Flying foxes
Flying foxes, also known as fruit bats, are vital ecosystem engineers critical to the healthy functioning of the environment. They play a crucial role as seed dispersers and pollinators, contributing significantly to forest regeneration.
However, despite bats’ important job, many people fear or dislike them. There is a common misconception that flying foxes spread disease, that they swoop and attack humans, or that they are dirty. But, as you will discover below, this is not the case.
Flying foxes are fragile, vulnerable, shy, and in need of our protection. Here’s why it is so important to preserve them.
Quick facts
- Flying foxes are among the largest bat species in the world and have the longest wingspan of any bat species, reaching up to 1.5 meters (4.9 feet).
- There are approximately 62 flying fox species globally, spread across South and Southeast Asia, East Africa, Australia and some islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
- Flying foxes are primarily herbivorous, feeding on fruits and other plant matter but occasionally eating insects.
- Most flying fox species are nocturnal; unlike most bat species, they cannot echolocate. They rely instead on their sharp sense of smell and excellent vision to forage and navigate through forest habitats. Their large eyes are adapted to vision in low-light conditions.
- Their foraging and navigation behaviors, along with their complex and gregarious social systems, are clear indicators of their intelligence.
- Flying foxes spread the seeds of the hundreds of plant species they consume, often depositing them up to 20 km away from the parent tree. This long-distance dispersal is especially vital in fragmented forests, where most other frugivores remain within a small area of forest fragment.
- Seeds dispersed by flying foxes can account for up to 95% of forest regeneration in cleared regions. Many plants, including the economically important durian of Southeast Asia, rely on flying foxes for pollination. Their ecological importance underscores the urgent need for their conservation.
Flying foxes need your help
Flying foxes’ low birth rates and high rates of endemism (meaning, they tend to be found in a single type of geographic location) make this group vulnerable to population declines.
Female flying foxes rear one pup at a time, which will normally stay with its mother for up to a year. Although females can have two litters a year, one is the norm due to the long weaning period and increased dependency of pups on their mothers.
Today, more than half of flying fox species are threatened with extinction, and few people are committed to helping them because of their poor reputation.
Although flying foxes are the natural hosts of several viruses, transmission to humans is rare. The Nipah virus has had several outbreaks in Southeast Asia, India and Bangladesh since the late 1990s, resulting in approximately 100 casualties. The source of this virus was thought to be due to the presence of flying foxes.
However, a 2014 study showed that although the virus outbreak was more likely in flying fox habitats, the presence of bats was not a risk factor. It was instead the consumption of the sap of the date palm that was found to be the source of transmission. Date palm sap collection occurs within flying fox habitats, and cross-contamination may occur as humans and these animals compete for food resources.
It is not bats themselves that inherently spread harmful diseases, but rather the increased human-animal conflict caused by overpopulation, deforestation and urban encroachment into natural habitats.
What would happen without flying foxes?
Without the species, entire ecosystems could collapse, because entire ecosystems rely on the species for survival.
They are one of the few species that pollinate at night, when many plants need to be pollinated. Like bees, they help support and drive biodiversity, and they help regenerate forests – which is more critical than ever.
Threats to flying foxes
- Hunting for bushmeat and use in traditional medicine.
- Widespread deforestation and human encroachment on bat habitats
- Over-predation by invasive or alien species such as the brown tree snake.
- To protect their crops, farmers embark on aggressive culling activities in which flying foxes are shot, poisoned, electrocuted or beaten to death to reduce their populations. Culling dramatically reduces populations and often results in irreversible population declines.
- Six species lost their battle against human threats and went extinct between the 1860s and 2014.
- This number is inevitably bound to increase as more natural forest habitats are lost, human populations expand, and climate change continues to cause more extreme weather events and natural disasters.
- In Australia, extreme heat waves have been responsible for more than 30,000 flying fox deaths in the last three decades. Rising sea levels also threaten flying fox populations on low-lying islands or atolls. Breeding programs have successfully bolstered populations of some flying fox species, but resources and space limit these.
Solutions
Flying foxes are intelligent, highly social, gentle and environmentally significant creatures that deserve our protection. Ways in which conservationists are doing this include:
- Putting measures in place to protect flying foxes’ natural roosting and foraging habitats.
- Flying fox rescue and rehabilitation programs, like those supported by Animal Survival International in the Seychelles.
- Improving bat habitats by planting native trees.
- Breeding programs, which can help bolster populations in critical areas,
- Education. The more people understand about flying foxes and their harmless nature and vital ecological role, the more inclined they will be to protect them.
Although many people harbor misconceptions and ill feelings toward flying foxes, they are highly regarded in some cultures. In Tonga, flying foxes are considered sacred and property of the monarchy, meaning they are protected from civilian harm.
Similar sentiments are held in indigenous communities in India, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Indonesia, and several others.
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References
https://bats.org.au/
https://www.moonshadowflyingfoxrescuerehabcentre.org/ablv
https://www.flyingfoxconservationfund.com/
https://tolgabathospital.org/
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