Conservation groups and local residents in a hill area of Greater Taichung expressed delight that colonies of bats have returned after three decades of work on a cave that was once a famous attraction.
Civic organizations and municipal officials said that they are proud of the ecological preservation and conservation work that resulted in the reappearance of the bats at “Toubiankeng [頭汴坑] Bat Cave.”
The cave is in the Toubiankeng Leisure Agricultural Area in the Taiping District (太平), which is in the foothills of the Central Mountain Range.
Photo: Chen Chien-chih, Taipei Times
Repopulation of the Toubiankeng Bat Cave has left scientists elated, because the colonies consist of the Formosan leaf-nosed bat, Hipposideros terasensis, one of Taiwan’s endemic subspecies.
Much of the credit for the re-established colony goes to the Water Source Culture Foundation and its affiliated conservation groups in the city after decades of work.
On recent inspections, local volunteers found an estimated 100 to 200 bats inhabiting the cave.
The cave was dug in as part of an irrigation conduit to carry water from the area’s Dongbian River (東汴溪) to fields belonging to the local Lin (林) family.
Due to a severe flood in 1959, the river changed its course and the conduit dried up.
It was a blessing in disguise for wild creatures, as the conduit’s damp cave provided a suitable colony for the bats.
In the 1960s, the cave became a renowned tourist attraction.
“Those were the glory years for the site — the 1960s and 1970s. However, it ended when a big flood struck the area in the summer of 1983,” WSCF chairman Yeh Chin-yu (葉晉玉) said. “It inundated the cave and caused much destruction. After that, the bats went away and we have not seen them for the past 30 years.”
Yeh said after the 921 Earthquake, he led a working team in collaboration with the Toubiankeng community to initiate conservation programs in the area.
“We began by installing iron bar barriers across the cave’s entrance. The local tourism bureau laid pipes to draw a stream into the cave. After more than 10 years, we began to reap the rewards of our efforts,” he said.
“About two months ago, we observed several bats flying out of the cave to forage for food in the evening hours. Then last weekend, our team entered the cave with some local residents and were able to verify that there are about 100 to 200 Formosan leaf-nosed bats inside,” he added.
People going to the original cave entrance will not see any bats, as they are flying in and out of the grottoes through other entrances, he said.
“It was not easy for the bats to return, so we hope people will cherish them and not go into the cave and disturb the colonies,” he said, adding that people should become observers and protectors of wildlife, rather than behaving like tourists.
According to Yeh, talks are underway with local officials to set up a community patrol team to maintain the protective measures that have been established, while he asked people to leave the bats alone and allow them to flourish in their natural habitat.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純) and DPP Taichung Councilor Huang Hsiu-chu (黃秀珠), were also involved in the conservation effort, having lobbied for funding to build a tourist bridge and other construction projects in the area.
“The bats returning is an auspicious omen for the people. I urge the public to watch the bats from outside the cave and not to enter it,” Huang said.
“Also, the Greater Taichung Government must implement security and protective measures. I will ensure that the bridge will be completed soon and together with the bats repopulating the cave, it should boost local tourism,” she added.
According to scientists, the Formosan leaf-nosed bat is the largest insectivorous bat in Taiwan, with its main diet consisting of beetles and other flying insects.
The cave-dwelling species normally weighs between 45g and 65g, with a wingspan of 54cm and can be found in habitats up to an elevation of 1,700m.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS