Project update 23: Project Pteropus wrap-up

Our Fruit Bat Fundraiser by Project Pteropus ends today – and we managed to raise RM43,790, well beyond our original target of RM30,000!!! We’re so deeply grateful to everyone who supported this initiative – those who donated funds to help us complete our research next year, those who bought merchandise to help us widen our public outreach impact this year, and those who helped spread the word. Thank you for helping us to make this fundraiser such a success.

While our public outreach initiatives also end today, the additional funds we’ve raised will allow us to extend this project for an additional 6 months into 2022 in order to complete our durian pollination research that was negatively impacted and delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. During this extended time period we’ll also be able to finish up our work on monitoring and protecting flying fox populations, which was also delayed due to the pandemic. So we’re on track to successfully complete and wrap up this project as originally planned – just on a slightly later timeline!

Take a peek into the team and our work on fruit bat conservation that you’re helping to support:

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Bat Week 2020: Pollinating Bats of Peninsular Malaysia

Did you know that Peninsular Malaysia is home to at least 6 different bat species that are known to pollinate flowers???

A lot of people think of bats as using echolocation instead of eyesight to catch insect prey for food. However, in Malaysia we have fruit bats (Family Pteropodidae), who don’t echolocate but are equipped with large eyes and a keen sense of smell to home in on yummy fruits and nectar.

Many of our tropical plants such as durian (Durio zibethinus), petai (Parkia speciosa), wild bananas (Musa spp.), perepat (Sonneratia alba) and berembang (Sonneratia caseolaris) actually depend on fruit/nectar bats for successful pollination and fruit production!

Artistic impressions by Vietnamese artist Dao Van Hoang

Facebook: @dao.v.hoang.3
Instagram: @vanhoang_dao
Twitter: @daovanhoang

This poster will also be included in our GIVEAWAY. If you’re in Malaysia and you’ve remembered to follow us on social media, sharing this post with the correct 3 hashtags + tagging 3 friends gains you another entry!

Bat Week 2020: GIVEAWAY ALERT REMINDER!

Don’t miss your chance to participate in our exclusive Bat Week giveaway!!!

Did you know that Malaysia has one of the largest bat species in the world???

Help us spread awareness on how amazing bats are, and be in the running to win cool bat swag from Project Pteropus including this t-shirt and tote bag featuring custom-designed artwork by Qiu Quan, custom pin designed by Max Khoo De Yuan (Geometric Wildlife), plus stickers and posters. Just take ALL of these three simple steps:

1. DON’T FORGET to follow @rimbaresearch on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter
2. DON’T FORGET to share any of our #BatWeek2020 (24-31 Oct) posts AND tag 3 friends (you can encourage them to do the same!)
3. DON’T FORGET to include the hashtags #BatWeek #ProjectPteropus #Rimba

10 lucky winners will be picked at random after 31 October! And the more different posts you share, the more you increase your chances! However, due to the pandemic this giveaway is limited to Malaysian addresses only, because overseas shipping is not currently available, so sorry! Do expect a delay in delivery, as we are currently experiencing a partial lockdown 😅😭😥

Facebook: @quiquanart  @MaxKhooDeYuan & @GeometricWildlife
Instagram: @qiu_quan  @max_andtheworld