Flying Foxes

Ranger Rick, Jan, 2001 by Sabine Allofs

Can They Hang in There?

In parts of the world, flocks of "flying foxes" fill the skies. These animals are now in trouble, but some people are working hard to save them.

WRAPPED FOR RAIN

A flying fox wraps itself up in its wings for shelter from the rain (above). After the storm, it's time to groom (right). Like a cat, a flying fox licks itself clean every day.

Since when do foxes fly? Well, they really don't. But large bats called flying foxes sure do.

Just look at the face of a flying fox and you'll know where it got that name. Flying foxes are also called fruit bats because of all the fruit they eat. (They also eat lots of pollen and nectar.)

The flying foxes in this story live in Australia. But others live in parts of Africa and Southeast Asia, where fruits and flowers grow all year long.

A DAY IN A BAT'S LIFE

Colonies of flying foxes gather in rainforests, woods, and swampy thickets. Many hundreds, thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of flying foxes hang there upside down from tree branches. (These bat "hangouts" are called camps.) Some bats doze with their wings wrapped around themselves for protection from rain, hot sun, or cool winds. Others squawk at one another over hanging places. But all of them do their best to rest during the heat of the day.

When the sun goes down it's supper time, and the bats start getting excited. Suddenly they all take off in a huge, noisy cloud. Flap! Flap! Flap! They're headed for good feeding areas. Sometimes they fly as far as 12 miles (20 km) away.

The bats like flowers the best, but they also go for the sweet wild fruits of the forests. After a night of munching, the whole group flaps back to camp. The flying foxes arrive around dawn and settle down among the branches. Time for a good snooze after a long night's work!

PROBLEMS WITH PEOPLE

But these days, life isn't so easy for the flying foxes. People have cut down large chunks of their forests. So the bats often have had to look for new places to live and find food. Many colonies set up new camps in the parks and gardens of big cities such as Sydney and Melbourne. Others find small, uncut patches of forest around towns. But not everybody in the cities and towns likes these crowds of newcomers. "They're too smelly! They're too noisy!" many people complain.

THE BIG SQUEEZE

The parks also suffer from the crowds of bats. When too many flying foxes hang from too few trees, branches break off, leaves fall down, and whole trees can die. Without healthy trees, the foxes have no shelter from the hot Australian sun--as they did in their shady forests.

In these new camps, the flying foxes often have a hard time finding food. Without the fruit and flowers of the forest, they must feed on fruit grown by farmers. Some farmers cover their orchards with netting to keep the bats out, but others just shoot them.

GIVING BATS A CHANCE

To help the bats, scientists are learning more about them. And what they're learning is making people take notice.

One thing they've learned is that the forests need the bats just as much as the bats need the forests. The bats eat lots of fruit, which is full of tree seeds. The bats then drop the seeds wherever they poop, and that helps new trees to sprout. The bats also carry pollen from tree to tree, which helps more fruit to grow.

Now that people know how important the bats are, they're doing more to protect them. Some Australians are even taking orphaned bats into their homes and raising them. After the baby bats are grown, the people release them back into the wild.

But scientists need to learn more. That's why those shown here are busy at work. They're capturing bats, putting ID tags on them, and setting them free. Then, when the same bats are found again, the scientists can learn how far they have flown to find food. That helps them understand more about what the bats need to survive.

More than anything else, the fruit bats need lots of healthy forests. Let's hope that the remaining forests will be saved and new trees will be planted. That way, those jumbo clouds of "foxes" will keep on flying!

HANGING OUT

Flying foxes hang out together during the day (left). Then they take off (right) for a night of feasting. The bats' favorite foods? Nectar and pollen from the flowers of the forest (above, right).

CATCH 'EM' AND BAG 'EM

Scientists hang large, almost invisible nets in the forest. When the bats fly into them, they get caught. The scientists carefully free the bats from the nets (above). Then they "store" them in cloth bags for a little while (in background, at right). When it's time to study a bat, the scientists gently remove it from its bag.

BANDS AND BOTTLES

The scientists check over and measure each of the captured bats. Then they put a metal band on one of the bat's thumbs (below). This helps them recognize the animal if it is found or caught again. Sometimes the scientists put radio collars on the bats to find out where they go.

By learning more about the bats, scientists may be able to help people live with these animals in peace. Other people do their part by taking care of little orphaned foxes (bottom).