The talk will include an introduction to the various bat species found in Ontario, the threats they face, and why we should be concerned about them, followed by an exploration of how the Toronto Zoo’s Native Bat Conservation Program is working to help them, and some of the success stories to date.

Speaker Biography:

Toby caught his first bat at the age of eleven and hasn’t looked back. He spent his teenage years hanging around the woodlands and churchyards of southern England learning about their biology and how to study them. He studied biological sciences at the University of Oxford, including an honours project examining social relationships among bats in a long-term banding study. He moved to Canada in 2013 to undertake a research master’s investigating bat migration around the Great Lakes, supervised by Dr. Brock Fenton. Since completing his master’s, he has remained in Ontario, working on a variety of bat conservation programs, and authoring a field guide to the bats of the province. Since 2016 he has worked on the Native Bat Conservation Program at the Toronto Zoo, leading projects focussed on monitoring and learning about Ontario’s bat fauna and improving public perception of these remarkable creatures.

This special program is connected to the Downsview Park Urban Forest Resilience Project supported by TD Bank Group.

Please note that this session will be held only in English.