Description goes hereA short film that documents the Cairns Regional Council’s dispersal of an endangered Spectacled Flying Fox colony from the City Library beginning 4th July 2020.

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🏆 WINNER | PEOPLE'S CHOICE 🏆 Understory Film Festival 2020

Documentation of the harmful dispersal of the protected Little Red Flying Fox in Mareeba, QLD. 2020

Spectacled Flying-fox Conflicts—tucker, totem, taunt and threat

Opinion piece by Dr Noel Preece of the Spectacled Flying-fox Recovery Team

Summary

Spectacled Flying‐foxes are an integral part of the wet tropics of north Queensland, Australia. They are now endangered and yet face continued harassment and threats. Negative attitudes have hampered recovery actions, including reluctance to protect them and taking necessary action to help them recover to former safe population levels. Changing attitudes takes more than sound scientific evidence, it takes multidisciplinary approaches from communication specialists, social scientists and wildlife scientists.

In a landmark collaborative report, EDO is urging the Queensland Government to adopt a modern framework of laws led by First Nations Lore and the latest scientific research to protect endangered Flying-foxes in the Wet Tropics Country of far north Queensland.

Flying foxes; many people don't realise that these local inhabitants are an important and special species, found only in a handful of places in the Far North. Unfortunately they are endangered and need our support.

Every year, thousands of wild animals die due to starvation, predation, and injury while trapped in fences. Those who are rescued are often euthanised due to the severity of their injuries.

Agricultural fences and netting pose a significant threat to native animals, who can easily become caught, trapped or entangled in them. Fences also disrupt the natural behaviour of some species, splinter populations and have significant ecological impacts.

With their huge round eyes—framed by a pattern of straw-hued fur suggestive of eyeglasses—and their tiny bodies swaddled in colorful blankets like newborn human babes, these spectacled flying fox pups (Pteropus conspicillatus) could win over even the most bat-averse onlooker. And these four and their fellow orphans, photographed by Australia-based photographer Jürgen Freund at a bat hospital in northern Queensland, will only inspire greater awe as they grow into their species’ unique superpowers.

Full article unavailable due to paywall.

LITTLE AUSSIE BATTLERS OF OUR GREAT AUSTRALIAN BUSH

Flying-foxes are keystone pollinators and seed dispersers of the Australian bush. The job of propagating over 100 species of native trees and plants falls fairly and squarely on their tiny little shoulders. Without them, there would be no food and shelter for our koalas, no pristine habitat for our extraordinary array of native birds, and no magnificent forests for all of us to enjoy. But due to loss of habitat and climatic changes, their numbers are falling dramatically.

Extreme heat wipes out almost one third of Australia's spectacled flying fox population

An extreme heatwave in far north Queensland last month is estimated to have killed more than 23,000 spectacled flying foxes, equating to almost one third of the species in Australia.

The deaths were from colonies in the Cairns area where the mercury soared above 42 degrees Celsius two days in a row, breaking the city's previous record temperature for November by five degrees.

Ecologist, Dr Justin Welbergen from the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (Western Sydney University) is collating the numbers of bat deaths and said it was the second-largest mass die-off of flying foxes recorded in Australia and the first time it had happened to this species.

"These are certainly very serious wildlife die-off events and they occur at almost biblical scales," he said.

"[The biggest] was in south-east Queensland back in 2014 where about 46,000 animals (predominantly black flying foxes) died.

"The population size of the spectacled flying fox in Australia is estimated to be about 75,000 individuals, give or take, so for all intents and purpose that means we have lost close to a third of the entire species in Australia.

"Losing a third of the species on a hot afternoon I would argue certainly strengthens the case for both the Federal and Queensland Governments to consider lifting the species from 'vulnerable' to 'endangered', if not 'critically endangered'."

(Photograph, David White)

A green-green dilemma

Australia has around 90 species of bats, ranging from megabats like flying foxes (with up to a metre’s wingspan), to insect-eating microbats (some small as a thumb, weighing less than a 10-cent coin). Fourteen are federally listed as threatened.

Added to the long list of threats facing the animals is the ‘wind farm issue’ Bender alludes to.

In Victoria, survey data suggests thousands of bats die annually due to wind farms, with one expert estimating the toll ranges between 12,000 to 40,000 bats per year. Studies in Germany and North America number bat deaths, due to wind energy, in the hundreds of thousands each year.

OneHealth for global health

Human, wildlife, and environmental health depend on healthy ecosystems. As landscapes change to meet the growing demands of people, animal populations are forced to adapt and find new places to live and feed. Sometimes this brings them into closer contact with people.

Our researchers study animals and viruses and how they interact to allow spillover. We are at the frontlines of spillover to help ensure that the systems that safeguard our wellbeing are maintained.

BatPod is a choose your own adventure series for ages 10–15 where you get to call the shots.

We live in one of the most beautiful parts of the planet and we get to share it with some amazing creatures.

Sometimes it can be hard living near them – take flying-foxes for example. These animals are vital to our environment but they can be noisy, smelly and messy neighbours.

Your invited to join Tyron, and our team at Sunshine Coast Council, to try and problem solve ways to live alongside these animals peacefully.