GVI Kenya

Category: Shimoni Forest, bats | Date: Jul 28 2009 | By: gvikenya

Our base on the mainland is located on the outskirts of Shimoni village, about a 10 to 15 minute walk from Shimoni East Forest.  The “cottage” has been host to a variety of wildlife over the years.  These are generally disorientated creatures that simply wander / fly / slither into the cottage completely by accident.  Of course there is the constant threat of the odd sykes monkey or galago (bushbaby) that is all too aware of their whereabouts, and whose sole intention is feasting on our fruit supplies! 

This week has seen the usual plethora of mother nature’s finest.  Firstly there was an unknown species of tree or possibly vine snake.  While we were trying to find that, we discovered a scorpion hiding behind the fridge, and we had at least two bananas stolen by our friendly neighbourhood bushbabies.  The highlight of the week however, was a bat which found itself slightly off-course in our bedroom!

We found him hanging from our ceiling looking quite confused – and very cute!  After managing to get a couple of photographs we spent the next 40 minutes trying to herd the poor thing out of the bedroom and then out of the front door.  It was actually an incredible experience, watching the bat fly slowly, effortlessly, and with absolute precision through doorways and around a rather small cottage.  You could hear the small clicks of echo-location as he casually avoided obstacles and hugged the contours of bookshelves, computers and sofas. 

Bats are a fascinating order (Chiroptera) that is separated into two suborders; fruit bats (Megachiroptera) and insect bats (Microchiroptera).  In spite of their marked similarities, the two groups exhibit numerous less obvious differences which suggest that insect bats share a very ancient common ancestry with insectivores while the fruit bats may have more recent affinities with primates.  While the scientific community wait for confirmation of separate origins (which would require two separate orders), fruit bats and insect bats remain distinct suborders (Kingdon, 1997).

From our photographs, we can see the very small eyes and large ears, which suggests our friend is an insect bat.  After a brief look through a book, we think he is of the Family Nycteridae, and the Genus Nycteris, which has the common name of the slit-faced bats.  There are 10 species found across the whole continent, excluding only the Sahara dessert.  We are hoping another one will lose its way and find itself in the cottage, so we can get better photos for a closer look! 

Tags: , bats, chiroptera, echo-location, insect bat, megachiroptera, microchiroptera

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