Bats: Saviours of the Planet or Harbingers of Death?

Bats have a reputation as being scary disease transmitters, and best friend of blood-drinking Hollywood characters. Is this reputation deserved or are bats the most misunderstood animals on Planet Earth? Hint – no bats, no tequila. In this talk I will both confirm and dispel myths surrounding bats and give you an insight into their amazing world and the good they do on our behalf.

Bats are the second largest group of mammals on Earth but have been implicated in the spread of several zoonoses including Hendra, Nipah, rabies, and perhaps Ebola. They are not the cause of SARS, COVID-19, or MERS. But do bats carry more diseases than any other comparable mammal? Are they really a threat to humans, or are we their greatest threat? Despite their somewhat dubious reputation, bats also do a lot of good. For example, they are important pollinators and seed dispersers, and control economically important pests of crops, meaning farmers use fewer chemicals on their crops. If you have lots of bats, chances are your environment is healthy! Come along and hear the wonderful truth about bats.

Bio

Stuart Parsons is Executive Dean of Science and a Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Canterbury. He is a zoologist who works in the area of sensory biology, particularly behavior and ecology. As well as being a bat biologist he has researched insects, birds, and marine mammals. His work has taken him all over the world, with projects in Australia, Europe, USA, Central America, South Africa, Taiwan, China, and Thailand. He works with physicists (acoustic arrays), engineers (bio-engineering – measure respiration from free-flying animals) and computer scientists/bioinformaticians (acoustic informatics).

Event

Tuesday 16 September, 8:00pm @Cascade, 101 Main Road, Redcliffs 8081

Also speaking at this location at 6:30pm is Dr Kuntal Das