologica bat industry institute in England for testing.

As a result, all three bats are recognized as new bats of Vietnam and have been published in Acta Chiropterologica (Bats Magazine - the same name Institute) No. 8 (1): 83-93, 2006.

In the compilation of proposed documents included in the new Red Book of Vietnam, there are names of some endangered bats such as bat-winged bats (Harpiocephalus harpia), bat-leaf bat (Rhinolophus thomasi), short-winged bats (Cynopterus brachyotis), Non-tailed bat bat (Ceolops frithii) . but so far the most alarming is still the horse bat (Pteropus hypomelanus).

In the world today there are over 1 thousand species of bats. Vietnam alone has 110 species, accounting for over 10% of species in the world.

Scientists hope, will continue to discover many new species of bats in Vietnam.

Brown bat - Eptesicus Serotinus (Photo: wikipedia.org)

Two-colored sticky-bat bat - Hipposideros bicolor (Photo: VNN)

Big tailless bat - Megaerops-niphanae (Photo: mammalogy.org)

Beetle mosquito bat - Pipistrellus abramus (Photo: miyakyo-u.ac.jp)

Rhinolophus affinis - Rhinolophus affinis (Photo: mammalogy.org)

Harpiocephalus-harpia (Photo: VNN) - Harpiocephalus-harpia

Small-legged bat - Myotis Muricola (Photo: fieldmuseum.org)

Mosquito bat with small skull - Pipistrelles Paterculus (Photo: VNN)

Hairy-eared bat - Myotis-annectans (Photo: mammalogy.org)

mystical gem