The good that bats do

Mazlinda Mahmood New Straits Times 16 Jan 11;

KUALA LUMPUR: It looks like 2011 will not just be the Year of the Rabbit, it is also the Year of the Bat.

At the launch of the Year of the Bat 2011-2012 at Zoo Negara yesterday, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's professor of ecology and taxonomy of small mammals, Dr Zubaid Akbar Mukhtar Ahmad, said bats were very much misunderstood.

"Bats are not to blame for the spread of diseases but human disturbance to the environment is."


Dr Zubaid said by helping disperse seeds, fruit bats play a major role in forest regeneration.

"Studies conducted in Thailand showed that the plant-visiting Lesser Dawn Bat species are most effective in pollinating durian and petai.

"In terms of disease and pest control, an insect eating bat can eat up to 600 mosquito-sized insects in an hour and they make a major contribution to natural pest and disease control."


Zoo Negara director Dr Mohamad Ngah said Zoo Negara as a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) is celebrating the Year of the Bat to promote conservation, research and education on the 1,100 species of bats, of which half are at risk of extinction.

The worldwide campaign will focus on the ecological benefits that bats provide, such as pest control and seed dispersal.

"Bats throughout the world need continuous protection and this campaign is important to encourage people across the world to get involved.


"According to WAZA, 700 million people visit zoos every year. Zoo Negara itself receives about a million visitors annually.

"This is why zoos are the best place to spread information on the need to protect bats from being hunted for food and medicine and needlessly killed," he said.

At the same time, Zoo Negara is also partnering with Animation Society of Malaysia (Animas) to attract children to Zoo Negara and has chosen a famous local cartoon character 'Keluang Man' as the official mascot.

Zoo Negara houses a megabat species commonly known as Malayan Flying Fox (Pteropus vampyrus).

They feed exclusively on fruits and have an average lifespan of eight years.

Malaysia has about 118 species and 34 of them are at risk of extinction.

In conjunction with the campaign, Zoo Negara is organising seminars and talks on bats every third Saturday of the month until March.

For more information, log on to http://www.zoonegaramalaysia.my.