Curious bat-like creatures feature in cryptozoological lore. Here are some tales about a known species, the flying fox.
Over the past 40 years I have witnessed a serious decline in their numbers, and have even participated in field studies where groups of people have surrounded where they live just before dark, and then proceeded to try to count them. It is not easy because they have a habit of coming and going a number of times, probably because they do not know what the people on the ground are up to.
The pressure on flying foxes is because of the stupidity of Queensland Government bureaucrats and politicians. In trying to protect commercial crops of bananas they have a 'biosecurity' policy that calls for the destruction of all 'wild' stands of bananas, mainly the 'lady finger' variety. 30 years ago Queenslanders and flying foxes enjoyed an abundance of bananas that looked after themselves
and produced a continual supply of free food. Then the government started destroying them so there would be no hosts for any pests or diseases that might compromise
their commercial crops.
I tried to change that policy but got short shrift from the Labour Party, which ought to know better. They just countered that the banana industry employs 20 000 people and could not be put at risk. The fact that bananas previously provided free food for more than a million Queenslanders and untold numbers of flying foxes and other native animals meant nothing to these idiots. And of course there was a secondary motive - to force people to pay for bananas dipped in poison instead of getting free wholesome bananas straight off a tree in the back yard.
They also told me the lady finger banana was not a native plant. True enough. Before Captain Cook there were native varieties of Musa spp. and there were also vast stands of mature native trees that bore incredible crops of food - nearly all gone now because of clear-felling and rapacious timber harvesting practices. The lady finger bananas filled the gap but now they have also been all but wiped out by ignorance and greed. Tough on the flying foxes, who then 'attack' commercial stands of bananas and get electrified, poisoned, shot, etc. And many more die caught on power lines and on barbed wire fences. One big improvement was to move the power lines apart so that flying foxes could not get zapped by reaching from one line to the next.
Farmers need to learn more respect for the flying fox. They serve as important pollinators and they control insect pests that would otherwise destroy their crops.
The individual flying fox is certainly capable of complex behaviour. One aboriginal informant insists he once saw a flying fox drop the carcass of some sort of small animal on the ground, having apparently sucked out the contents. Most experts would say no way; flying foxes
are strictly vegetarian. Well, they are habitual rapists as well, so I would not put anything past them.
My sons and I used to live in an old picture theatre. At one side was a peach tree that had its roots in the septic system so its fruit was juicy and succulent. Flying foxes came from far and wide to get the fruit and squabble and swear at one another. The bandicoots also fed on that tree.
One in particular lived on the other side of the theatre and used to run along the footpath, collect a peach, and then run back with his treasure. One night we went down into the foyer and opened the front door. Our little part chihuahua dog ran outside. Immediately there was a great deal of snarling and the dog came rushing back inside. I went outside and saw on the ground what looked like a half-unfurled umbrella trying to sort itself out.
A moment later it got on its feet and flew away. I don't know what the kerfuffle was all about. I believe the flying fox thought the little dog was that pesky bandicoot and it had attacked her either to keep her away or perhaps to make her drop the peach it thought she would be
carrying. Anyway, it got a big surprise that night.
Flying foxes are now known to be hosts of the lyssavirus, which can be fatal. This has been tough on them. They cop enough persecution already because they are seen as despoilers of crops and makers of unpleasant noises and odours. And on top of that our culture portrays them as being somewhat demonic. Certainly, if you have them in a fruit tree near your bedroom window quarreling all night with possums, or come out in the morning and your mangoes are all over the ground each with one bite mark in it, you cannot help but feel there is some truth in this.
In Captain Cook's diaries he records that one crew member came back to the ship very shaken up. He had come upon a flying fox in the undergrowth and it had scared the living daylights out of him. He actually thought it was a demon. (Of course real demons are long gone, the last
reliable picture I have seen of one is from a Celtic image made in the time of the Roman empire. I doubt if they were any more wicked than flying foxes; just different and therefore targets for persecution.)
Truth to tell, only two people have died from lyssavirus since 1996. Compare and contrast that with the millions of bats that die at human hands. But it is a new pretext for people to persecute them and although protected there are people that routinely kill them. What good is a government that protects an animal but follows a policy that leads to them being starved to death?
On top of that, habitat destruction has led to them setting up their communal nurseries alongside open pastures. Shellback ticks then get on them and cause them to die a horrid death from paralysis. Many people struggle to gather and nurse orphan bats, which then recover only to be killed by people with a redneck mentality.
I have known many people who have cared for flying foxes. My big sister told me she grew very attached to hers, and said they were very affectionate and endlessly entertaining.
There are parallels with the fate of the aborigines, who were harassed by the squatters despite the laws, and who found respite only by leaving their own land and taking up residence near townships where they lived in poverty but at least were relatively safe.
For the same reason flying foxes often start nurseries where they can be safe. The pictures show a flying fox nursery right in the centre of Cairns. Notices under the trees ask people to alert the staff in the council building if they see any baby flying foxes on the ground or clinging to the undergrowth. They are safe to handle only if you have been vaccinated for lyssavirus.
They did me a favour the other day. I wanted to find a place to park my truck in the shade for the sake of my dog. Not so amazingly I found 4 empty bays, all under one of the giant trees where the flying foxes live during the day. People did not want bat poo all over their shiny little cars. My truck has endured worse insults than that so I parked in the shade and was away for an hour.
When I got back I could not believe it. There were droppings everywhere but not one had hit the truck. Talk about serendipity. I got i
nto the truck and then as I opened the driver window I got spattered! It must have come down vertically to hit my sleeve while I was inside the truck.
The picture shows that it is dark and smooth and gooey. I assume it is baby flying fox poo. It looks like human baby poo, only it is darker. No surprise there since they are mammals and feed on milk.
My hope is that one day lady finger bananas will be permitted to grow wild again to nourish flying foxes and people alike. And that flying foxes can come and go without being attacked by ignorant people.
Amazingly, flying foxes have a nursery in the centre of the city of Cairns - look in the centre of the photo for the big square roof with giant trees along two sides.
Yesterday I told you about Powler's Piece - the strange and rather creepy forest a couple of miles south of the village in which we live.
