Construction workers building a motorway north of Auckland have stopped cutting down trees amid fears a rare species of bats could be hanging out in them.
During recent ecological monitoring of the Puhoi to Warkworth project, 24 trees showed a potential presence of bats because of some broken branches. The bats occasionally break branches with the weight of their bodies.
The trees were located within a 16-hectare area of the project, where the native long-tailed bat is known to roost.
The Department of Conservation lists the long-tailed bat as 'vulnerable' and a high priority for conservation.
Ray Wilson, chief executive of the Northern Express Group in charge of building the motorway, says regular environmental monitoring is carried out as part of the project's resource consents.
"No trees will be cut down until it's clear there are no bats roosting in them at the time, but this is in no way holding up operations or early construction work because they move trees so frequently."
A detailed assessment by bat ecologists is being carried out to determine if the native mammals are still roosting in the trees.
"Bats are known to inhabit the thousands of hectares of native forest in the area and it was always expected they would be identified," Mr Wilson said.
Fewer potential roosts have been discovered than was expected and the bats are highly mobile, so don't tend to rest in the same tree for more than couple of days before moving on.
The Puhoi to Warkworth motorway forms the first section of the Government's Puhoi to Wellsford Road of National Significance and is in the early stages of construction.
Bat facts:
- NZ has two species of bats: The long tailed bat and the lesser short-tailed bat. It's believed a third species, the greater short-tailed bat, became extinct in the 1960s.
- They're small. With a wingspan of up to 30 centimetres, their bodies are the size of a human thumb.
- Scientists don't know exactly how long they live for, but they may reach 30 years of age.
- Known as Pekapeka in Te Reo, early Maori believed the bats to foretell death and disaster.
- Good thing they only come out at night then, eh?
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