To find Painted Bats, villagers took us to their rice paddies in small carts pulled by tiny “tractors” that looked like a tiller on two wheels. We traveled narrow, dirt roads between flooded rice paddies. A cow blocked the road, but the always cheerful Thais got off and pushed backwards to […]
Arriving before sundown allowed us enough time to set up the photo studio and search for bats to photograph. Our host family offered one of their stilt buildings. Underneath turned out to be the perfect dimension for the studio. The ducks objected vociferously. Each of the four nights we stayed there, ducks had to be […]
The BatThai Team www.batthai.com drove us out of Bangkok in their plush minivan on a 5-hr. journey to Northeast Thailand. Daniel Hargreaves from the UK is leading us on this trip to the Painted Bat Village. It’s in this “sticky rice” growing area that four generations of the Peung family are doing whatever they can […]
From time to time, Merlin receives emails from people who want to express their appreciation for his work on behalf of bats. In the spring of 2011, Heidi Cooper-Berry sent him a touching email about a special gift she wanted to plan for her fiancé, Daniel Hargreaves’ 30th birthday–a field trip with Merlin Tuttle. She […]
I’m excited to share this new webcast: BatsLIVE, A Distance Learning Adventure. Merlin was interviewed recently in his office by Ben Swecker of BatsLIVE, while Richard Shahan video recorded for a future segment. Off camera, lots of stories of adventure and good luck were shared. The BatsLIVE crew will be back at Bracken Cave […]
Since our return from Ecuador in June, Merlin has been adding titles and captions to the 7,000 images taken on that trip for National Geographic, the article we’ve been blogging about. The “BAT ECHO Team” traveled to three countries—Costa Rica, Cuba and Ecuador—and came away with about 20,000 photographs. The article is based on Ralph […]
While working on assignment in Ecuador for three weeks, the base of operations for the National Geographic Bat Echo team was the Ferbola Organic Farm, Susudel in the Andes of southern Ecuador. Upon our arrival, we were greeted enthusiastically by Maria and Rodrigo Moscoso who help run the farm, along with their son Fernando and […]
No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause–Theodore Roosevelt To say we were overjoyed when Ralph arrived the day after we got stuck in the mud, is an understatement. And it’s not just because […]
The following morning, the four of us hiked along the nearby Rio Leon valley’s steep cliffs searching for the cactus Vinicio had found flowering earlier in the week. We were extremely disappointed to find the flowering was perhaps finished or close to it. Merlin and National Geographic almost decided to postpone the trip for another […]
We’d like you to meet Nery Fabian Chamorro Rodas, a very special friend of ours in the world of bat conservation and an invaluable member of our team here in Ecuador. Merlin and I met Nery about three years ago at a bat workshop in Paraguay held at the remote Los Tres Gigantes field […]
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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.
