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Obtaining accurate counts that do not cause harm to the animals being studied are important for assessing a species' conservation status. A single evening exodus of ghost bats (Macroderma gigas) was recorded using a thermal imaging camera placed outside the entrance to a cave on Alwal National Park (CYPAL) in September 2022. At least 463 bats were counted, making it the largest known ghost bat colony in Queensland. Further work is required to determine the extent to which this colony is related to other nearby colonies in Cape York Peninsula. Work is also required to identify and reduce threats to this population and ensure its conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

William Hann's Northern Expedition set off on 26 June 1872 from Mount Surprise, a pastoral station west of Townsville, to determine the mineral and agricultural potential of Cape York Peninsula. The expedition was plagued by disharmony and there was later strong criticism of the leadership and its failure to provide any meaningful analysis of the findings. The authors (a descendent of Norman Taylor, expedition geologist, and a descendent of Jerry, Indigenous guide and translator) use documentary sources and traditional knowledge to establish the role of Jerry in the expedition. They argue that while Hann acknowledged Jerry's assistance to the expedition, his role has been downplayed by later commentators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the risk to threatened species of population decline from anthropogenic disturbances is challenging when there are issues with species identification, and little is known of their biology, distribution, population size, and habitat preference. The bare-rumped sheath-tailed bat (Saccolaimus saccolaimus) is one such species that has a poorly defined distribution over two broad areas of northern Australia. Environmental impact assessments are expected to consider the possibility of its presence in intervening areas outside the known distributions. Our study presents new empirical data that can assist with detection of S. saccolaimus across the entire expanse of northern Australia, provides a critical analysis of acoustics-based identification of the species, and assessed presence within the potentially high value habitat of tall Eucalyptus tetrodonta -dominated forest on the western side of Cape York Peninsula using a combination of trapping and acoustic recordings. Capture of other Saccolaimus species was the greatest of any survey conducted to date in Australia, demonstrating that the capture of these high-flying bat species in tall forest habitats can be relatively effective with mist net arrays hoisted into the tree canopy. In addition, reference echolocation call collections from the focal trapping area plus other locations across northern Australia allowed characterisation and comparison of the calls of most low-frequency-emitting (LFE) echolocating bat species of northern Australia. In addition to separation of species-specific search phase call types using multivariate statistics, a compilation of features from search phase, approach phase and feeding buzz echolocation calls will help distinguish S. saccolaimus from most other LFE species. However, the similarity of the echolocation calls of S. mixtus and S. saccolaimus prevented them from being distinguished from one another. A multi-method approach that emulates the present study and incorporates our recommendations and cautions will lead to robustness in ecological studies and greater clarity in environmental impact assessments. The bare-rumped sheath-tailed bat is listed as a threatened species under Australian national environmental legislation. However, it has been difficult to identify from echolocation calls, and surveys are still helping to define its distribution in Australia's remote north. Based on an intensive field survey and acoustic analysis of reference echolocation calls, we present a summary of characters and criteria that can assist with detection and subsequent identification. Photo by Mikey Kudo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]