This spider-eating, nest-sharing bat was once safe from fire – until the Black Summer burnt its rainforests

<https://theconversation.com/this-spider-eating-nest-sharing-bat-was-once-safe-from-fire-until-the-black-summer-burnt-its-rainforests-187464>

"Golden-tipped bats are peculiar creatures. By night, they hunt the understorey
for orb-weaving spiders, plucking them carefully from their sticky webs. By
day, they roost in excavated basements at the bottom of nests made by two
rainforest birds.

Unfortunately, while their rainforest nests usually keep them safe from fire,
our new research found that’s no longer guaranteed. Rainforests grow in areas
normally unburnt by fires. But ahead of the 2019/2020 Black Summer of fire,
many of these areas had dried out, setting the stage for fires of unprecedented
size and intensity. As a result, large areas of rainforest along the coasts of
south-eastern Australia were badly burnt.

Our study confirms expert predictions that rainforest-dependent golden-tipped
bats would be hard hit. We found the fires caused a large reduction in suitable
habitat."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics