2006 Photo Contest, Nature, 1st prize
Photographer

Kieran Dodds

Evening Times / The Herald

30 November, 2005

A branch collapses under the weight of sleeping bats. Bats who together weigh the equivalent of 500 elephants gather in just 15 hectares of land. Every year an estimated eight million straw-colored fruit bats (Eidolon helvum) are among the seven different bat species that arrive in the abundant Kasanka National Park in October. Despite the scale of the migration little is known about where the bats come from or where they go. Satellite transmitters have been placed on four animals to trace their movements. Early data show that they travel thousands of kilometers after departing Zambia, in search of food.

About the photographer

Kieran Dodds

His investigative approach places complex news in context and seeks significant detail overlooked in daily reporting. His personal work considers the role of environment in cultu...

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