4th May 2010
ByHi Everyone,
Still no rain and it is getting really hot, even for those of us who are used to working out here. We could really do with some rain to cool things down and boost the insect numbers a bit to give our bat friends something to eat. Many of the females are lactating, so it is especially important for them to have plenty of food — trying to feed yourself AND provide milk for your pup is very costly for them in terms of the energy they need to live.
The traps last night were were KL0337, KL0339, KL0341, KL0343, KL0345, KL0347, KL0349, KL0351, KL0353, KL0355, KL0453, KL0455. A couple were on trail N, and then others on L and E 9. I’m putting in a map so you can see they layout of the trails. In the three nights of trapping we have covered the trails shown in red in the second map.
Map of Kuala Lompat trails, with red showing the trails trapped from the 2nd-4th May 2010
We had to close KL0355 and KL0353 because of the presence of small biting ants. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to KL0355 before the ants managed to swarm over a poor little Murina suilla (MBCRU7449). We picked the ants off her as best we could and left her to try and recover hanging under a leaf, but sadly the shock was too much for her and she died over night. We brought her back to the lab to prepare as a specimen; Julie will eventually use the skull for her studies on how bat species differ in their skull measurements and how that influences what they can eat.
So here are last night’s data:
| Band | R | Date | Time | Trap | Species | Sex | Age | FA(mm) | Wt(g) |
| MBCRU5298 | R | 4-May-10 | 21:00 | KL0455 | Kerivoula intermedia | F | A | 29.9 | 4.00 |
| MBCRUC0490 | R | 4-May-10 | 21:00 | KL0343 | Hipposideros cervinus | F | A | 50.5 | 11.00 |
| MBCRUC2165 | 4-May-10 | 21:00 | KL0343 | Hipposideros bicolor 142 kHz | F | A | 43.1 | 8.25 | |
| MBCRU5424 | R | 4-May-10 | 21:00 | KL0437 | Kerivoula intermedia | M | A | ||
| MBCRU7449 | 4-May-10 | 21:00 | KL0355 | Murina suilla | F | A | |||
| MBCRU7441 | 4-May-10 | 21:00 | KL0345 | Murina cyclotis | M | A | 34.3 | 7.00 | |
| MBCRUC0784 | R | 4-May-10 | 7:00 | KL0349 | Kerivoula papillosa | F | A | 43.3 | 9.25 |
The clouds are gathering a bit as I write this so maybe we will have rain after all.
Dr Kingston
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