A rare and remarkable predator has been confirmed at Bullo River Station in the Northern Territory’s East Kimberley region. Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) has recorded the Ghost Bat, Australia’s only carnivorous bat, on the property.

Once thought to feed on blood, the Ghost Bat is the country’s sole member of the “false vampire bat” family. It hunts other bats, lizards and mice, and has a wingspan of around 60 centimetres. The species has vanished from central and southern Australia and declined across the north. It is listed as Vulnerable nationally and Near Threatened in the Northern Territory.

The first sighting came from Bullo River team member Emanuele Lai while exploring gorges in the station’s Special Management Zone, where AWC and Bullo River work together on conservation and land management. AWC ecologists followed up using acoustic lures that play the recorded sounds of squabbling Ghost Bats. Infrared cameras then captured several bats swooping around the speakers.

The find is significant because few Ghost Bats have been recorded in the region between the Kimberley and the Top End. AWC will continue surveying in the hope of finding a breeding roost. Only a handful of maternal roosts are officially documented, and finding one would make Bullo River an important site for the species’ conservation.

The surveys also turned up two reptiles not previously recorded on the property: the Top End Mulch Skink and the Black-tailed Bar-lipped Skink.

For guests, it’s another reason to explore Bullo River’s ranges, gorges, floodplains and wetlands, a remote landscape still revealing its secrets.

To learn more about this discovery, click here.

Image credit: @Nicola Hanrahan, Australian Wildlife Conservancy