Fruit bats are reforesting African woodlands

APRIL 2, 2019

by Max Planck Society

Not only do intact ecosystems delight the eye of nature lovers, they also help people financially. However, it is difficult to put an exact figure on how much money they actually generate in specific cases. For the first time, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell, together with their colleagues from Sweden and Ghana, have now calculated the ecological and financial benefits of straw-coloured fruit bats in Africa.

Every night, individuals of this bat species fly long distances to their feeding grounds in the course of which they disseminate the seeds of the fruits they consume. According to the researchers, a colony of 150,000 animals disseminate more than 300,000 small seeds in a single night. This is sufficient to kickstart the regrowth of 800 hectares of forest – for a single colony. Thus, both forests and humans could benefit from better protection for these creatures, which are primarily at risk from hunting.

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Human intrusion on fruit bat habitats raises exposure risk to Hendra virus in Australia

60 outbreaks of Hendra have caused the death of seven people and 102 horses to date

Date: August 15, 2017

Source: University of Sydney

Summary:

There is a rising risk of human and domestic animal exposure to deadly Hendra virus (HeV) carried by fruit bats in Eastern Australia due to human intrusion into their habitats, human proximity to woodlands and vegetation loss, a new study reveals.

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'Non-echolocating' fruit bats actually do echolocate, with wing clicks

Date:

December 4, 2014

Source:

Cell Press

Summary:

In a discovery that overturns conventional wisdom about bats, researchers have found that Old World fruit bats -- long classified as 'non-echolocating' -- actually do use a rudimentary form of echolocation. Perhaps most surprisingly, the clicks they emit to produce the echoes that guide them through the darkness aren't vocalizations at all. They are instead produced by the bats' wings, although scientists don't yet know exactly how the bats do it.

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Bats in northern Australian town prompt disease warning

A town in northern Australia has been invaded by more than 250,000 bats, prompting warnings of a potentially fatal disease related to rabies.

The Centre for Disease Control (CDC) warned residents in Katherine to stay away from the fruit bats, which could carry the Australian Bat Lyssavirus.

The disease can be transmitted to people if they are bitten or scratched.

Authorities have closed down the main sports ground in the town 300 km south of Darwin in the Northern Territory.

The colony of fruit bats - little red flying foxes - arrived in the town late last month. In recent days numbers have begun to fall but large numbers continue to roost on the outskirts of town, reports the BBC's Phil Mercer.

The bats could be attracted to the area by native flora, or driven to the area because of habitat destruction or changing climatic conditions, John Burke, a senior wildlife ranger, told the BBC.

''Obviously in the town area there's a lot of exotic plant species that are fruiting and flowering throughout the year,'' he said. ''So it's more like a drive-through, I suppose, a drive-through take-away.''

CDC Director Vicki Krause told Australian media that the virus was carried in bat saliva.

Some victims have died but that is rare, our correspondent adds, and a vaccination is available.

If bitten, people should wash the wound thoroughly and seek medical attention as soon as possible, Dr Krause said. Vaccinations were effective if given immediately, she added.

Experts say the presence of so many flying foxes in the Northern Territory town only takes place two or three times each decade.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17282168

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Release The Bats Video The Birthday Party
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Short Snouts Gave Fruit Bats a Forceful Bite

What would you do for a bite of a tasty fig? Some fruit bats rearranged their whole face to get a morsel. Their unique head shape gave them the strong bite that allows them to gnaw hard fruits, and eventually grow into a diverse array of species.

"There is this really spectacular group of bats that have tons of different species that eat tons of different kinds of things," study researcher Elizabeth Dumont, of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, told LiveScience. "We were interested in finding out why they are so diverse and what makes them so special."

The researchers focused on leaf-nosed bats found in the New World (a type of microbats in the suborder Yangochiroptera), that includes about 200 bat species that live in Central and  South America. They include the blood-sucking vampire bats, bats that eat insects and fruits, and even some that eat lizards and frogs.

Of these 200 leaf-nosed bats, more than a quarter (65 species) seem to have evolved from a fruit-eating bat in the last 15 million years. The researchers wanted to know how this fruit-eating group was able to grow and expand their diversity so quickly.

To do so, they analyzed the bats' genetic code and placed them in a family tree ranked by how recently they had evolved. They then compared this data to diet information (collected from feces samples) and head size and shape information from museum samples. The researchers also tested the bite strength of wild bats, since chomping on hard fruits can be tough on the jaw.


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