A page i update when the mood takes me just to share the things that have caught my eye and make me appreciate the less obvious things in the world a little more... and maybe helps others to.
Here we have a gorgeous little Australian Fruit Bat or "Flying fox" the little fellas are all around this country but alas often treated like vermin. There are a couple of reasons for these guys bad press one is they are known carriers of the Lyssa Virus a deadly virus if contracted, if a person is infected usually by being bitten or scratched and it isn't detected early it can be fatal in saying that very few bats carry the disease and the chances of one scratching you are very low also even if you are there is still an extremely small chance you will contract the disease, as such few cases of death have been recorded. To be also noted if a bat does have the disease itself it will perish as it renders its muscle function slowly but surely useless.
The 2nd much more well know issue caused by these little ones which is all to familiar to the rural and farming community is the damage they cause to fruit tress often biting into the fruit and dropping them on the ground mangoes especially!! and to emphasize this there is never 1 or 2 bats to deal with, at night when active you can expect to see upwards of 10's of thousands of their friends and family traveling with them they love there large social groups making it alot harder to deal with and often resulting in either the local council or farmers them selves culling the horde. i personally don't agree with this method at all but in saying that i cant at this time offer a better solution but i sincerely hope there is one.
these little guys are nowhere near extinction at the moment this species specifically but it is only a matter of time before it becomes that way and like the way of so many other so called "pests" alot of this issue is caused by deforestation and development making farmers fruit trees just to irresistible when natural food is hard to come by.
when i was younger taking on alot of injured and adolescent wildlife i happen to be fortunate enough to get a up and close with many flying foxes for various reasons, orphaned babies from mothers who had hit powerlines, injured from domestic animals and also some that had lyssa virus themselves.
there where some happy stories where i was able to release them back to the wild happy and healthy and some sad ones of course. But i am still grateful for getting the chance to handle and learn about these amazing creatures. They are devoted mothers and surprisingly tame!! for a wild animal after hand feeding them 2 or 3 times they would take to you and trust you like a family dog.
To some this up this is one of the vast vast amazing creatures that we need. they have compromised to adapt to us and have done well to, they are as important in our forests for the spread of seeds as bee's are to flowers i hope in the years to come they don't get overlooked while we develop and expand our living quarters there are many groups and carers out there doing there best to help these guys and protect them and i thank them but lets hope they can do enough!!
EddiefromAus.
I would appreciate any comments or story's you would like to share thanks for reading :)
The 2nd much more well know issue caused by these little ones which is all to familiar to the rural and farming community is the damage they cause to fruit tress often biting into the fruit and dropping them on the ground mangoes especially!! and to emphasize this there is never 1 or 2 bats to deal with, at night when active you can expect to see upwards of 10's of thousands of their friends and family traveling with them they love there large social groups making it alot harder to deal with and often resulting in either the local council or farmers them selves culling the horde. i personally don't agree with this method at all but in saying that i cant at this time offer a better solution but i sincerely hope there is one.
these little guys are nowhere near extinction at the moment this species specifically but it is only a matter of time before it becomes that way and like the way of so many other so called "pests" alot of this issue is caused by deforestation and development making farmers fruit trees just to irresistible when natural food is hard to come by.
when i was younger taking on alot of injured and adolescent wildlife i happen to be fortunate enough to get a up and close with many flying foxes for various reasons, orphaned babies from mothers who had hit powerlines, injured from domestic animals and also some that had lyssa virus themselves.
there where some happy stories where i was able to release them back to the wild happy and healthy and some sad ones of course. But i am still grateful for getting the chance to handle and learn about these amazing creatures. They are devoted mothers and surprisingly tame!! for a wild animal after hand feeding them 2 or 3 times they would take to you and trust you like a family dog.
To some this up this is one of the vast vast amazing creatures that we need. they have compromised to adapt to us and have done well to, they are as important in our forests for the spread of seeds as bee's are to flowers i hope in the years to come they don't get overlooked while we develop and expand our living quarters there are many groups and carers out there doing there best to help these guys and protect them and i thank them but lets hope they can do enough!!
EddiefromAus.
I would appreciate any comments or story's you would like to share thanks for reading :)
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