Documenting Billion-Dollar Bats
Dr. Sara Bumrungsri, a leading bat ecologist, invited us to help document the essential roles of Cave Nectar Bats (Eonycteris spelaea) in pollinating some of SE Asia’s most ecologically and economically valuable plants near Hat Yai in Thailand’s Songkhla Province. We set up our bat photo studio in Sara’s lab at the Prince of […]
Thai Temple Flying Fox Photography
Large flying foxes are always difficult to photograph, especially since they’re intensively hunted over their range. But in Thailand there are still several colonies of Lyle’s flying foxes (Pteropus lylei) that are protected by Buddhist monks. The bats have learned that they are safe when close to the monks’ quarters. And by also remaining close […]
Khao Chong Pran’s Bat Economics
Poachers were killing huge numbers of Khao Chong Pran’s bats and selling them to restaurants until guards were hired to protect the bats. In Thailand bats were killed for the restaurant trade before a law made it illegal. The Buddhist temple at Khao Chong Pran is said to have been built largely from guano fertilizer sales. When […]
Thailand Bat Cave Revisited
We arrived at Wat Khao Chong Phran unannounced and surprisingly the head monk agreed to see us immediately on the same porch where we met him with Daniel Hargreaves in 2012 (See Sept. 20 blog Guano happens). Merlin even wore the same shirt, his favorite field shirt! Pongsanant, our BatThai guide and interpreter then and […]
Angkor Wat and Bats
Literally thousands of temple ruins are near Siem Reap to explore, and at least three days is recommended to see most of them. In one day we visited ten, and were pleased to find bats in most of them. The complex of temples known as Angkor was built from the 9th to 13th century by […]
Bat caves of Battambang, Cambodia
We spent two nights at the Battambang Bat Caves in Cambodia to photograph the incredible emergences of the Asian wrinkle-lipped bats (Chaerephon plicatus). With help from Thona, our colleague and interpreter, Merlin interviewed the owner of the guano harvesting permit for one of the caves (he called it Tarum). He advised the man to never again use pesticides inside […]
Association for Tropical Biology Conference, Asia-Pacific Chapter Meeting 2015
Approximately 250 members, representing 22 nations of the ATBC met in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for their 2015 annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Chapter, March 31 to April 3, and Merlin provided a 45-minute plenary lecture titled “The Amazing World of Bats and a Novel View of Conservation.” Following his talk Merlin co-chaired a parallel symposium with Neil […]
Cambodian Cave Conservation Workshop
Merlin and Dr. Neil Furey, a conservation biologist who’s worked in Cambodia for the past six years with extensive knowledge of SE Asian bats, co-led a cave conservation workshop preceding the Association for Tropical Biology & Conservation–Asia-Pacific Chapter Annual Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Vihear Luong Cave, Cambodia
Following our field trip to the bat farms along the Mekong River south of Phnom Penh in Kandal Province, Merlin and Neil Furey of Cambodia put on a two-day cave workshop for about 10 participants. They lectured with slide presentations to students who already had more than basic knowledge and experience with bats. After lunch, […]