by Katherine McFerrin
Hi, I’m Katherine and I was a field project manager for Ekipa Fanihy (Team Fruit Bat) in 2023 and 2024. Here’s what a day in the field was like at my favorite field site, Analambotaka. I loved Analambotaka because it’s home to the Madagascar flying fox (Pteropus rufus)! As the largest bats in Madagascar, adult flying foxes have a 3-4 ft wingspan and lots of fluffy orange and black fur. They’re tree roosting bats as opposed to the other 2 species of Malagasy fruit bats the Brook Lab studies, which are both cave roosting. The second reason I enjoyed working at Analambotaka was the people. We worked with an extremely kind family, the Rabetsy family, and a field assistant named Patrick who loves Malagasy music. At Analambotaka, the days were long and the pace of work was slow, much slower than at sites with cave roosting bats, where catches were more guaranteed. There was time to be still and appreciate the people, the place and the bats.
At Analambotaka, we rise with the sun, well, really before the sun. My alarm goes off at 4:30 am and I open my tent to the still dark sky, the moon casting soft light on the pine and eucalyptus trees. I make my way to our kitchen tent and start a small fire as I wait for the others: Martin (my field partner and co-field project manager), Santino and Angelo (PhD students), Rova (MS student), Miora (technician), Dada Betsy (the father in the Rabetsy family), Nirina (Dada Betsy’s son), and Patrick. By 4:45 am we’re walking up the dirt road to check the bat nets. It’s mostly silent as we walk off our sleepiness. The sun peeks out, covering everything in a peach-colored wash, and the morning mist settles into the valley. It’s a routine we’ve become all too familiar with, but I still try to notice every sunrise.
We reach the first net within a 10 minutes walk. It is a tiered net hanging between two tall poles. The previous evenings we watched the sky for bats shortly after dark and set our net along their flight path from their roost to fruiting trees where they feed. This morning, when we spot bats suspended in the net above, we lower the net and work in groups of 2-3 to untangle the bats. It’s not an easy task, but a fun one. Patrick is our field assistant extraordinaire, having worked with the team for years, climbing trees and handling bats. Unintimidated by their razor sharp claws and teeth and strong movements, he quickly untangles the bat’s wings, the trickiest part. The fastest of us by far, Patrick makes it look like an art. Over the past several months, we’ve all gotten the hang of handling bats in the net and untangling them. There’s always something to help with from holding the neck or feet to untangling. As each bat is freed, we put them in a cloth bag that we’ll carry back to camp.
Next we check the gorge net, a net anchored to trees and spanning across the gorge in the flight path of the bats’ temporary roost. Our group splits to walk down each side of the valley. The hillside is covered in new shrubs, just recovering from a recent fire. We walk along the fire break, where vegetation was dug out to prevent fires from spreading beyond it. At the net spot, we can see the other side of the valley and a sea of mist in between. We yell and shout across the gorge to coordinate the ropes and pull in the net. We descend the uneven hillside carefully to avoid rolling ankles on the wet grass and shrub patches. Once we untangle the bats, we’re good to head back to camp.
We arrive to sounds of oil sizzling in a pan and logs being chopped. Mama Betsy, Dada Betsy’s wife, and her daughters are making breakfast. We hang the bat bags near the processing tents and get cleaned up. Mama Betsy makes eggs and rice, a delicious meal in the field, along with black coffee.
Then, we get to work. After lots of vial labeling and prepping the lab supplies, we put on the rest of our PPE. We each wear a tyvek suit, mask, and two layers of nitrile gloves. Then, we work in pairs with one person holding the bat and the other person processing (sampling). We take measurements, collect hair, wing punches, feces, urine, saliva, and ectoparasites, draw blood and insert PIT tags for future identification— all skills that we’ve learned through trial and error and guidance from Santino and Angelo. Eventually, these samples will be analyzed for viral presence and other markers of reproductive and immune health in our lab at Madagascar Biodiversity Center in Tana. After we take the samples, we give the bats sugar water to restore their energy (one of my favorite parts!) and then release them into a pine tree to fly away or rest until nightfall. Once we’ve released all the bats, we centrifuge the blood to collect sera (to look for viral antibodies) and red blood cell pellets (to PCR for bat malaria-like infections). Then, we store the samples, wash up and settle in for the rest of the day.
Aside from occasionally checking the nets for bats, the rest of the morning and afternoon is ours. We read books, catch up on sleep, walk around or play cards. Playing rummy is a favorite pastime of ours! This field mission, though, two of the Rabetsy daughters, Tanya and Monica, came to camp with us. So, I’ve been spending time with them! Upon Mama Betsy’s suggestion, I am teaching them English. They even bought notebooks and pens at the market in prep for my lessons. I type new words on my phone or spell them aloud and they jot down notes and draw pictures. The topic of these little lessons depends on which topics I feel like I have a solid grasp on to be able to explain in both English and Malagasy. This particular day we learn about foods and how to say that we like or dislike something. It turns into a frenzy of running around camp to ask everyone their favorite and least favorite foods and translating items at the kitchen tent. “Tiany indrindra ovy frite i Martin” (Martin likes fried potatoes the best). I love teaching the girls English and they teach me bits of Malagasy too. When I knew I would go to Madagascar back in 2023, I wanted to learn Malagasy, and during moments like this I am grateful I made language learning a part of my experience!
In the meantime, Mamabetsy is preparing to make mofo akondro (bananas, dipped in batter and deep fried), probably my favorite food in Madagascar! After our English lesson, Monica and I, along with Nata, our field driver, join in and help cook mofo akondro in the afternoon.
Around sunset, we walk out to check the nets again. This time the girls want to join. For every bat we find, we untangle it and drop it into a bag and shuttle them all back to camp. Then we feed the bats sugar water and a banana to tide them over until the morning when we will process them. Then, it’s dinner. Similar to lunch, dinner is rice with a main dish (“loaka”). This time it’s a mountain of rice and potatoes, green beans and carrots. After dinner, some people go to bed and some of us stay up for a little while longer. Patrick and Nirina make a bonfire. We talk, listen to Malagasy music and maybe even dance a little. Then, it’s time for bed and we’ll do it all over again for the next 10 days or so.
After leaving Madagascar, I miss the simple routine and the small joys of the field— the sunrise over a sea of fog, the bright orange fur of Pteropus rufus, English lessons with the girls, afternoon card games, music around the fire, and Mama Betsy’s mofo akondro (if we’re lucky). Until next time, Madagascar. “Mandra piona, Madagasikara”