Well, that was unexpected.... (Not Koki - he's always like this)

I was collecting some behavioural data for another PhD chapter this morning in Jersey Zoo’s beautiful bat tunnel, watching Koki doing his best ninja impression (see video), when my phone started to vibrate frantically. It appears that I wasn’t the only one keeping track and repeatedly refreshing the campaign’s webpage every five minutes! Within the last 24 hours, the campaign jumped from 88% to 100%, meaning we will now receive the funding for this project.

You may have noticed that I’ve added a stretch goal, since we’ve completed a bit early. This is an additional $1000 that can be used to sequence bat babies as they get big enough to allow collection of DNA samples. It’s just a bit of an extension to the project that will give us one more generation of data. Regardless of how the stretch goal goes however, the $10,000 is secured and cannot now be lost – it will be spent on species saving research!

I’m sorry I’m not more prepared for this post, I had planned a nice video, but the sudden 100% sort of crept up suddenly and surprised me! I will post something at the very end of the campaign to properly thank everyone, although I don’t know how I could possibly ever repay such kindness. All I can offer is my hardwork, dedication and lots of bat-based media 😊.