Many years ago the largest Zoo in the world was located just outside of Gainesville Florida. The owner was particularly found of hoofed animals, and in fact had several species that rivaled the herds in the wild. These were not the only animals at this Zoo. He spared no expense and had a beautiful facility. Unfortunately for the public it was a private Zoo. Keep in mind the motive of this philanthropist was not to show off the animals or make money from them. He truly was a conservationist and wanted to preserve these animals for the generations to come. His name was Louis Bacardi. As years passed, and he passed away, the facility of thousands of acres needed to head in a more specific direction. So with the support of his family, the LuBee foundation was founded in 1989, and the choice of focusing on Old World Fruit Bats became the new direction of research and conservation. The facility was located on one hundred and ten acres of the original Bacardi property.
Louis Bacardi's house became the Woodshaven Center and still houses research visitors, and students while attending programs at the Facility. Truly a remarkable experience!
Remember the closest relative to the Bat is .......the Primate! That's right and our closest relative is the .........yes, again the Primate. These are Mammals and do NOT have wings as birds, but have webbed hands! Those bones you see though those rubber like webs are actually their fingers! They love to spend their time hanging upside down. In order to have the feet to "hang in there" with, they are born with their feet fully grown. They are capable of hanging upside down for long periods of time because they have special valves in their arteries that keep the blood from rushing to their head and therefore maintain a more even blood pressure throughout their body even though they are upside down. Quite remarkable!
The following are some photos of some of the residents of LuBee from my last visit.
While there are some 1,000 species of Bats in the world, these are the "Flying Fox's," and are Fruit Bats. Their diet consists of strictly fruit and nectar. They are naturally found from south east Asia through Indonesia, across the islands of Malaysia to Madagascar and throughout central, southern and northeast Africa. They are the largest Bats, and some of them have come to acquire names that..well, they are just confusing. You will see below as you view the pictures.
These are truly amazing members of one of those family of animals that just seems to get picked on when comes to myths and legends. The truth is that they are quite spectacular, and once you have just a small amount of knowledge of these creatures you will be forever changed in your thinking. Let's start by getting past the name issue. You will notice on some of the species listed and pictured below some familiar names or references, like vampire and gigantic. For some reason the overwhelming size of some of these Fruit Bats was just a little too much stimulation for the imagination of those who first discovered these Bats.
Lets start with Pteropus giganteus. This is the scientific name of the Fruit Bat that you would think must be the largest. after all what else would you imply with the name of giganteus or gigantic? They are large in size to say the least. Their "hand" spread of over four feet would certainly fit the description of gigantic.
Now you can see why they are called "Flying Foxes." They generally have a good disposition, but like primates, they will either take to you or not. If not they just move away from you. If you have appealed to their instincts they will readily take pieces of fruit from you. Native to India it may be the fact that they have been exposed to humans enough that they have acquired a higher tolerance for having us around them.
Now some years later this next species was discovered in Malaysia. When first spotted it must have appeared as the one in this next photo.
Maybe just a little more rapped up then this photo shows, because it received the name Pteropus vampyrus. While the vampire thing works (mostly on people's imagination) it doesn't work for this species. It just looked like one all wrapped up in it's "hands." This is a juvenile male, and will mature to have a "hand" spread of up to six feet!. Now that is GIGANTIC. But remember, that name is already taken. Oh well, confusion reigns and it will probably stay just that way. This species as the giganticus can be quite willing to interact with humans.
This next species is one of my favorites. The Pteropus rodicensis is native to the island of Rodriguez in the Indian ocean. This Flying Fox is critically endangered. Another of the gentle ones, they grow to just a little over one foot in "hand" spread.
The next Flying Fox was discovered in the mid 1800's and can be found in New Guinea, the Solomon islands, and into north eastern Australia. All of these amazing fruit bats are on at least the endangered species list. Pteropus conspicillatus, or as it is commonly called, the Spectacled Flying Fox is a rainforest dweller.
Last but not least is the Eidolon helvum, or straw colored Flying Fox. This is the most widely ranging Fruit Bat of Africa, and Madagascar. It is found in all the forest and savannah regions of the subsaharan continent of Africa and as well as on Madagascar.
