bat research among the bedouin

EGYPT | Monday, 14 January 2013 | Views [754] | View Smaller Image

Under August heat in Wadi Bugiya, biologist Jill Carpenter, of Operation Wallacea, is followed by her Egyptian volunteer assistant as they head towards Wadi Itlah to meet up with Jebeliya bedouin guide, Nasr, who is attending to his own garden. During Ramadan, neither Nasr or the assistant can consume water or food during daylight hours. On August 8, 2010, the three mist netted at El Halwa garden, a repository of herbal knowledge maintained and advanced by respected traditional herbalist and healer Dr. Ahmed Mansour.

As the last Trident-nosed bats, Asellia Tridens, exit during an out flight to forage for insects, at Qarat Al Halfaya, a Roman ruin in the Egyptian western desert, biologist Jill Carpenter, visible only by her headlamp, inspects the day roost on August 27, 2010. This was Operation Wallacea's first foray working outside southern Sinai.

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The solace while recording bat sounds with an ultrasound detector along Nuweiba road outside St. Katherine, Sinai, is occasionally interrupted by vehicular traffic, drawing biologist Jill Carpenter's attention. Photography was limited to using infrared lighting to minimize attention to a lone woman at night. During this transect, on August 14, 2010, Carpenter recorded and subsequently confirmed the existence in Sinai of the Lesser Mouse-tailed bat, Rhinopoma cystops, previously suspected only by a single recording in 2005.

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bat research among the bedouin

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