The Royal Bats of Kano City The Nature of Cities

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3/20/2016 The Royal Bats of Kano City | The Nature of Cities

http://www.thenatureofcities.com/2016/03/20/theroyalbatsofkanocity/ 1/10

Aliu arau, Kano. March 20, 2016

The Roal at of Kano Cit

Cities are ecosstems of people, nature, and infrastructure

The stor ofthe roal atsof Kano citrepresentsthe kechallenges ofuranenvironmentalsustainailitin developingcountries.

Out of the 17 UN ustainale

Development Goals, DG 11 is astandalone goal for uran sustainailit,with de䃙⼜ned targets and indicators. DG11 can help uran polic and decision-makers and local people to think aout

and work towards uran sustainailit.Most cities in developing countries,including in Africa, lack capacit fore䂚ective uran planning, a shortcomingwhich, in part, leads to a failure to protecturan iodiversit amidst the challenges

of rapid uranisation.

As such, it isimportant to look

at how informal

institutions, suchas local eliefs

and socio-historicagreed-uponehaviours on

the sacredness

and powers of

gardens, help inprotecting and

conserving the

threatened uran

iodiversit in

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Aout the Writer: Aliu arau

Aliu alisu arau is ageographer and landscapescientist. His researchinterests aremultidisciplinar, includingthe integration ofsustainailit across diverse䃙⼜elds such as uiltinfrastructure, tourism,religion, indigenousknowledge.

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African cities. Looking at the role ofindigenous knowledge and the values

that indigenous people accord to the

gardens is important, particularlecause most of the formal institutions

saddled with such responsiilities fail in

delivering their mandates in man cities

of developing countries. The case ofrapid uranisation in Kano cit and its

peripher, its impact on open and greenspaces, and the role of institutions isdocumented in some studies, such asarau et al. (2013, 2015).

Here I’ll discuss the survival of ats in anintensivel uranised Kano cit and its

peripher. This discussion supportsarguments made Mark Hostetler in his

recent post aout the value of conserving

forest fragments and individual trees in

uran areas. In that article, he suggeststhat forest fragments and individual trees

render some supportive services for

migrator irds. In this context, looking atthe role of Kano mir’s palace will provideke insights into what fragments or

remnants of green areas can do in

supporting iodiversit in densel

uranised cities. Kano cit and itssurrounding uran areas, with anestimated population of aout 3-4 millioninhaitants, constitute the largest uranarea in Northern Nigeria. The ancient citof Kano dates from the late 10th centur,and the cit’s walled perimeter covers anarea of 29 km .

The Kano palace, also called GidanRumfa, was uilt King MuhammaduRumfa etween 1479 and 1482. ince thattime, it has remained the largesttraditional palace in u-aharan Africa(Nast 1996), as well as the oldest andcontinuous seat of traditional authorit in

Nigeria. The Kano palace has attractedthe interests of man researchers and

visiting heads of state and governments,including the Queen of ngland, the U..President, the ritish Prime Minister, andHRH Charles, the Prince of Wales.Compared to an average home in Kano

cit, the Kano Palace covers an area ofapproximatel 14 ha and is surrounded

walls of 6–9 m. high outside and, onaverage, 5 m high within the palacecomplex. The high walls of the palacesurround the roal gardens (sheka, inHausa language). The western gardenhas a length of 325 m and an average

width of 85 m., while the eastern gardenhas an approximate length of 370 m and

an average width of 45 m. The twogardens constitute aout 45 percent of

the total palace land area; the uilt areacovers roughl 30 percent of the palace,while the open spaces represent aout

25 percent of the total palace land area.The residents of Kano cit have alwas

considered the Kano palace as a cit

within a cit virtue of its size, spatialpatterns, and organisation of space. Inthe context of uran sustainailit

indicators, including DG Goal 11 and theingapore Index, the proportion of greenand open spaces makes this intra-citextremel favourale for sustainailit.

Google Maps image of the Kano Palace and its

gardens. Image: Google Maps

Compared to the extremel dense and

dr parts of Kano cit, the Kano palacegardens provide a sanctuar for irds and

some fauna, and possil for migratingirds and insects as well. The palace alsoprovides refugia to ats—chiroptera. Anumer of studies have investigated the

e䂚ects of uranisation on ats species,which ranges from loss of haitat and

fragmentation to pollution. Most previousstudies and this author’s experienceswith Kano cit have indicated a notale

decline in uran iodiversit due to the

progressive decline of green and open

spaces. Less irds are oservale on theground and in the skies—not so for ats.In 2010, I conducted some studies insidethe gardens of Kano palace, where Ioserved thousands of ats that 솞⋐ew and

roved in the skies of the palace simpl

ecause of m perceived movements

and the movements of the people

following me. The gardens are aout theonl sanctuaries where the ats are left

undistured; now the have ecomedominant species in the relativel

undistured palace gardens and, in thiswa, the have ecome roal ats!

It is widel assumed that the palace

gardens are as old as the palace itself

(which was uilt in the 15th centur). Iwant to elieve that the ats o䂚er some

notale and et unexamined ecosstem

services in the palace and the cit at

large. cologists suggest that insect-eating ats help in controlling disease

vectors, while fruit-eating ats help infertilising soils with their guano and in

dispersing seeds for 솞⋐ower pollination

and forest regeneration. For the peoplearound the palace and the people

residing in the palace, the take-o䂚 time of

the roal ats is a fascinating sight. Andfor the palace itself, the ats helpmaintain its securit: an unusualmovement in its gardens triggers

movement of the ats, which alertseverone in the palace. ats reall preferplaces with minimal human movement

and disturances. This is understandalein the case of the roal ats; once, I sawhelicopters hovering over the garden

when the Nigerian President was visiting

the palace. The noise of the hoveringhelicopters caused the ats to 솞⋐ in the

earl afternoon hours.

While the Kano Palace has provided safe

living spaces to thousands of irds for

such a long time, it is thrilling to see theats when the depart the palace in the

late afternoon or earl evening to search

for foraging spaces mostl outside the

old cit, where di䂚erent species of fruitearing trees and ponds can e found. Itis interesting to oserve the ats while

the 솞⋐ out in chorus from the palace

almost at the same time ut in di䂚erent

directions—directions most proal

dictated needs for food, water, orsomething else.

Although, the old cit is massiveluranised, two to three kilometres northof the palace is the greener and planned

section of uran Kano. This area oncehoused colonial and corporate residential

areas and has een ale to maintain

some old trees, including local and exoticspecies. Hence, it is eas to see some ofthe ats making an earl descent in this

area, proal to access fruit earingtrees. outh of the palace and outsidethe cit walls, there are remnants ofponds around the disappearing cit walls

and clusters of trees located within the

perimeters of the Kano zoological and

otanical gardens, as well as clusters of

trees found in the industrial areas. Thewestern and northern parts of the palace

are the oldest and most densel peopled

parts of the cit. However, as the atsmove farther west, the 䃙⼜nd institutionaluildings: schools and universitcampuses that keep some trees. It isovious that some ats 솞⋐ at higher

altitudes and ma e moving to far awa

distances into farmed parklands in the

uran peripher.

Map of Kano uran area, adapted fromMaconachie 2009, 2012.

ats hovering over the palace gardens when the

researchers enters the gardens in the afternoon.Photo: Aliu arau

A section of the western gardens with dense tree

growth comprising local and exotic species. Photo:Aliu arau

ats are nocturnal mammals; this lifehistor trait works well for them as it

reduces competition with irds at water

and feeding spots. Indeed, the roal atsof Kano cit owe their continued

existence in this intensivel uranised

cit to the continuous existence of the

Kano palace gardens. The ats ma notsurvive in other fragments of green

spaces in the cit ecause the are too

exposed to humans and other species.

The stor of the roal ats of Kano cit

represents the ke challenges of uran

environmental sustainailit in

developing countries. In man Africancountries, uran planning professionalsand agencies have lost track of what to

do or how to go aout the usiness of

greening congested cities. However,ased on the example of the situation in

Kano, it is ovious that small pockets ofgreen areas can pla a tremendous role

in securing iodiversit. Importantl,indigenous institutions pla an even

greater role in this context. Indeed, theailit of the Kano palace to maintain its

greener for centuries is of great interest

to contemporar uran sustainailit.

It does not take speci䃙⼜c udgetar

allocations to maintain the roal ats,since that comes as part of the costs of

maintaining the palace gardens. Although

the gardens are exclusivel for the use of

the mir of Kano and his closest famil

memers, the preservation of thegardens through generations and

dnasties is amazing. I am of the opinionthat pulic conservation organisations

should consider the use of the concept of

paments for ecosstem services, which,in this case, should entail making somefunds availale to the palace as a

compensation for keeping the gardens

so that the are maintained as a ase or

sanctuar for iodiversit conservation in

a rapidl and intensivel uranising cit.Indeed, there is need for more studies toexplore the nature of ecosstem services

of the palace gardens and ecosstem

services derivale from the roal ats, aswell as potential con솞⋐icts etween the

ats and humans in their foraging spaces.

Aliu arau

On The Nature of Cities

References

arau, A.. (2015) arau, A.., Macnochie,R., Ludin, A.N.M.; Adulhamid, A. (2015).Uran morpholog dnamics and

environmental change in Kano, Nigeria.Land Use Polic 42, 307–317.

arau, A.., Ludin, A.N.M., aid, I. (2013).ocio-ecological sstems and iodiversitconservation in African cit: insights fromKano mir’s Palace gardens. Urancosstems 16 (4), 783–800.

arau, A.. (2007) The Great Attractionsof Kano. Research and DocumentationDirectorate, Government House Kano.

Ghanem, .J., Voigt, C.C.(2012) Chapter 7– Increasing Awareness of cosstemervices Provided ats, In: H. Jane

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mracing nvironmental Justice toGreen Our CitiesReecca ratspies, New York Cit

rockmann, Timoth J. Roper, MarcNagui, John C. Mitani and Leigh W.immons, ditor(s), Advances in thetud of ehavior, Academic Press, 2012,Volume 44, Pages 279-302,

Russo, D., Ancillotto, D. (2015) ensitivitof ats to uranization: a review,Mammalian iolog – Zeitschrift füräugetierkunde, 80, 3, 205-212,

imon, D. et al. (2015) Developing andtesting the Uran ustainale

Development Goal’s targets andindicators – a 䃙⼜ve-cit stud. nvironmentand Uranization, DOI:10.1177/0956247815619865.

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