Thanks to help from a local macademia grower, Koos Steyn, here in South Africa, we finally got approximately 100 green stink bugs, the most costly pest of macademias, and were able to coax our common slit-faced bat (Nycteris thebaica) to carry a couple of them through an infrared beam before eating them beyond recognition. In […]
We have been in the Levubu Valley outside the town of Louis Trichardt for the past two days, staying with Merlin’s bat research colleague, Peter Taylor, his wife Frances and children, Ben and Robyn, who all have been enthusiastically helping with the bat photography. Our goal here is to photograph bats catching green stink bugs. […]
We spent three days at the Meletse Bat Research & Training Center in the Meletse Mountain Valley at a very nice facility owned by Aquila Steel South Africa. This company also owns the nearby Gatkop Cave, home to one of South Africa’s most important bat caves, which it protects along with surrounding habitat in collaboration […]
On the 7th of April Merlin gave an introductory talk on bats at the University of Pretoria where he had an enthusiastic audience of students and their professors, and the following morning we departed for the Meletse Bat Research and Training Center in the Limpopo Province.
For the past week we’ve been mist netting for bats, mainly Lesueur’s wing-gland bats (Cistugo lesueuri) at the Sterkfontein Dam and Nature Reserve in the Free State Province of South Africa which lies on the northeastern side of the Drakensberg Escarpment, about a four-hour drive southeast of Pretoria. The Kingdom of Lesotho lies west of […]
Merlin and I flew from Austin to Houston, Texas last Tuesday the 25th of March, and flew overnight to Frankfurt, Germany, waited 11 hours in the airport and then caught another overnight flight to Johannesburg, where we were met by colleagues Teresa and Ernest Seamark. After a day of rest at the Seamarks’ home outside […]
Merlin’s talks in Tennessee last weekend went really well. He received a standing ovation from a very appreciative audience at the All Taxa Biodiversity Index (ATBI) Conference organized by the nonprofit Discover Life in America. As a special treat, a group of schoolchildren and their parents and teachers came to the talk in Gatlinburg. The following evening […]
Merlin’s photo of pollen-gilded Cuban flower bat (Phyllonycteris poeyi) emerging from a flower of the blue mahoe tree (Talipariti elatum) is the National Geographic Photo of the Day! Have a look HERE!
Finally I got around to creating a gallery to display Merlin’s magnificent bat photographs. This website now displays examples of all 18 of the world’s currently recognized families of bats, represented by 100 species belonging to 81 genera. These images show bats from all continents where they occur and include all aspects of bat behavior (roosting, […]
DISCOVER LIFE IN AMERICA PRESENTS: BAT CONSERVATION SPECIALIST MERLIN TUTTLE Friday March 21, 2014 – Merlin Tuttle Keynote Address Park Vista Hotel in Gatlinburg 6-9 p.m. The Amazing World of Bats Bats comprise nearly a quarter of all mammals. They come in an amazing variety, as cute as any panda or as strange as any […]
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Madelline Mathis has a degree in environmental studies from Rollins College and a passion for wildlife conservation. She is an outstanding nature photographer who has worked extensively with Merlin and other MTBC staff studying and photographing bats in Mozambique, Cuba, Costa Rica, and Texas. Following college graduation, she was employed as an environmental specialist for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. She subsequently founded the Florida chapter of the International DarkSky Association and currently serves on the board of DarkSky Texas. She also serves on the board of Houston Wilderness and was appointed to the Austin Water Resource Community Planning Task Force.
Michael Lazari Karapetian has over twenty years of investment management experience. He has a degree in business management, is a certified NBA agent, and gained early experience as a money manager for the Bank of America where he established model portfolios for high-net-worth clients. In 2003 he founded Lazari Capital Management, Inc. and Lazari Asset Management, Inc. He is President and CIO of both and manages over a half a billion in assets. In his personal time he champions philanthropic causes. He serves on the board of Moravian College and has a strong affinity for wildlife, both funding and volunteering on behalf of endangered species.
