bat research among the bedouin

EGYPT | Monday, 14 January 2013 | Views [508] | View Smaller Image

Always eager to introduce the bats to the local bedouin, chiroptologist Jill Carpenter, offers her Jebeliya bedouin guide, Nasr, an opportunity to touch the desert long-eared bat, Plecotus christii, during a survey at Naqb el Hawa on August 15, 2010. The bedouin are not only instrumental, but very interested in assisting the non-profit Operation Wallacea, in partnership with Egypt's Nature and Science Foundation since 2005, to carry out biological assessments of southern sinai.

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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Heavily entangled, an Egyptian Fruit bat, Rousettus aegyptiacus, waits to be freed by biologist Jill Carpenter, August 17, 2010. Requiring patience and a knack to untangle the bat, Carpenter works tediously to prevent damage to the bat's wings. Her volunteer work for Operation Wallacea assists in improving the knowledge of species diversity in the Sinai where she works closely with Jebeliya bedouin guides.

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bat research among the bedouin

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