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**Mister.levitra** · 06-08-2012, 03:21 AM

A lot of people really hate fruit bats. Some of the stuff on the internet is pretty hair raising. I agree that they need protection, they are part of our natural heritage and we are well past the point that we can pick and choose what we protect. Like kangaroos they suffer from not being rare. You are never going to convince people they are rare when there are a dozen in the mango tree and a few thousand in the trees down the road. They have a bad image problem because they steal fruit and crap on people's cars. At least they are rare enough to avoid being culled, kangaroos jump in front of cars and are much too common to protect. Probably in the near future fruit bats will be rare enough to warrant more protection. I remember from my childhood in FNQ there was a colony of bats in the trees on the road to town. They always ate our mangos but people seemed to accept them. I wonder if that colony on the road between Ingam and Victoria Mill still exists. I don't have a solution to the problem in the RBG. The gardens are a much beloved part of Sydney and obviously people want to protect them.

There are four species of larger fruit bat living in Australia; two of them are listed as threatened (P poliocephalus and P conspicillatus). There are a various criteria that a species must fulfil before they are listed as threatened.

As you said in another thread; there are very good reasons for protecting a species while it is still relatively abundant, it is significantly cheaper than going all out when you have a species that is functionally extinct.

By the way, you might consider this thought: bats don't "steal" fruit, this is a human concept. While they are bright animals, their concept of "property" gives every impression of being limited to "I am eating this now and you are not". They forage in orchards or backyard fruit trees, usually because of a lack of suitable native food.

I very much hope that the listed species will not become rare enough to warrant a higher listing; or that the unlisted species will warrant listing. The present political climate means that, even if the species meet the required criteria, they are unlikely to receive the required protection.

Not withstanding my hope, I have every expectation that the two listed species will both be functionally extinct within 50 years and that the other species will briefly prosper but have the same fate. There appears to be very little change of the factors that threat the listed species; habitat destruction.

P poliocephalus presently has a generation length of 7 years (Divljan, 2008, Population ecology of the Grey-headed Flying-fox, Pteropus poliocephalus (PhD thesis) Tidemann and Nelson, 2011 Life Expectancy, Causes of Death and Movements of the Grey-Headed Flying-Fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) Inferred from Banding,). All four of the larger Australian flying-foxes requires a generation length of 15 years to maintain a stable population (McIlwee and Martin, 2002, On the intrinsic capacity for increase in Australian Flying-foxes)

06-08-2012, 03:21 AM	#8
Mister.levitra Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 493 Senior Member	A lot of people really hate fruit bats. Some of the stuff on the internet is pretty hair raising. I agree that they need protection, they are part of our natural heritage and we are well past the point that we can pick and choose what we protect. Like kangaroos they suffer from not being rare. You are never going to convince people they are rare when there are a dozen in the mango tree and a few thousand in the trees down the road. They have a bad image problem because they steal fruit and crap on people's cars. At least they are rare enough to avoid being culled, kangaroos jump in front of cars and are much too common to protect. Probably in the near future fruit bats will be rare enough to warrant more protection. I remember from my childhood in FNQ there was a colony of bats in the trees on the road to town. They always ate our mangos but people seemed to accept them. I wonder if that colony on the road between Ingam and Victoria Mill still exists. I don't have a solution to the problem in the RBG. The gardens are a much beloved part of Sydney and obviously people want to protect them. There are four species of larger fruit bat living in Australia; two of them are listed as threatened (P poliocephalus and P conspicillatus). There are a various criteria that a species must fulfil before they are listed as threatened. As you said in another thread; there are very good reasons for protecting a species while it is still relatively abundant, it is significantly cheaper than going all out when you have a species that is functionally extinct. By the way, you might consider this thought: bats don't "steal" fruit, this is a human concept. While they are bright animals, their concept of "property" gives every impression of being limited to "I am eating this now and you are not". They forage in orchards or backyard fruit trees, usually because of a lack of suitable native food. I very much hope that the listed species will not become rare enough to warrant a higher listing; or that the unlisted species will warrant listing. The present political climate means that, even if the species meet the required criteria, they are unlikely to receive the required protection. Not withstanding my hope, I have every expectation that the two listed species will both be functionally extinct within 50 years and that the other species will briefly prosper but have the same fate. There appears to be very little change of the factors that threat the listed species; habitat destruction. P poliocephalus presently has a generation length of 7 years (Divljan, 2008, Population ecology of the Grey-headed Flying-fox, Pteropus poliocephalus (PhD thesis) Tidemann and Nelson, 2011 Life Expectancy, Causes of Death and Movements of the Grey-Headed Flying-Fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) Inferred from Banding,). All four of the larger Australian flying-foxes requires a generation length of 15 years to maintain a stable population (McIlwee and Martin, 2002, On the intrinsic capacity for increase in Australian Flying-foxes)
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