Pemba Flying Fox

Category: Bats | Date: May 13 2008 | By: pembaflyingfox

Being nocturnal, darkly-coloured and fast fliers, bats are notoriously difficult to count! The trees here on Pemba are large and thick in foliage which also makes counting a hard task. Because of the difficulties in counting the flying fox roosts, last week we decided to test some different methods of counting. We will be comparing the numbers we get from the evening dispersal counts with our patch count estimates to get an idea of whether there are any major over or under representations in the methods.

Evening dispersal counts are conducted at night as the bats leave the roost to forage. The teams take up positions around the roost with good view of the dispersing bats and wait for them to take flight. Yesterday we were in the South of the island watching a roost of approximately 1500 Pemba Flying Foxes. As it started to get dark and the sky was turning red, the animals started waking up. During the day they are often still and inactive, and because of their rusty coloured fur and black wings wrapped around them, they look almost like dead leaves or seeds hanging from the trees. This evening they really came to life and became quite animated and thoroughly enjoyable to watch. They started stretching their wings, scratching, and the occasional friendly squabble would break out amongst the odd individuals. A few individuals started flying in circles around the roost – perhaps testing the conditions or communicating with the others. However as soon as the sun had set, they took flight, as if on a serious mission. They fly powerfully and fast, and within about 20 minutes, they had nearly all gone apart from the last dots in the sky. What a wonderful experience!

Bats take-off after sensing danger

Photo C. Farese

Tags: dispersal counts, Pemba, Pemba Flying Fox