Sarah Richdon

PhD student at the University of Bristol studying Critically Endangered Livingstone's fruit bats.

[Sarah Richdon @SarahRichdon]

@Samuel_Smithers @BBCiPlayer @netflix Very swanky - well done!

[Sarah Richdon @SarahRichdon]

@LFBProject I am loving how Livingstone's fruit bat crazy your Twitter is!

It just happens!

[Sarah Richdon @SarahRichdon]

@BaheerathanM @LittleLeapers_ Dr.Bella would be a good person to talk to about this as she has more experience of wild Pteropus livingstonii than me.

My data has been collected from captive individuals in fixed colonies so far

[Sarah Richdon @SarahRichdon]

1 #WBTC1 #EcoBeh1

Bats are gregarious animals, with complex social lives.

In the Livingstone's fruit bat, males compete for groups of females for mating rights, protecting females and pups.

Males compete through aggressive interactions, with varying degrees of intensity.

[Sarah Richdon @SarahRichdon]

@BaheerathanM Thank you! Yes, mating generally is spread across the first half of the year, with births following in the later half.

It's a really good question which I hope to see in my data, as I'd also like to establish if dominant males the ones reproducing.

[Sarah Richdon @SarahRichdon]

@LittleLeapers_ @_BCT_ Yeah, not an avid user but it comes in handy once in a while!

Loving the flower crown btw 😁

[Sarah Richdon @SarahRichdon]

@eparryjones Is it the gif?

Stephan (dad), Moutoui (mum) and baby Delano all hanging out together 🥰

[Sarah Richdon @SarahRichdon]

@eparryjones He began holding a strong territory away from other males.

I have been mapping spatial dominance too and find that males succeed more interactions in their own territories.

Elijah and Rasputin crossed him on his home turf basically!

[Sarah Richdon @SarahRichdon]

@JackBHooker @BatDeterrentRes Way ahead of you pal 😅

[Sarah Richdon @SarahRichdon]

5 #WBTC1 #EvoBeh1

I'll plot the rest of my behavioural observations (450+ hours) to observe male dominance changes over time, and investigate correlations with age, size and breeding success.

We'll see how the lifestyles of males change over time!

[Sarah Richdon @SarahRichdon]

4 #WBTC1 #EvoBeh1

Start Elo-rating values came from prelim data and males gained/lost points on outcomes of interactions, more points from intense conflicts

Interactions over time were plotted using modified R package elo.sequence

Here's six bats interacting for two weeks:

[Sarah Richdon @SarahRichdon]

@BatDeterrentRes If I had enough characters, I definitely would've put a loud warning in!

[Sarah Richdon @SarahRichdon]

@JackBHooker Ooops good spot, will change the next tweets!

[Sarah Richdon @SarahRichdon]

@BatDeterrentRes Haha love it! Thanks for summarising!

[Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust @DurrellWildlife]

#DurrellSymposium18: PhD student Sarah Richdon shares her experiences using crowdfunding for conservation, plus its benefits & some useful tips! Thanks @SarahRichdon

[University of Bristol @BristolUni]

Read about how @stephenfry recently backed PhD student @SarahRichdon in her work to save critically endangered fruit #bats here - https://t.co/iO2VaOPXk9

[Sarah Richdon @SarahRichdon]

@phil_baber @stephenfry Haha I know! :). I can't believe it's happened! The bats seem happy.... I think. Thanks again Phil

[Sarah Richdon @SarahRichdon]

The crowdfunder went from 88% to 100% overnight -
we're fully funded! It snuck up on me like a stealthy Koki ninja.

We're attempting a stretch goal of $1,000 for sequencing some babies.

I will do a thank you soon but for now - please pledge if you can!

https://t.co/QZ23rTsxAB