Page 68 of Wild Life

Was it secretly thanking the universe when another day passed by and a rescue crew hadn’t shown up for me? Or maybe it was giving up the idea of returning to my old life. It probably was looking forward to falling asleep in his arms every night.

Fuck. I am in love.

What do I do now?

I sat on guard near the net, waiting to see who would show up tonight. It was possible for multiple bat species to exist in an ecosystem, and that was certainly evident by the variety of bats I had witnessed.

I’d tagged a number of flying foxes, which didn’t use echolocation for navigation. Instead, they relied on their excellent senses of smell and sight to find food, namely fruit and flowers. Although they sometimes slept in caves and other rock crevices, they mostly roosted in trees, snuggling close for protection and warmth.

I was fortunate to have also seen a few mastiffs, which foraged near treetops, and long-tailed fruit bats, which enjoyed grazing in the lower lands.

It was a thrill to see them up close, especially since each one I came across was healthy. They were thriving without other humans around to destroy their roosts and food supply. Their biggest threat was the environment. Changes in climate or proliferation of unwanted predators could threaten their population.

Another big risk to bats was disease. Specifically, a new fungus that had spread over the past few years, called white-nose syndrome. It was suspected to have originated in Europe and spread to North America, effectively diminishing population numbers. The fungus usually wreaked havoc in winter while bats hibernated. It manifested as white fuzz over their muzzles and caused intense itching. The discomfort was enough to wake them prematurely, before the climate warmed in spring. The afflicted bats would find out too late that hibernation wasn’t over when they ventured out into the cold for food that wasn’t available.

White-nose syndrome was highly contagious, so if one bat had it, the entire colony, including the pups, were at risk of exposure.

The disease was heartbreaking, but thankfully more prevalent in areas that experienced cooler winters.

The pitter-patter of wings filled my ears. The little ones were on their nightly adventure.

I waited with bated breath for them to descend for a drink from the pond. I’d had to change the position of the net because they’d caught on quickly to its position. Some flew overhead, while some swooped underneath.

As if it was being drawn to a beacon, one drifted into the net. I scurried over, with clean gloves on and rubber bands that I’d boiled in a metal pail over the fire outside the hut.

I carefully removed the bat from the soft webbing and studied it over.

A Pacific sheath-tail!I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had studied them in Fiji and had the opportunity to visit their roost. Their population was small, only about five hundred individuals in the world, and here I was, holding one of them on a potentially undiscovered island!

He appeared to be healthy, so I quickly tagged his foot and sent him on his way.

I pulled the net down so no other bats could fly into it and raced to find Aleki. He was off curing more fish because I refused to eat iguana since I’d found out it was the mystery meat he’d been feeding me. Now, I was basically on the Pilates Princess diet of fish, fruits, and vegetables, minus sporting the luxury leggings.

Aleki had remained close by despite my constant reassurance. It was like he expected me to be swallowed up by a volcano or something.

I found him hunched on the ground with his basket of fish, and he stood up when he heard my hurried steps.

“I found it!” I ran up to him and grabbed his shoulders.

“Found what?” he replied, blindly matching my excitement.

“A Pacific sheath-tailed bat!”

“And that’s amazing, right?”

“Totally! There are only a few in the wild, and I found one here, which means…”

“There are probably more?”

“Bingo!” I stabbed his hard chest with my finger. “I bet scientists haven’t ever ventured here to research them. What if there’s a thriving population? Like hundreds, perhaps thousands of them, just hanging out?! This is phenomenal, especially since they’re endangered.”

His arms wrapped around me, showering me with the warmth and security I’d spent my life searching for. “I’m so happy for you!” He had little idea of the gravity of what I was going on about, but he was as thrilled as I was.

“We have to find their roost,” I said.

“Do you think you can?”

“I don’t know. I need to try. God, I wish I had a GPS location.”

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