Maternity colony (bats) Maternity colony (bats) A maternity colony refers to a temporary association of reproductive female bats for giving birth to, nursing, and weaning their pups. The colonies are initiated by pregnant bats. After giving birth, the colony consists of the lactating females and their offspring. After weaning, juveniles will leave the maternity colony, and the colony itself will break apart. The size of a maternity colony is highly variable by species, with some species forming colonies consisting of ten or fewer individuals, while the largest maternity colony in the world in Bracken Cave is estimated to have over 15 million bats.
BATS Theatre in the 1970s BATS was established in its present form by Simon Bennett and Simon Elson in 1989. BATS began as a venue for the work of young and emerging writers, directors and actors, many of whom were graduates of Toi Whakaari, New Zealand's National Drama School. Since 1989 the fundamental philosophy of BATS has been to build a new young audience for theatre by presenting diverse, relevant and challenging performance work. BATS focuses on being accessible for both its audience and incoming theatre companies, giving support to many developing arts practitioners and new New Zealand work. A significant theatre