Publications by authors named "Gillian Dennis"

The lesser short-tailed bat () and the long-tailed bat () are Aotearoa New Zealand's only native extant terrestrial mammals and are believed to have migrated from Australia. Long-tailed bats arrived in New Zealand an estimated two million years ago and are closely related to other Australian bat species. Lesser short-tailed bats, in contrast, are the only extant species within the Mystacinidae and are estimated to have been living in isolation in New Zealand for the past 16-18 million years.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Primary and secondary poisoning of nontarget wildlife with second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides has led to restrictions on their use and to increased use of first-generation anticoagulants, including diphacinone. Although first-generation anticoagulants are less potent and less persistent than second-generation compounds, their use is not without risks to nontarget species. We report the first known mortalities of threatened New Zealand lesser short-tailed bats (Mystacina tuberculata) caused by diphacinone intoxication.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF