Straw-coloured Fruit Bats

[brianfm]

Hi there

I.'m visiting Zambia in November and spending 2/3 days at Kasanka National Park where I hope to see millions af Fruit Bats (so the travel literature says anyway). My primary purpose for going is the birdlife of which I know a little but I will be keen to see this Bat spectacular, of which I know 'nowt'. Wonder if there is any one who could point me in the direction of some relevant reading. B (: Brian.

[pete woodall]

Hi Brian

I don't know what particular info you want.

I looked them up in my copy of Skinner and Smithers "The mammals of the southern African subregion" and they have a couple of pages of info on them

They have a "prime habitat" around the equator and then seem to be migratory to the north and south of this, and can turn up almost anywhere - even in the Namib Desert.
They have been taken at sea, 250 km from land.

A colony at Kampala, Uganda had numbers up to 200 000, roosting in Eucalyptus gums. They remain alert and active during the day. Food is basically fruits - bananas
figs, Borassus palm dates, baobab, Bombax and Erythrina flowers.

Females usually have one young, occasionally two, they are carried by the mothers until they are able to take care of themselves.

I have no direct info on the Zambian colony.

Another source of info is Johnathon Kingdon's book - Mammals of East Africa. Vol. IIA.
1974. I don't have it to hand right now.

Hope this helps

Peter

If you ever come to Brisbane you can find large colonies of 2-3 species on islands in the Brisbane River - they fly out at night to feed in the suburban gardens.

[brianfm]

Hi Pete and thanks for your help.

I'm sure that at some point I have seen a programme on television which dealt with the bat colonies in Brisbane. Maybe one day I will get to see them. I'm a 'birder' rather than a 'bater' so any infomation is usfull to me. Just for your info, the bat colonies in Zambia are formed during an annual migration, I think many come from the Congo and other parts of Central Africa to feed on the fruit of the Miombo woodlands. November is the peak month so I hope to be there at the right time. Kasanka is a part of Zambia which I understand is not visited by any gerat number of travellers up to now so the group I'm in hope to have much of the area to ourselves. I will try and report back after the trip for anyone who might be interested. Thanks again. Brian. B (:

[brianfm]

I have not long returned from Zambia. I can confirm that the sight of millions (5-10 million I believe. As far as I can ascertain there has been no scientific count and I wasn't going to try) of fruit bats leaving their roosting sight at sunset is a wonderful sight. Anyone interested in the area may want to take a look at www.kasanka.com