The bat after it was found dead. Photo: Supplied / Gwen Gridley
- A Blenheim woman has found a native Australian bat in her backyard which she has called Batula
- It's only the second record of a little red flying fox being found in New Zealand - the first was when one was found dead near Hamilton in 1926
- Biosecurity New Zealand says it's likely to have arrived here on its own, or as a hitchhiker on a cargo vessel into a nearby port
When Gwen Gridley went to see what her dog Boots was barking at - she was surprised to find a fluffy, brown creature in a kānuka tree in her backyard.
"I went out there thinking it was a possum and it kind of hissed but it kind of sounded like a bird as well so it was a bit strange."
On closer inspection, she was surprised to see what looked like a bat, hanging upside down, so close she could have touched it.
"I thought what the heck, I was quite shocked...I didn't know what to think, I put the dog in the kennel and went back in and said to my husband, 'there's a bat outside'."
A photo of Batula, the little red flying fox that attempted to roost in a kanuka tree in Gwen Gridley's backyard. Photo: Supplied / Gwen Gridley
She did not know if it was unwell or injured, so she contacted the Marlborough Forest & Bird team who work with native bats in the Pelorus River catchment. They asked her to try and get some better footage in order to identify the creature.
Having lived in Australia for a number of years, Gridley was familiar with bats.
"I know they have small bats out at Pelorus but this looked like a fruit bat to me but how'd that get here from Australia, because we don't have them that big here."
When she went back outside, the bat - which she had named Batula - was gone.
Boots, a Smithfield Labrador cross, whose barking alerted his owner to a native Australian bat in their Blenheim backyard. Photo: Supplied / Gwen Gridley
The mystery was solved when five days later, she found the bat dead in the backyard.
Department of Conservation South Marlborough senior biodiversity ranger Pat Crowe said when he sent the video footage to bat expert Colin O'Donnell, he narrowed it down to one of two species of flying fox - which are native to Australia.
Then after receiving the bat's body, Crowe was able to confirm it was a little red flying fox.
At 250 grams, it was significantly larger than New Zealand's native bats, which weigh between 10-15 grams and Crowe said the two species look and behaved quite differently.
Little red flying foxes are found mainly on the northern and eastern coastlines of Australia and are known to fly quite large distances to forage for fruit and nectar and are pollinators of eucalyptus trees.
"Interestingly unlike most other bats, including our native ones, flying foxes don't use echolocation for navigating or finding food."
The bat was identified as a little red flying fox, also known as a fruit bat which is native to Australia. Photo: Supplied / Department of Conservation
It's only the second time a little red flying fox has been found in New Zealand, and the first time one has been seen alive. The last record was in May 1926, when a bat was found dead underneath powerlines after being electrocuted at Matangi, southeast of Hamilton.
The flying fox has been sent to Massey University for a necropsy to determine the cause of death and screen for any diseases.
Forest & Bird Te Hoiere Bat Recovery Project team leader Clare O'Rourke said when she read Grindley's email, asking what to do about a bat in her backyard, she thought it sounded very bizarre.
The project began more than two decades ago to protect a population of long-tailed bats, pekapeka-tou-roa that live in the Pelorus Bridge/Te Hoiere area in Marlborough.
A group of volunteers do predator control, remove noxious weeds, plant native trees and and undertake bat monitoring.
O'Rourke said Gridley's description of the bat sounded like it was much bigger than New Zealand's native pekapeka, which have bodies around the size of an adult's thumb.
She too suspected what Gridley had seen was indeed a bat, but not a native one.
"Our pekapeka are pretty much asleep at the moment, they are in a state of torpor."
She said there were a few ideas as to how the flying fox could have made the 2000 kilometre plus journey across the Tasman Sea from Australia.
"It could come here in a very strong westerly storm and there is anecdotal evidence that has happened before but nothing so concrete, certainly not a video and then the bat itself, or potentially it could have been a stowaway in a container ship.
"I'm not sure we will ever know the answer to that one."
Biosecurity NZ director of diagnostics readiness and surveillance Dr Fleur Francois said there was nothing to indicate any other exotic bats had arrived here, with a single bat like this species not considered a biosecurity risk.
"It is likely to have arrived here on its own as a hitchhiker on a cargo vessel into a nearby port. These animals do have the capability to fly large distances."
Gridley said while she was gutted it was not a better outcome for Batula, she felt lucky it had chosen in her backyard to land in and she hoped the small flying fox will find a permanent home at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.