This long-tailed bat was dropped off at the Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Centre in May this year. Photo / John Stone
Kem Ormond takes a look at the world of farming back in the day. In this week’s Pastures Past, she’s found newspaper articles from the 1930s and 1940s on bats.
Bats are New Zealand’s only native land mammals.
There are two species of bats in New Zealand: the long-tailed bat and the lesser short-tailed bat. The Māori name for both species is pekapeka.
In pre-human times, they darted about the forests in their millions, but today they are reduced to a few scattered groups.
The Central Hawke’s Bay Press reported in 1938 that the discovery of a bat caused “considerable interest to naturalists” as they were rarely seen.
Bats live in native forests throughout New Zealand, roosting in large, hollow trees and the occasional dark cave.
Sometimes they prefer a bit of solitude, and other times, they enjoy being in colonies of up to 100 bats.
Below is a selection of historical stories on bats from the Bay of Plenty Times, Central Hawke’s Bay Press, and the Gisborne Herald, from the 1930s and 40s.
Bay of Plenty Times, January 25, 1933
Introduction of bats.
“There is a simple remedy for the grass grub–a remedy that the Department of Agriculture appears to have overlooked, and that is the introduction of bats, the natural enemy of the grass grub beetle, to affected areas.”
This opinion was offered by Mr R. A. S. Browne at the last meeting of the Morrinsville branch of the Farmers’ Union.
Mr Browne explained that when he was a boy in Otago, the bats were common.
They flew at night and ate insects.
“The grass grub beetle is a native beetle which has become a danger. By encouraging the bats, we would not be upsetting the balance of nature but merely restoring it.”
Central Hawke’s Bay Press, March 10, 1938
Auckland, Last Night.
A discovery of considerable interest to naturalists has been made at the thermal district of Orakei-Korako, where numbers of the native bat have been found in the famous Alum Cave.
A guide and a visitor who went to the cave one night recently to see the glow-worms were surprised to hear rustling sounds in the air above their heads.
Turning their torches on the high, vaulted roof, they startled dozens of small, greyish-brown bats, which circled overhead.
Though there are many visitors to the cave each day, these rare creatures had not been seen, but their presence had been suspected.
During the day, they evidently hide in the darker recesses of the cave.
The native New Zealand bat is believed to be almost extinct and few people have seen specimens of it outside of a museum.
The occasional visitors to Orakei-Korako many years ago recorded seeing bats there, but it was thought that they had disappeared completely when some of the bush at the entrance to the Alum Cave was destroyed by fire.
Both the short-tailed and long-tailed native bats are now exceedingly rare, though the latter were once fairly numerous, said Mr. E. G. Turbott, assistant zoologist at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, when the discovery was referred to him.
Both varieties are absolutely protected by law.
Gisborne Herald, December 13, 1944
A discovery of considerable interest to nature students was made at Waimata recently when a New Zealand native bat was found to have entered the homestead on Ahititi Station.
A member of Mr. P. D. Tombleson’s family entered a dark room, and was startled by the movement of wings close to her face.
Concluding that a bird had been trapped in the house, she used a torch in order not to startle it too much, and then discovered the intruder to be a New Zealand long-tailed bat.
It glided swiftly and effortlessly about the room until, dazzled by the beam of the torch, it struck a wall and fell stunned.
On examination, it proved to be of a rusty brown colour, with a body about 2in. long and a curious fan-shaped tail about half that length.
It was taken into the open and placed on the ground, whereon it rose directly in swift flight and disappeared.
There is a large block of native bush near the homestead, and only twice in the last 24 years have bats been seen close to it.
A colony was formerly in the neighbourhood of Mr. E. M. Monckton’s home at Ngatapa, but the flighted animals have not been seen there for three or four years.
New Zealand native bats are completely inoffensive, and live on insect life.
Their lack of protective weapons probably accounts for their virtual disappearance, as they must fall easy prey to hawks and other preying birds.
- Source: Papers Past