Is the Pemba flying fox in danger.

Is the Pemba flying fox in danger? In Bat News 4 (1985), Bryan Carroll reviewed the status of the fruit bats in the western Indian Ocean. Even then, the available information suggested that the Pemba flying fox (Pteropus voeltzkowi) was apparently abundant in spite of some hunting. It was, therefore, with considerable alarm that Ole Seehausen reported on observations made in late 1989 suggest ing that the species is almost extinct (1991, Oryx, 25, 110-112). Pemba (1014 sq km) and Zanzibar (1650 sq km) are islands lying about 40 km from the coast of Tanzania, East Africa. Nearby Mafia Island is even closer to the coast. Pemba has its endemic species and a subspecies of the Seychelles flying fox occurs on Mafia and the Gomoro Islands, P. seychellen sis comorensis. It remains one of those little mysteries as to why the flying foxes, Pteropus species, should occur from far out in the Pacific Ocean, through the Pacific and Indian Ocean islands and the Indian and South-East Asian mainlands to stop so close to the African mainland. No species is estab lished in Africa, although there are oft repeated recent reports of them some times occurring on the coast of Tanzania. Between 1938 and 1945, Pakenham (1984, private report) observed hun dreds of the Pemba flying fox roosting on off-shore islands and crossing to the main island in the evening to feed. Later Kingdon (1974) reported on a main island roost site. Ole Seehausen could find no evidence of these colonies, nor of significant colonies that villagers reported had been present as little as 10 Poster sponsored by the Phoenix Zoo to highlight the value of protecting the remnant population of the Pembaflying fox (Pteropus voeltzkowi). 4 years ago. Only from Ngezi Forest in north-west Pemba were there reports of up to 50 bats still being seen occasional� ly. Seehausen saw only a group of three roosting in a tree near the coast and a few isolated flying bats. He was unable to follow up on another report of an extant colony. The bats have been hunted for food, but it is unlikely that traditional meth ods would have had any major impact on the population. The introduction of the use of shot-guns, however, with the capability of bringing down as many as 20 bats with one shot was suggested by the principal of a local school to be the main cause for the loss of some colonies. Habitat destruction is likely to be another major factor. The bats were endemic to the wet tropical forests of the western half of the island and much of this was cleared for agriculture, par ticularly clove plantations, in the eighteenth century. The remnant patches were sufficient to maintain bat popula tions, but now even these are threat ened. Urgent action is required to save the species. Planned action includes a local education programme, highlighting the value of such bats to pollination and seed dispersal, a ban on hunting and the protection of the few remaining patches of rain forest. The accompanying poster has been prepared for distribution on the island and a further visit is planned for later this year to get more information on the species's status. This visit will also investigate the possibility of taking some into captivity to enable a founding population to be established once the problems of hunting and deforestation have beeh addressed. But, as I write, the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society has received some good news. Since the publication of Seehausen's article in Oryx, Dr H. Beentje of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, reports that in December 1989 he saw a colony of about 150-200 flying foxes roosting in large trees in the Ngezi Forest while he was doing a for est inventory there. Editor. Elsewhere in the western Indian Ocean there are other efforts being made for fruit bat conservation. An expedition from the University of Cork hopes to visit Rodrigues to make an assessment of the wild population of the Rodrigues flying fox, P. rodricensis. An estimate of 800-950 was made by Carl Jones soon after another cyclone struck the island earlier this year. These cyclones reduce roosting opportunities and strip the vegetation of food supplies; there were already clear signs of stress and weakening due to post-cyclone food shortages at the time of Carl. Jones's visit. This species had declined to about 75jndividuals in the mid-1970s, due to pressures including deforestation; hunt ing and cyclones, and some were taken into captivity by the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. They ·have. done so well in captivity that at least six' captive colonies have been established. in Europe, USA and Mauritius. The long term future of the species on its native island is still in considerable doubt and we continue to investigate the possibili ty of establishing a wild ('feral') popu lation on another Indian Ocean island. The Comoro Islands, too, will be visited this year. Here, the endemic black flying fox, P. livingstonii, was reported as endangered and a University of East Anglia (UEA) expedition could find only about 40 in 1989. In 1990, Bryan Carroll visited Anjouan with Ian Thorpe of the UEA expedition. They found a colony of perhaps 60-120, but in a situation where it was not possible to catch any to start a captive breeding colony. This remains the aim of the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. During this year Catherine Hunter of CARE has found a few more mixed with a colony of the Seychelles flying fox, P. s. comorensis, and has been making useful observations of their feeding habits and breeding behaviour. Two people will make a recce visit this year towards a larger expedition next year (mainly from Bristol University) to make further studies. We have no recent news of Mauritius or the Seychelles and assume that flying foxes are still plenti ful there. Aldabra, a small but very special atoll north-west of Madagascar, has its own population of flying foxes. This population has been regarded as a subspecies of P. seychellensis (the species also found on the Seychelles, Comoros and Mafia), but Bergmans (1990, Beaufortia, 40, 111-177) has recently suggested that the subspecies P. s. aldabrensis should be regarded as a full species. We still have no accurate assessment of the population there, despite the intensive work by the range of scientists who have visited the island, now a World Heritage site, since 1967. I was fortunate enough to spend three months there in 1968. My feeling was that the population was small (perhaps about 250), but that is not the result of any systematic survey. At present there is no threat to the island and it is off the cyclone belt. It is likely that the popula tion is more or less healthy and stable, but limited by the size of the island (about 150 sq km of land area) and its food resources. That food may be limit ed, at least seasonally, is supported by the recent observations by P. Roberts and W. A. Seabrook (1989, J. Zoo!. Lond. 218, 332-334) of the bats licking the leaves of fig trees heavily infested with scale insects (Icerya seychel larum). They were presumed to be feed ing on the honeydew, the 'manna', pro duced by the scale insects (and probably the scale insects themselves). We would like a good population estimate and it would be a lot easier here than on the other {granitic) islands discussed above. Goi11g further east, .there are disturb ing reports of m;tjor efforts to control flying foxes in the Maldive Islands because of the. damage. that they are believed to do to a developing fruit growing .industry, .. •Rec9mmendations have been.macie (Qolbeert,.Fielder .& Rasheed, • • 1988, ; Proc:eedings ,of·.• the 13th Vertebrate Pest(Jonference)to limit populations .of• the,endemic. P. · giganteus ariel and A hypqmelan11s maris to numbers that we cannot con,: sider as viable populations. . The Maldives are now well established as a tourist resort and we would· welcome contact with anybody going out there and willing to investigate the current situation. Editor. European Co-ordinating Panel for Bat Conservation The European Co-ordinating Panel for Bat Conservation is a recently formed ad hoc group of scientists working under the auspices of the IUCN's Species Survival Commission's Chiroptera Specialist Group. It held its inaugural meeting at Jedovnice, Czechoslovakia, 8-11 February 1991, and representatives of eight European countries were present. The aim of this meeting was to dis cuss methods of monitoring bats in hibemacula, in summer .. roosts and in foraging areas. The main objective of such monitoring is to detect population changes in individual species so that conservation strategies can be planned and implemented if necessary. For this objective to be realised, accurate species identification is necessary. Direct visual counts of that sample of the bat population that hangs free as individuals or in clusters is a widely applied method of counting bats in hibemacula, and can allow identifica tion to species. The number of bats forming very large clusters c.an be esti mated by gauging the area occupied by bats and using stereo-paired pho tographs to assess the density of the bats with reference to previous calibrations. It is more difficult to count bats roosting in crevices in hibemacula and impossi ble to count those that have entered the rubble, on the. floor of caves, although the proportion of the population roost ing in such inaccessible sites has been estimated by trapping at cave entrances during autumn arrival and spring emer gences. During summer bats can be identified in foraging areas either by mist-netting or by bat detectors. Mist-netting is labour intensive, requires special skills and is potentially disturbing to bats, but enables accurate species identification. Bat detectors can be used on transects or in areas of high species diversity. Accurate identification of bats in the field using such detectors requires con siderable experience and training and the co-ordinating panel welcomed recent training initiatives. Counting bats An integral part of the inaugural meeting of the European Co-ordinating Panel for Bat Conservation was to visit several cave systems of the Moravian Karst to make visual counts of hibernating bats. Here dele gates gather outside one cave where a count of 195 bats of six species was made. Additionally, in the top right of the picture is a vertical crevice known to be used by noctule bats (Nyctalus noctula)for hiberna tion, but the numbers there are quite unknown, Other activities of the meeting included a visit to two local museums and slide, film and poster presentations of the Moravian Karst and its bats, other parts of Europe and even a look at bats in Russia (Photo: J. Cerveny). 5