Morgan Hughes spends all hours studying and protecting these misunderstood creatures – and she asks that her volunteers are looked after too
Why bats?” I ask Morgan Hughes, a 47-year-old ecologist from Walsall. “They’re one of the only animals recorded to exhibit true altruism,” she replies. “Vampire bats will share their meals with other vampire bats, even if they’re not related. They’ll regurgitate the food.”
They provide excellent pest control, too: some bats can eat 3,000 midges in a night. And they are crucial to many ecosystems. Fruit bats, for example, disperse seeds across the rainforest. Their droppings are a highly nutritious fertiliser. But what Hughes really loves about bats, she says, is how little we know about them: “There are 1,400-plus species of bat, which means there’s so much to learn.”
