Myths and Truths

MYTH
Killing the flying foxes in the Melbourne Botanical Gardens is the only solution to the problem.

FACT
Killing, or wounding, the bats in the gardens won't solve anything. It is senseless and cruel. Although a permanent colony site, the individual bats are only visiting. They move around from colony to colony, according to local food supply, flying up to 50km in a night. Other bats from interstate will replace those shot, and will only stop coming when the species is extinct. The population has declined by at least 35% in the last 10 years, but most flying-fox biologists believe the rate closer to 50%. If it continues at this rate, the species will be extinct within a few years. Shooting bats in the gardens will only accelerate the decline. There have been other options presented to gardens management, but they have not been open to exploring them, or willing to allow the time needed to set things up. Even though the bats had already started to migrate north in large numbers, the gardens have stuck to their nonsensical plan to shoot them

MYTH
Flying foxes like to strip foliage off branches until there is no foliage left.

FACT
Prior to the deforestation of large tracts of coastal land by human "development", flying foxes had the space they needed to change roosting sites on a regular basis. Colony sites of reasonable size don't suffer from defoliation, as the bats roost in a different part of the site each season, allowing regeneration of foliage to occur. They gravitate towards foliated trees for both protection from predators and for shade from hot sun while sleeping during the day.

MYTH
Flying foxes are pests
FACT
Flying foxes preferred diet is nectar from eucalypt blossoms and other native species. The grey-headed flying fox is native to Australia, and is a keystone animal in the cross-pollination of eucalypts and other native tree species. This means that native forests will not regenerate without flying foxes. Flying foxes have only resorted to eating orchard-grown fruit as a consequence of human removal of large tracts of forest & rainforest.

MYTH
Flying foxes are vermin

FACT
The flying fox has a very similar brain development as the lemur, and there is much evidence to suggest that it is a primate. Human beings are primates. Flying foxes may well be our closest native relative. See Links page, Are flying foxes primates?

MYTH
All flying foxes carry lyssavirus, and are a dangerous presence in the gardens

FACT
Based on all the research conducted since the lyssavirus was discovered in Australia in 1996, less than 1% of wild flying foxes carry lyssavirus, and there is no danger of catching lyssavirus from being near or under a bat colony. About 4 months ago, 100 bats were shot in the Melbourne Botanical Gardens, and their bodies autopsied. Not a single bat was found to be carrying lyssavirus. Their bodies were also tested for the hendra and menangle viruses, but all tested negative.

MYTH
Flying foxes breed like flies, and are taking over the gardens

FACT
Female flying foxes do not start reproducing until 2-3 years of age, and have only one baby per year. Numbers of bats in the gardens fluctuate, as these animals are migratory, moving around in accordance with food supply. The recent influx of bats was due to the flowering of the yellow box gum, a one in seven years event. They are now migrating northwards out of the gardens in large numbers, as the flowering has finished and winter approaches.