We have been struck by the paucity of coverage of bats in the media, even though they constitute a quarter of the Australian mammal fauna. The Microchiroptera are almost invisible to the public, but the Megachiroptera come to public attention mostly when camping in or near towns or in orchards. There is a public blindness to the reality of bats, their natural history, their ecology and conservation. Like most treatment of bats through the ages, Dracula, the 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker featuring as its primary character the vampire Count Dracula, has left a legacy of a perception of bats as dark, evil, bloodsucking monsters. We gathered ancient and modern references to bats, from books, newspapers, radio and TV, the internet and other sources, to explore attitudes to bats. We examined a number of recent books and feel inspired at the change from the stereotypic images that have haunted so many books, especially children's books. There remains a pressing need for accurate information about bats to be entertainingly available to the public. The Australian Museum's 1999/2000 ‘Bats’ exhibition filled this need, with a most appropriate headline: “Threatened and misunderstood”. Our conclusion is that the public has a blindness to bats, and therefore to the issues surrounding their conservation and management. We did find that people do care about individual bats, and that education helps counter the negative perceptions. We turn to education and research as the primary formula for seeking to understand and manage bats. Rather than turn away from the rich heritage of prejudice about bats, it is our view that such bizarre interpretations of this magnificent order of animals can be the springboard to their salvation. There is also the critical matter of their keystone role in our native ecosystems. Bats are a fabulous subject for educational programs and a rich source of scientific investigation, from fossils and reflections on evolution to studies on their ecology in commercial contexts, and as support for the frontline fight to conserve our forests and our caves, and to live in a sustainable society for the next 1000 years.

Allen, G. M. 1939 Bats. Dover Publications, New York, USA.

Altringham, J. 2007 Preface. On a bat's wing. Poems about bats edited by M. Baron. Five Leaves Publications, Nottingham, UK.

Baron, M. (ed.). 2007 On a bat's wing. Poems about bats. Five Leaves Publications, Nottingham, UK.

Bash, B. 1993 Shadows of night. The hidden world of the Little Brown Bat. Sierra Club books for Children, San Francisco, USA.

Berger, M. and Berger, G. 2000 How do bats see in the dark? Scholastic, Broadway NY, USA.

Bewick, T. 1790 A general history of quadrupeds. A Windward reprint 1980, W.H. Smith and Sons, London, UK.

Bright, M. 2006 Beasts of the field. The revealing natural history of animals in the Bible. Robson Books, London, UK.

Byrne, D. 1987. The Aboriginal and archaeological significance of the New South Wales rainforests. A report to the Forestry Commission of New South Wales and The Australian Heritage Commission. Forestry Commission of New South Wales.

Campbell, C. A. R. 1925 Bats, Mosquitoes and Dollars. Reproduced by Photo-lithography1955 by Lee foundation for nutritional research Milwaukee 3, Wisconsin, USA.

Churchill, S. 2008 Australian bats (second edition). Jacana/New Holland, Crows Nest, NSW, Australia.

Cleave, A. 1999 Bats. A portrait of the animal world. Todtri publishing, New York, USA.

Condor, P. 1994 With wings on their fingers: an intimate view of the flying fox. Angus & Robertson, Sydney.

Currey, J. 2004 Joseph Banks. Some account of that part of New Holland now called New South Wales. Edited, with an introduction by John Currey. The Banks Society, Colony Press, Malvern Victoria, Australia.

Davies, N. 2004 The Bat that loves the Night. Candlewick Press, Cambridge Massachusetts, USA.

Eby, P. and Lunney, D. (eds). 2002 Managing the Grey-headed Flying-fox as a threatened species in NSW. Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Mosman, NSW.

Fenn, P. 2002. An investigation of the issues raised for the construction industry in the United Kingdom by bats. RICS Foundation, London. Electronic Ref. PS0411.

Fenton, M. B. 2001 Bats (revised edition). Checkmark Books, New York, USA.

Gold, A. 2009. Destroying species: a literary perspective. Southerly69: 113-122

Gordon, D. G. 1996 The Compleat Cockroach: a comprehensive guide to the most despised (and least understood) creature on earth. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, California, USA.

Graham, G. 1994 Bats of the World. A Golden Guide. St Martin's Press, NY, USA.

Hall, L. 2009 Bats. Steve Parish publishing, Archerfield, Queensland, Australia.

Hall, L. S. and Richards. G. C. 1979 Bats of eastern Australia. Queensland Museum booklet No 12, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Hand, S. J., 1993 A Cloud of Bats. Ashton Scholastic: Lisarow, NSW.

Hutson, T. 2000 Bats. Voyageur Press, Stillwater MN USA.

L'Hommedieu, A. J. 1997 Misunderstood: Bats. Child's Play (International Ltd.) Swindon.

Houlihan, P. 1996 The animal world of the Pharaohs. Thames and Hudson, New York, USA.

Ley, W. 1968 Dawn of zoology. Prentice Hall International, London, UK.

Lunney, D. 2005. The Eden woodchip debate, part 2 (1987-2004). Pp 265-324 in Proceedings of the 6^thNational Conference of the Australian Forest History Society, edited by M. Calver et al. Millpress, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Lunney, D., and Barker, J. 1986. Mammals of the coastal forests near Bega, New South Wales. I. Survey. Australian Zoologist23:19-28.

Lunney, D., and Barker, J. 1987. Mammals of the coastal forests near Bega, New South Wales. II. Annotated checklist. Australian Zoologist23:41-49.

Lunney, D. and Leary, T. 1988. The impact on native mammals of land-use changes and exotic species in the Bega District (New South Wales) since settlement. Australian Journal of Ecology13: 67-92

Lunney, D. and Moon, C. 1988. An ecological view of the history of logging and fire in Mumbulla State Forest on the south coast of New South Wales. In: Australia's Ever Changing Forests: Proc. 1st Nat. Conf. on Australian Forest History, edited by K. Frawley and and N. Semple. Australian Defence Forces Academy, Campbell, ACT.

Lunney, D. and Moon C. 1997. Flying-foxes and their camps in the remnant rainforests of north-eastern New South Wales. In: Australia's Ever Changing Forests III: Proc. 3rd Nat. Conf. on Australian Forest History, edited by K. Frawley, J. Dargavel. C.R.E.S., A.N.U., Canberra.

Lunney, D., Reid, A. and Matthews, A. 2002. Community perceptions of flying-foxes in New South Wales. Pp 160-75 in Managing the Grey-headed Flying-fox as a threatened species in NSW edited by P. Eby and D. Lunney. Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Mosman, NSW.

Lunney, D. and Matthews, A. 2002. Ecological changes to forests in the Eden region of New South Wales. Pp 289-310 in J. Dargavel, D. Gaughwin and B. Libbis (eds) Australia's ever-changing forests V: proceedings of the Fifth National Conference on Australian Forest History. Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National University, Canberra.

Lunney, D., Matthews, A., Stein, J. A. and Lunney, H. W. M. 2003. Australian bat research: the limitations of The Action Plan for Australian Bats in determining the direction of research. Pacific Conservation Biology8: 255-260.

Lunney, D. Baker, J., Matthews, A., Waples, K., Dickman, C. and Cogger, H. 2007. Overabundant native vertebrates in New South Wales: characterising populations, gauging perceptions and developing an ethical management framework. Pp 158-73 in Pest or Guest. The zoology of overabundance, edited by D. Lunney, P. Eby, P. Hutchings and S. Burgin. Royal Zoological Society of NSW, Mosman, NSW.

Lunney, D. and Moon, C. 2008. The portrayal of human-wildlife interactions in the print media. Pp 52-64 in Too close for comfort: Contentious issue in human-wildlife encounters, edited by D. Lunney, A. Munn and W. Meikle. Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Mosman, NSW, Australia.

Macdonald, D. W. (ed.) 2009 The encyclopedia of mammals. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

Martin, L. 2003. On the transmission of bat diseases by the media - a view from the trenches. Australian Zoologist32: 298-315, in the proceedings of the Zoology and the Media forum, edited by D. Lunney, A. Matthews and P. Wilson. Australian Zoologist Vol 32, No 2, 2003.

Mason, A. 2003 Bats. Kid Can Press, Toronto, Canada.

Morecroft, R. 1991 Raising Archie: the story of Richard Morecroft and his flying fox. Simon and Schuster, East Roseville NSW and the ABC, Australia.

Parnaby, H. and Hamilton-Smith, E. 2004. The remarkable “Adaptable Bat”: a challenge to ecological concepts in the management of Australian forest bats. Pp 81-93 in Conservation of Australia's Forest Fauna(Second edition). Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Mosman, NSW, Australia.

Pickering, F. 1999 Encyclopedia of animals in nature, myth and spirit. Element children's book, Dorset, UK.

Robertson, J. 1990 The complete bat. Chatto and Windus, London, UK.

Savage, S. 2004 Animal Neighbours. Bats. Hodder Wayland, Hove UK.

Simon, S. 2005 Amazing Bats. Sea Star Books, San Francisco, USA.

Slade, C. and Law. B. 2007. Seasonal changes in bats at a derelict mine in southern New South Wales. Australian Zoologist34:173-180.

Smith, M. C. 1977 Nightwing. Book Club Associates, London, UK.

Stoker, B. 1897 Dracula. Originally published by Archibald Constanble and Co, Uk, but now available in fascimile editions.

Toynbee, J. M. C. 1973 Animals in Roman life and art. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Tuttle, M. D. 2005 America's Neighborhood Bats.(Second edition). University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas, USA.

Van Dyck, S. and Strahan, R. (eds). 2008 The mammals of Australia.(third edition). New Holland, Chatswood, NSW, Australia.

White, S. 1997 Caring for Australian wildlife. Australian Geographic, Terrey Hills, NSW, Australia.

Williams, K. and Mies, R. 2002 Beginner's Guide to Bats. Little, Brown and Co. NY, USA.

Wilson, D. E. 1997 Bats in Question. The Smithsonian answer book. CSIRO publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia.

Wootton, A. 1986 Animal folklore, myth and legend. Blandford Press, Dorset, UK.

This content is PDF only. Please click on the PDF icon to access.

Contents

Data & Figures

References

Other RZS NSW Publications

The Biology and Conservation of Australasian Bats

Edited by

Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7882/9780980327243

ISBN electronic:

978-0-9803272-4-3

Publication date:

2011