Chat Archives

Chat on "Bats-The Night Warriors" dated October 21, 2012 Susan Sharma: Welcome to IWC chat on Bats Susan Sharma: Hello Kumarasamy Kumarasamy: Thank you Sharma! Kumarasamy: Hope you all enjoyed The Night Warriors program Susan Sharma: Yes, we did. It is very informative. But for those who have not watched it, Can we start with a brief intro about bats in general Kumarasamy: yes, ofcourse! Susan Sharma: Welcome Balamurugan! Kumarasamy: Hi Isaac! S. Suthakar Isaac: PK sir good evening Kumarasamy: GE! Isaac! Susan Sharma: With three experts online, this chat is going to be great. S. Suthakar Isaac: Hello Mr.Balamurugan S. Balamurugan: Hi susan Madam, Dr. Kumarasamy sir & Dr. Suthakar Isaac sir Kumarasamy: Bats are the only true flying mammals, 25% of the mammalian species as a whole & second largest species next to rodents! Kumarasamy: This year 2012 is the International Year of Bats! S. Balamurugan: susan madam am very kindfuly to introduce Dr. Kumarasamay sir one of the seniour most and deep researcher in bat and Dr. suthakar isaac sir too Susan Sharma: Are they common in all parts of India? Kumarasamy: By the way let me introduce myself, I, Kumarasamy, a faculty in the Department of Zoology, The American College, Madurai Kumarasamy: Both Fruit Bats and Insectivorous bat species are spread through out India! Susan Sharma: Are there any species specific to North India alone? S. Balamurugan: susan madam is there any question in technical part like production, camera, lighting u can ask me and subject questions both professors will explain Susan Sharma: Are there any awareness programs being conducted in India during the "Year of the Bats"? Kumarasamy: I doubt, but certain species of fruit bats found in N.India are also distributed in south east Asia like Indonesia, phillipines etc Kumarasamy: Suthaakar Isaac do you have any answer for the question on bat species of N.India Susan Sharma: Bala, you can tell us about the most amusing incident involving bats while shooting. The general impression about bats even among educated class ( not zoologists ) is negative, Ii find. Kumarasamy: There are NO collective efforts in India to create an awareness on bats... Susan Sharma: Are their any predators for bats, a friend who has not come online asks me. Kumarasamy: Many from common crow to owls, larks, cats, dogs, snakes, night jars etc S. Suthakar Isaac: people hunt bats for medicine and for food Susan Sharma: Except for owls and night jars others hunt during day while the bats are sleeping, I guess S. Balamurugan: susan madam r u there? Susan Sharma: Hunting of bats by people is common? Is it a ptotected animal or is hunting legal? Kumarasamy: Cats do hunt during night.. bats when disturbed during day time do fly out during which day time predators hunt them down.. Kumarasamy: More than 50% of the world's bat species are endangered. Our country doesn't have any law that protect bats from hunting. The Indian Wildlife Act of 1972 lists fruit bats as vermins..! meaning that they can be killed..! Susan Sharma: Let us talk about how bats are doing very useful services for mankind esply agriculturists. Kumarasamy: Bats are very good pollinators Kumarasamy: palnts that attract bats for pollination are called 'chiropterophilic' plants. Kumarasamy: In our tropical rain forests more than 532 species of plants are exclusively pollinated by bats. Kumarasamy: bats are very good seed dispersers. Some plant seeds need to pass through the gut os bats for germination! Kumarasamy: Bats feed on many insect pest that destroy many commercially important plants. Susan Sharma: Can you name a few commonly known plants which are pollinated by bats? Kumarasamy: Bat excreta called 'guano' is a very good manure Kumarasamy: banana, cactus, parkia, baobab, legumes, sapotes etc Susan Sharma: We have a few big Ashoka trees around the house. There are bats living up there. From the excreta, they seem to be fruit bats. They are medium sized. What are the other species found in NCR area, any idea? Susan Sharma: You are right about bats being considered vermin, none of the IWC members other than experts have logged in today! Kumarasamy: In India there are about 14 species of fruit bats. The biggest one is the flying foxes and others are smaller tlike short nosed fruit bats, the dog-faced fruit bats etc are found through out India Kumarasamy: Today being Sunday (week end), people are busy with their own schedule of work, I believe.! Susan Sharma: Our chats are fixed for third Sunday always! S. Balamurugan: while shooting people always thing bad about bat like they r harmful creature Susan Sharma: Can we also touch on why the general public seem to dislike bats so much? Kumarasamy: Bats are harmless, very clean creatures Susan Sharma: Do they harm humans in any way? say bite? Susan Sharma: Hi Hudson hudson: good evening to all Kumarasamy: Bats being night active, flying, with their mouth open has often been associated with bad omen, ghosts or evils Kumarasamy: Good evening! Kumarasamy: They don't bite us. sometimes careless handling may lead to aggression. I have reared short nosed fruit bat as a pet for a few months! hudson: are bats important to the environment hudson: ??????????????? Kumarasamy: Yes.. especially to our forest ecosystem.. they are called as 'key stone species' Susan Sharma: For those of us who have not seen the film -Night Warriors- here is the link http://www.indianwildlifeclub.com/wildbytes/index.aspx?vid=pB4a7SepVgQ S. Suthakar Isaac: bats important in pollination and seed dispersal S. Balamurugan: am not getting its stucked hudson: cell phone towers affect birds, do they affect bats? Kumarasamy: Thank you all! Have a great chat.. I am leaving.. If you have questions please do contact me at pkumarasamy@gmail.com. Bye.. S. Suthakar Isaac: so far no report on bats affected by cell towers S. Suthakar Isaac: thank you Dr.PK Susan Sharma: Thank You, Dr.Kumaraswamy. As a soon as we close the chat room , in a few minutes, the transcript will be uploaded on the site. Susan Sharma: Thank you very much for an enlightening discussion, Dr.Kumaraswamy. As soon as we close the chat room, the transcript of the chat will be visible on our site. Susan Sharma: Hudson any more questions? hudson: Is bat bite is harmful?????????????????????// S. Suthakar Isaac: Rabies virus may infect a person, but the possibility is remote. hudson: thank you sir Susan Sharma: Bat bite must be dealt with like a dog or monkey bite, I suppose. hudson: is bat population decreasing? S. Suthakar Isaac: Due to climatic change bat populations are decreasing, let us conserve bats. S. Suthakar Isaac: Thank you all. you can contact me at isaacsuthakar@yahoo.com S. Balamurugan: susan madam am not getting the line properly, and this is a very much useful chat session dr. kumarsamy sir gave us much more information about bat and dr. suthakar sir too let, i close the session and c u again all. Susan Sharma: If there are are no more questions, shall we close the room? Thank you dr. Suthakar and Bala hudson: thnak you sir and good night

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