Congratulations to Laila Patinglag who successfully defended her PhD today #proudsupervisor with @micromelling David Sawtell Alex Iles and Kathryn Whitehead! 🥳 MMU's Department of Natural Sciences Manchester Met Science and Engineering Research & Innovation at Manchester Met

Check out our latest paper looking at bat wing tears and flight 🦇🦇 @micromelling Ecology & Environment Research Centre @ManMetUni Ecological Genetics & Conservation Lab Research & Innovation at Manchester Met

3/5 #WBTC1 #EvoBeh1 Unfortunately the plagiopatagium has few, large blood vessels, so is likely to be prone to bleeding and not heal quickly. Thankfully a network of fibers stops tears from ripping too much in all the wing sections

4/5 #WBTC1 #EvoBeh1 Material testing P.pipistrellus wings showed that the plagiopatagium was not weaker than the other wing sections. Although tears here are likely to take longer to heal.

5/5 #WBTC1 #EvoBeh1 So why more tears in the plagiopatagium? We propose that cats are targeting bats bodies and their claws are tearing the wing. This is also confirmed by #batcarer observations. Sad, but great work by Rana Khayat Bat Conservation Trust #BatCatastrophe 🦇🐱

Thanks to Rana Khayat @GaryDougill @micromelling Kirsty for their help in the project, and read more in our paper here: academic.oup.com/jmammal/articl… in J.Mammalogy Am Soc Mammalogists

1/5 #WBTC1 #EvoBeh2 Bat wings are thin, delicate and prone to tearing. Thousands of bats with wing tears are admitted to rescue centres annually in the🇬🇧. But how do we measure their effect on flight? And when are bats ready for release? Ecology & Environment Research Centre @ManMetUni Bat Conservation Trust #BatCatastrophe

1/5 #WBTC1 #Conserve4 🐱predation upon 🦇species has been reported to have significant effects on 🦇populations in both 🏞️ and 🏙️ areas. Can forensic 🧬 analysis tell us ‘whodunnit’? #BatCATastrophe Ecology & Environment Research Centre @ManMetUni Bat Conservation Trust @mammal_society @wildwoodtrust

2/5 #WBTC1 #Conserve4 We asked #batrehabilitators in 🇬🇧 to take swabs of injured wings from 🦇 in their care. The majority were Pipistrellus pipistrellus. The wings showed a variety of injuries including holes and tears – check out Robyn Grant in #EvoBeh1 from Wed for 📷

3/5 #WBTC1 #Conserve4 Using real-time PCR (a sensitive detection technique), we looked for the presence/absence of 🐱🧬. We found 🐱🧬 in 2/3rds of wing swab samples. There were no significance differences due to the species, age or gender of the 🦇

4/5 #WBTC1 #Conserve4 We then looked at 11 short tandem repeat markers in the 🐱🧬(similar to those used in crime scene investigation in humans) and were able to produce partial 🧬profiles for 1/3rd of samples. This could be used to link predation events to individual 🐈🐈‍⬛

5/5 #WBTC1 #Conserve4 Forensic 🧬 analysis can complement 👀data, potentially giving a more accurate estimation of 🐱 predation on 🦇. Thanks to #MMUBatResearch Rana Khayat Robyn Grant @micromelling @garydougill and all the #batrehabilitators

There is a Bat CATastrophe going on! Find out more in our new paper in Ecology and Evolution about how we used forensic DNA analysis to find cat DNA on lots of bat wing tears: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10… Rana Khayat Kirsty @GaryDougill @micromelling Bat Conservation Trust

Bat box finally up. The local cats will need stilts to get up there! 🦇

Our latest paper in Ecology and Evolution uses forensic🧬analysis to investigate 🦇wing tears and the impact of 🐱predation: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10… #BatCATastrophe Rana Khayat Robyn Grant Wildwood Kent @micromelling @GaryDougill @d_killick Ecology & Environment Research Centre @ManMetUni Research & Innovation at Manchester Met MMU's Department of Natural Sciences Bat Conservation Trust

A Bat CATastrophe? Robyn Grant & Kirsty blog about the impact of domestic #cats on #bats: buff.ly/2O1Gnab

Let’s turn good news into great news! Cadbury UK, please make #TwirlOrangeForever 👇

One of today's visitors, a chaffinch loving the Royal Robin Mix #giddygatefarm instagram.com/p/CNnqcCsJeT1G…

A couple of blue tits loving their new bird feeder. A jackdaw and magpie free zone! #giddygatefarm instagram.com/p/CNnrI_AJVEjP…

Waiting for a refill of their Royal Robin Mix 🤣 #giddygatefarm instagram.com/p/CNnrdLJpcmbv…