Problems with Fruit Bats

I hope that you had a happy Christmas and that 2018 will be a successful year for all of us.

Growing up, I thought that flying-foxes (fruit bats) were largely a coastal species. You saw the occasional one in Armidale generally dead hanging upside down from the power lines. I knew they were eaten by the Aborigines from the ethnographic record, but actually knew very little about them.

I was therefore surprised earlier to find that Tamworth had major problems with a large colony of Grey Headed flying foxes along the Peel River.  Now it's Armidale's turn, with a colony moving in on Tuesday 3 October 2017. To my knowledge, it's the first time in Armidale. As happened in Tamworth, many residents directly affected are up in arms, wanting the Council to take action, although there is not a lot the Council can do. .

Part of  the problem appears to lie in the way that the animal's natural habitats have been progressively reduced, drawing them into urban areas in search of food. I was a little surprised when I first read this because I wouldn't have thought that there had been major habitat changes around Armidale or Tamworth that might force such a move.

Reading the quite fascinating Wikipedia article on Grey Headed flying foxes, I discovered that the animals are in fact migratory, capable of travelling long distances in search of food. So habitat change associated with urbanisation on the coast might well force them well inland.

One thing that struck me here was the estimated size of the Tamworth colony. Recognising that estimating numbers is potentially prone to significant error, a claimed size of 100,000 animals for the Tamworth colony is very large indeed relative to an estimated total population of 200-300,000 and the normal colony sizes (100s to tens of thousand)

The Armidale colony too appears reasonably substantial if this NBN News photo is any guide, if much smaller than the Tamworth camp.  

Update 17 January

Update report from Armidale Regional Council