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Story :
Jakkapan Kangwan
Photos : Chaichana Jaruwannakorn |
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In the complete darkness of the early evening at Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary, Chacheungsao Province, only three hours away from civilized Bangkok, the Bat Research Project team members were intent at work. They are the first to use the bat detector in studying the diversity of bats in Thailand. And Sarakadee was there to record their preliminary work and to take a few shots at photographing bats.
It took them about 20 minutes to set up the harptrap, a 2 by 1.5 meter contraption of aluminum pipelines with a series of lines running up and down on a frame, their most convenient and efficient bat trapping device. We ate dinner nearby and waited for the first bat to fly in. By the time we finished the meal, 16 bats had been caught. Each was weighed, measured, and identified. Guano samples were also taken. Their calls would then be recorded and added to an ever-growing archive which now contains 37 microchiropteran species of the 90 believed to exist in Thailand. |
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We saw large leaf-nosed bats and several species of the lesser horseshoe bat, each group leaving their caves at different periods throughout the evening in perfect air traffic management. Then there was one tiny fellow whose call had a frequency of 95 kilohertz. He was pronounced a species A because his characteristics did not fall into any known species category but corresponded with those in a number of bats found in several other areas of the country. Perhaps we have encountered a new species. It would take more work and information to find out.
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