From Grenada to Kenya

As an aspiring Wildlife Biologist from Grenada, conducting wildlife research in other countries has long been a goal of mine, and in 2020, that goal was materialized. I attended the First Bat Course on Ecology, Diversity, Conservation, and Ecosystem Services, on the coast of Kenya.

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I remember the day before my flight so vividly. My bags were packed, my clothes laid out on the bed and checking my passport every 10 minutes to make sure I got everything ready.

Travelling to Kenya at first seems like a piece "ah cake ah, mean what could go wrong"...I'm a regular flyer, but that 20+ hours in the air felt like torture! I had to walk up and down the aisle and even argue with a passenger over a seat just to kill time. Nevertheless, I arrived safe and sound in the Land of the Lion King, Kenya. My initial thoughts...Kenya is BEAUTIFUL!!!

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I arrived a week ahead of the start of the course just to be a tourist for a bit. I checked out a few excellent sites in Nairobi, such as the Giraffe Centre, Nairobi National Park and Museum and hung out with a few of the other participants from the course.

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Along Kenya's eastern coast was where the course took place. Unfortunately, I had to endure 15+ hours on a bus from Nairobi to Diana Beach to get there. Nonetheless, it was a wonderful chance to meet people from different countries. After I slept and woke up a hundred times before we reached our intended destination, I finally got to Diani Beach. The beach was a beautiful sight to see. The exposed reefs due to low tides made me think of Batway, Grenada.

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The following day we officially began the workshop at the Jacaranda Beach Resort, Diani Beach, Kenya. With no time to waste, we immediately got down to business. We were lectured on the different species of bats found along the east coast of Kenya, conservation, and how acoustics and other disciplines support the field of bat research. Throughout the course, we worked in small groups on current hot subjects in bat research. The popularity of acoustic systems as a discussion topic led to a big turnout. Consequently, we subdivided the acoustic team to allow for more focused attention on certain issues related to the use of acoustic systems. Since the make-up and focus of my group were always shifting, I often found myself confused. We narrowed down our options for research teams and topics as time went on.

My group reasoned that biologists would be better able to distinguish between bat species if they had access to acoustic monitoring data. However, it may be seen as a novel area of study that few biologists have explored so far. Because of this, information about bats' sounds has been scarce. This idea inspired our primary goal in this study; using a capture-and-release strategy, we recorded release calls from East African bats to use as an acoustic recording key. The animal is subjected to less strain when this procedure is used.

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Mist-netting bats at night on Mombasa's Diani Beach and in the Fikirini Caves required the combined efforts of all participants. Three Wildlife Acoustics Echo Metre Touch 2 PROs were used for this study. My first experience with one of these gadgets was a revelation; I had no clue they could be made so compact. One person would release a bat, and three others would record from a distance of 10 or 3 metres (depending on the species), all under the guidance of lecturer Dr. Adrià López-Baucells. Because of the potential for disruption from other bats in the area, releases were timed so that the detectors indicated no other bats were in the air.

Just bear with me for a while because things are going to become a little technical, but it's not hard to comprehend...Trust me! Due to the poor quality of the bulk of the files collected from the aforementioned acoustic devices, we only looked at three files per species in order to find the one that provided the most detailed description of each species' echolocation pulses. Moreover, we examined pulses of varying sizes inside each file. Parameters such as pulse shape (Sp), maximum energy frequency (FME), minimum pulse frequency (Fpmin), and maximum pulse frequency (Fpmax) are used to describe the echolocating calls.

Different bat species in East Africa could be distinguished from one another based on the shape of their pulses. It may seem like a shortcut, but this is the best option available. If a pulse is shaped like a hockey stick, it belongs to the family Miniopteridae or Vespertilionidae; if it is shaped like a staple, it belongs to the family Rhinolophidae; and if it is shaped like an angle, it belongs to the family Hipposideridae. One of the problems with this strategy is that the calls of many species overlap in frequency and have a similar shape to the pulse. Because of this, it may only be possible to identify the bats that have been recorded to the genus or family level. Using this novel approach, we were able to identify 11 species across 5 groups. Some of the families mentioned are Miniopteridae, Vespertilionidae, Rhinolophidae, Hipposideridae, and Emballonuridae.

Using this procedure, we were able to positively identify this species. The hockey stick shape of the pulses in the image to the right suggests that the species is either a Miniopteridae or a Vespertilionidae. Additional features, such as the Fpmax, Fpmin, and Fppeak, must be considered in order to zero in on the precise species. Our results showed that the average Fpmax was 106.25 kHz, the average Fpmin was 71.12 kHz, and the average Fppeak was 72.19 kHz, but these values are difficult to read on the image. Those numbers indicated to us that this species was the Neoromicia nana. Now, this may feel like rocket science for some, but trust me; it was quite simple.

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Years have passed since I finished this course, yet I always like thinking back on my time in Kenya. The information presented has provided the impetus I needed to take my profession to the next level. Thanks to this experience, I am more equipped to do bat research across the Caribbean, including on my home island of Grenada. There, I met many brilliant researchers whom I now count among my closest friends. We hope to collaborate on other initiatives and have even talked about travelling to each other's countries to meet up and conduct research. Relationships, in addition to friendships, were born during our tenure. Despite the great distances between us, we maintain tight, consistent communication.

Who, then, is it to claim that hope is futile? It worked for me, and it can work for you, too! Keep in mind that I was nothing more than a dreaming, bookish Gouyave boy. However, I no longer think of it as a dream. It's a blessing for which I have infinite gratitude. Many thanks to everyone who put together GLOBAL SOUTH BATS!