At @TolgaBatHospital, #SpectacledFlyingFox patients need sun, protection from extreme heat (and cold) and a feeling of safety. They also need other Flying Foxes to socialise with while in captive care.

This is the cage we use for the juveniles learning to fly before we release them.

We've almost finished the release for this year, putting 180 endangered Spectacled Flying Foxes back into the forest to provide pollination and seed dispersal services for the Wet Tropics world heritage areas.

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Their Insta

Bats are New Zealand's only native land mammals. Pekapeka evolved to spend a lot of time foraging on the ground, because in pre-colonial times there were no predators for them to worry about.

Abstract

Centurio senex is an iconic bat characterized by a facial morphology deviating far from all other New World Leaf Nosed Bats (Phyllostomidae). The species has a bizarrely wrinkled face and lacks the characteristic nose leaf. Throughout its distribution from Mexico to Northern South America the species is most of the time rarely captured and only scarce information on its behavior and natural history is available.

Centurio senex is frugivorous and one of the few bats documented to consume also hard seeds. Interestingly, the species shows a distinct sexual dimorphism: Adult males have more pronounced facial wrinkles than females and a fold of skin under the chin that can be raised in style of a face mask.

We report the first observations on echolocation and mating behavior of Centurio senex, including synchronized audio and video recordings from an aggregation of males in Costa Rica. Over a period of 6 weeks we located a total of 53 perches, where during the first half of the night males were hanging with raised facial masks at a mean height of 2.35 m.

Most of the time, the males moved just their wing tips, and spontaneously vocalized in the ultrasound range. Approaches of other individuals resulted in the perching male beating its wings and emitting a very loud, low frequency whistling call. Following such an encounter we recorded a copulation event.

The observed aggregation of adult C. senex males is consistent with lek courtship, a behavior described from only few other bat species.

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Credit for the image goes to Zoo Studio

To learn more about the Tolga Bat Hospital, check out their site.

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This photo is from the Australian Bat Clinic and Wildlife Trauma Centre's FB page.

Article with story, video and more pictures

In late January, African straw-colored fruit bat Jessica gave birth. At 18 years old (the average life expectancy for this species), she is one of the oldest straw-colored fruit bats to give birth in human care. Of all mammals, fruit bats have the largest-sized babies in comparison to their body size: a female that weighs 300g will give birth to a pup that weighs 50g!

Sadly, the natural weight of the pup may have contributed to Jessica experiencing a critical injury after giving birth. She was humanely euthanized due to the significant nature of the injury and the very poor chance of making a recovery.

The African rainforest team immediately stepped in to begin hand-rearing the pup, now named Jesse in honor of his mom. He receives around-the-clock care, including feedings every four hours: the zoo’s nutrition team designed a special milk formula that is made fresh every 24 hours just for him. Although to date he has only been eating formula, he will soon be introduced to pureed fruit.

I am not 100% sure but I think this might be the brown long-eared bat from Europe. If so...

How big are the ears of a brown long-eared bat? The brown long-eared bat's ears are almost as long as its body, although, when at rest, it often rolls them up or tucks them under its wings.

Why do brown long-eared bats have such large ears? Brown long-eareds are not as reliant on sonar as most bats. They use their huge ears to listen for the rustling sounds made by moving insects and also use their eyes to spot prey.

How do brown long-eared bats hunt? These slow but highly manoeuvrable flyers hunt in open woodland where they specialise in gleaning prey from foliage, although they will also take insects in flight.

When do brown long-eared bats fly? Despite their use of visual cues, brown long-eareds don't emerge from their roosts until an hour or so after sunset – later than most bat species.

Where are brown long-eared bats found? The brown long-eared bat is widespread and fairly common across Europe. It occurs throughout mainland UK but not on Orkney, Shetland or the Outer Hebrides.

What are brown long-eared bats related to? The brown long-eared bat was split into two species in the 1960s, the other being the much rarer grey long-eared bat, which, in Britain, is confined to the far south of England.

How long do brown long-eared bats live for? Brown long-eared bats have been known to live as long as 22 years, but they usually reach only four or five.

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Video of Baxter in his new home

Our certificate of adoption from Bat World Sanctuary:

Baxter's Story

Baxter has overcome a lot of things in his life but he continues to surprise us with his resilience.

Unfortunately, his story starts off like many in the cruel exotic pet trade; he was alone, isolated, and kept in far too small of a cage for 12 long years. Typically, fruit bats kept alone don’t survive more than a year – the fact that he’d been alone for all those years was both heartbreaking and a testament to his spirit. This only strengthened our desire to have him retire at the sanctuary and give him the life he has always deserved.

We were made aware of his plight when contacted by his owner in February of 2020, and we were thrilled to hear that she wanted to surrender him to us. He had been used for educational programs and other events his entire life, and his owner was retiring from the exotic animal business.

While making transport arrangements, Baxter’s owner expressed that she wanted to drive him from Minnesota to Texas when the weather was warmer, which we agreed would be less stressful for him than flying alone on a plane. Unfortunately, Covid-19 travel restrictions pushed back Baxter’s original arrival date, and offers to send a volunteer to pick up Baxter or transfer him to a local bat rehabilitator were declined.

After much back and forth with the owner, she eventually admitted that she was tired of waiting to place him, and she transferred him to a small local zoo to once again be used for programs. We were heartbroken and devastated for Baxter. After some pressing, we discovered that the small zoo was in fact a wolf center and that he was still being kept alone and confined to a small cage.

We quickly reached out to the center and attempted to educate, in great detail, about the needs of captive Egyptian fruit bats in hopes that they would allow us to rescue him… to no avail. As a last resort, we offered to make a donation to the wolf center for the “release” of Baxter, and sadly, that is what it took to gain his freedom. Our volunteer, Jennifer Dantzler, then immediately booked a flight to Minnesota, secured Baxter, rented a car, and drove the two-day trip to bring Baxter home.

We were shocked when Baxter arrived. He was thin and had lost the majority of his teeth, which is highly unusual for an Egyptian fruit bat as they typically have very healthy teeth and rarely have dental issues at all. It is most likely that Baxter was taken away from his mother far too soon and thus deprived of the calcium needed to maintain a healthy mouth.

Baxter was also mentally scarred from his years in isolation, and seeing and hearing the other bats appeared to be overwhelming for him. We decided to introduce him to our “Geriatric Ward” first. The Geriatric Ward is a small enclosure located inside the large fruit bat enclosure and allows the elderly bats that can no longer fly to be part of the action while still having extra padding, hammocks, and snacks close by.

Upon meeting the older bats, Baxter trembled uncontrollably and appeared petrified. Egyptian fruit bats are incredibly social animals and often live in colonies that number into the thousands in the wild. To keep them alone is an inexcusable act, and incredibly damaging to their mental health.

Thankfully by the second day, his instincts had kicked in and he curled up in a hammock with his new friends. He quickly grew very attached to his little group of senior girls, and he spent every second with them. Eventually, his social skills and weight had improved and he was ready to meet the main Egyptian colony. Caregivers marked him with non-toxic temporary paint so that they could monitor him. As he was being taken to meet his forever family he began flapping his wings in an attempt to get there even sooner, as seen in the video below.

Over 80 fellow Egyptians, many of whom came from similar situations, took turns saying hello and giving Baxter a good once over. He welcomed them all with open wings, and within the hour he had wiggled his way into the heart of the colony, where he had always belonged. In the following weeks, Baxter stretched and flapped his wings with the others, building the muscles that had gone so long without being used.

He picked a favorite nighttime spot next to the fruit dishes and near the romaine lettuce so that he could get first dibs. At night, he now waits in his spot for caretakers to hand out treats, and we always save several extra-soft pieces of melon just for him. Baxter’s dental problems may slow down his chewing just a bit, but with a variety of soft fruits always available, he’s gained quite a nice little belly during his time here. He often takes trips over to the Geriatric Ward to say hello to his ladies, and he’s even flying with the others now.

Baxter’s progress has amazed us, and we feel so fortunate to be able to offer him his retirement. He will never have to work another day, or wonder where his colony is. He will never be trapped in a bird cage again, or be transferred to another facility. Baxter will remain with his roost mates at the sanctuary for the rest of his life. We feel incredibly lucky that we get to see his toothless little smile every single night. It is often said that money can’t buy happiness, but in Baxter’s case it truly did.

Source - feel free to adopt Baxter or any other bats for yourself!

Try to imagine what this feels like… someone takes you captive, you don’t know why. You don’t speak their language and you are powerless to escape. You have no idea what they want of you, and you are terrified.

Your captor locks you in a bathroom. This bathroom has a window covered with shade, but you are not allowed to open it to get fresh air or even look outside. There is a sink, but only your captor knows how to turn the water on. There is a toilet that you can eliminate, but only your captor decides when it should be flushed.

You get the same thing to eat day after day after day after day. When you don’t feel good no one knows how to help, so you suffer in pain. There are no pictures on the walls, no TV, no computer, no phones, and no friends. You have absolutely nothing whatsoever to help you pass the endless days and nights. If you are lucky you might have a companion, but otherwise, you are completely alone, and this is where you will spend every single day for the rest of your natural life.

This is what a bat feels when we take it into captivity.

I know we joke about bats being sky puppies in this community, but they are wild animals and they belong in the wild (or in specially designed sanctuaries if they are too injured to survive on their own).

If you ever see someone keep a bat as a pet, please try your best to educate them and let them know that Bat World will take their pet in to rehabilitate, no questions asked.

Why choose a state bat

Burbank congress member Caroline Menjivar sponsored the bill, which states that bats have provided California with more than $1 billion worth of pest control to the state's agricultural land. They've also helped reduce the state's fire risk with their consumption of bark beetles and wood borers.

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Credit goes to Alyson Brokaw aka alyb_batgirl.

Leucism is the partial loss of pigmentation (unlike albinism where all pigmentation is gone, resulting in red or pink eyes). Source

Here are more pictures and a video of the bat.