Inter-island travel of the Curaaoan Long-nosed Bat confirmed

By Clifford de Lannoy MSc Last Tuesday, January 15th 2013, during a bat research session in one of the important bat caves on the eastern part of the island of Curaao, local bat researchers of the PPR-ABC (PAP: Programa pa Proteh Ratonnan di Anochi di islanan ABC) captured and released two individuals of the Curaaoan Longnosed Bat (Leptonycteris curasoae), which were previously tagged on Bonaire. This finding signifies a major breakthrough in understanding the population dynamics of this key species in northern South America, and especially in the case of the ABC-islands. After more than 4 years of continuous work on Bonaire and 1 year of work on Curaao and Aruba, we got the first two animals that show a behavior that A Curaaoan Long-nosed Bat (Photo by Jafet M. could be common for the species in this set of islands: Nassar) they can switch islands for food by flying across the sea. The Curaaoan Long-nosed Bat are together with the Millers Long-tongued Bat (Glossophaga longirostris), the main pollinators of all columnar cacti on the islands, which in turn are a major food source for the local terrestrial fauna.
The PPR-ABC is a joint effort for the conservation of the bats species and consists of teams of local researchers and volunteers from a variety of backgrounds for each island. This joint effort was started in March 2012 by senior bat experts Fernando Simal of Stinapa Bonaire and Dr. Jafet M. Nassar from the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC), during a workshop on bat research and conservation. The PPR-ABC is a member of the Latin American Network for Bat Conservation (RELCOM). The Curacao-team consists of scientists and rangers of Carmabi Foundation, and volunteers such as a veterinarian and a nature photographer.

The Curacao team together with bat specialists Jafet Nassar (bottom left) and Fernando Simal (bottom right) (Photo by Jafet M. Nassar)

The current bat research activities conducted on Curacao, Aruba, Bonaire and northern Venezuela are part of a long-term Bat Research and Conservation Plan designed and conducted under the coordination of four institutions: Arikok National Park Foundation in Aruba, Carmabi Foundation in Curaao, Stinapa Bonaire in Bonaire, and Insituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientficas in Venezuela. A specific component of this plan is to acquire more knowledge on

the population dynamics of the Curaaoan Long-nosed Bat. Until last Tuesday, it was only hypothesized that these bats might travel between the ABC-islands and the Paraguan peninsula (northwestern Venezuela). The capture of the Bonairean bats confirmed that, at least, there is connection between the populations of this species inhabiting Bonaire and Curacao. The bats have been tagged by ringing them on their forearm with coded aluminum rings. The code constitutes the initials of the bat specialist involved in the project, Jafet M. Nassar, the initial letter of the island where the bat was marked, followed by a unique number that reflects the number of bats ringed on each island. Lepto JNB 0577 was ringed 2.5 years ago and Lepto JNB 2046 was ringed in November 2011 on Bonaire. Although this finding Lepto is the nickname of the Curaaoan constitutes a major breakthrough for the study of bats on Long-nosed Bat in the lingo of bat the ABC islands, many critical questions still remain researchers of the PPR-ABC. unanswered and continued research on all three islands, Venezuela and Colombia is necessary to understand and protect these very important and threatened mammals in this part of the Caribbean. For more information please contact John de Freitas (Tel: 462-4242 or j.defreitas@carmabi.org) or visit the PPR-ABC Curacao-team Facebook page: Bat Conservation Curacao