<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/05/flying-foxes-january-heatwaves-kill-thousands>
"A colony of about 1,000 flying foxes in a South Australian town has been
shattered by the intense heat that gripped south-eastern Australia last week,
with more than 80% of the camp at Naracoorte wiped out.
“It’s a devastating loss of numbers,” said Judith Bemmer, a carer at Bat Rescue
SA. Among the surviving 180 animals, about 34 underweight and dehydrated babies
were rescued, and would face months of recovery.
The flying fox deaths came off the back of an earlier heatwave in January,
which saw thousands perish in the largest mass mortality event for the animals
since the 2019-20 black summer.
Reports from the second, more significant heatwave last week were mixed –
deaths were worse in some places and fewer in others.
About 100 bats died at Brimbank Park in Melbourne’s north-west last week, after
thousands perished earlier in January.
“Unfortunately this is likely due to most of the vulnerable and young passing
away in the previous heat events,” said Tamsyn Hogarth, the director of the Fly
by Night bat clinic in Melbourne.
Wildlife Victoria, which sent teams to nationally significant camps in northern
Victoria, estimated more than 700 grey-headed flying foxes died at Tatura, from
a camp of 5,000.
Temperatures above 42C are known to cause mortality in flying foxes. Thousands
have died nationally since the start of January this year. In Victoria, a
government wildlife update estimated 1,700 had died at a handful of monitored
camps – nearly 5% of the state’s population."
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
