Tom's Explanation

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New Zealand’s Native Bat

The Peka-Peka is New Zealand’s native bat. Some have short tails, but others grow a bit longer and their bodies are the size of a adult’s thumb. The greater short tailed bat was extinct in 1960.

Bats are nocturnal, which means their life is opposite, if you compare it to our lives. This is because they sleep by day and hunt by night. They live in hollows of trees and live in colonies of hundreds.

Bats feast on moths, beetles, mosquitos and other flying insects. They can be found on stewart island, little barrier island and great barrier island. Their weight is usually around 8-11 grams and they torpor, which means they sleep in winter. They can also be found on Kapiti Island and can fly up to a speed of 60 kilometers per hour.

Bats use echolocation to hunt because of the darkness. They use this by making clicking sounds to high-pitch for humans to hear. When the sound hits something the echo bounces back to them. They use this to identify the location’s size and objects in the way.

Bats dye because to many people only think about themselves. People cut down trees for firewood and then some people then sell the firewood for money. The Peka-Peka is endangered mainly because of this reason. They are also endangered because of their predators. These are the animals that kill and eat the peka-peka. This group of predators includes possums, cats, stoats, wasps and rats. But also on that list is humans.

So the Peka-Peka is native to new Zealand, are nocturnal and are endangered. There is already 1 species extinct and they are the size of a adults thumb.