Straw-colored fruit bats: Ecosystem service providers and record-breaking flyers
African straw-coloured fruit bats fulfil important ecosystem functions by dispersing seeds and pollen during their flights. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell together with colleagues from Ghana fitted African straw-coloured fruit bats (Eidolon helvum) with GPS-loggers to reveal the routes flown by the animals. Travel distances differed substantially according to season: during the dry season they covered up to 180 kilometres per night, while distances flown in the wet season was just one-third of this or less. This could be related to variations in population size during these periods. While the observed colony only consisted of a few thousand individuals during the wet season, in the dry season its population increased to over 100,000 bats. The more bats there are, the greater the competition food, and the further the animals have to fly to find sufficient food supplies.