It’s been another long while since we’ve been able to post any updates! We do apologise for those of you who were wondering what we’ve been up to for the past few months. Many of Rimba’s researchers took a bit of a hiatus over the Christmas and New Year period, and the start of 2014 has been taken up with a lot of planning and preparation. Things are slowly starting to pick up now, and we’ll be sharing more updates with you over the coming months.
To begin with, we’re very pleased to officially announce that one of our latest projects, Project Pteropus, is finally taking off this year. It’s had a very bumpy start trying to get off the ground (pun intended!), but we’ve been making slow progress. Unfortunately, funding is still an issue as we haven’t had much luck bringing in adequate money to carry out the work. But, we’re still persevering, for the sake of the bats! How could we say no to such amazing critters??
Some of you may know that fruit bats, and flying foxes in particular, are Sheema‘s personal cause. These underdogs need our help because bat conservation and research isn’t something that most donors, agencies or NGOs are interested in supporting, despite the importance of bats in maintaining healthy, functioning forests. It’s been hard not to give up in the face of discouraging odds, but she’s now succeeded in making this project the focus of her PhD at MNHN.
After a few recce trips, Project Pteropus has now been established at the study site of Kampung Juara on Tioman Island, in the State of Pahang. This windswept beach facing the South China Sea is where the bats have chosen to make their home, roosting in tall coconut trees over the sand. This makes faecal collection a real breeze 😛 Continue reading
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