 |
A
short-tailed
bat
|
Bats
are
New
Zealand's
only
endemic
land
mammals.
In
proverb,
the
Maori
refer
to
bats
as
pekapeka
and
associate
them
with
the
mythical,
night-flying
bird,
hokioi,
which
foretells
death
or
disaster.
In
the
nearby
Tararua
Forest
park
there
is
a
population
of
this
species
which
is
estimated
to
be
between
100
and
500
individuals
and
as
it’s
an
isolated
and
small
sized
population
it
is
vulnerable
to
extinction.
It
is
the
only
confirmed
population
of
short-tailed
bats
in
the
lower
North
Island.
(About
the
bat
translocation)
(More about bats(PDF)
(latest progress on the translocation
(May 2005))
