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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/29/the-megabats-of-adelaide-sa-adjusts-to-new-and-growing-colonies-of-flying-foxes>
"A stand of pine trees near the Adelaide zoo erupts every sunset as tens of
thousands of megabats take to the sky. The metre-wide, scalloped wings of these
grey-headed flying foxes silhouette against the sky like the summoning sign for
a certain superhero.
Flying foxes first appeared in numbers in Adelaide around 2010 after climate
change-related food shortages drove them further south. Drought conditions and
habitat loss forced them out of New South Wales and Victoria, and once they
found a good spot they settled in – and bred.
Nowadays they gather in a single, enormous colony in Botanic park – about
46,000 of them – before heading out for a night’s feed, causing disruption
along the way.
“For an urban camp [those numbers are] pretty high … it’s up there with the
highest we’ve had in South Australia,” says Jason van Weenen, Green Adelaide’s
urban biodiversity team leader.
“2010 was the first year we had a colony arrive; that was associated with the
species having some real trouble in the bulk of their eastern range.
“Those tough conditions resulted in them finding Adelaide and now they’ve
incorporated it into their foraging.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
