Hundreds of ‘Boiled’ Bats Fall from Sky in Australian Heat Wave
By Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor
A pile of dead bats that “boiled” in Campbelltown in the Australian state of New South Wales.
Credit: Help Save the Wildlife and Bushlands in Campbelltown
More than 200 bats have lost their lives to southern Australia’s ongoing heat wave.
As temperatures rose to 111.5 degrees Fahrenheit (44.2 degrees Celsius) in Campbelltown in the Australian state of New South Wales, a colony of flying fox bats that lives near the town’s train station felt the effects. Volunteers struggled to rescue the heat-stricken bats, according to the Campbelltown-Macarthur Advertiser, but at least 204 individual animals, mostly babies, died.
“They basically boil,” Kate Ryan, the colony manager for the Campbelltown bats, told the newspaper. “It affects their brain — their brain just fries and they become incoherent.” [Watch for Falling Iguanas! Bomb Cyclone Drops Frozen Lizards]
Rescuers with Help Save the Wildlife and Bushlands in Campbelltown posted on their Facebook page details of the dire situation: “As the dead bodies were recovered and placed in a pile for a head count the numbers had reached 200 not including the many hundreds that were still left in trees being unreachable, sadly a few adults were also included in the body count. It was a long and heartbreaking afternoon…”
Heat and more heat
The colony of flying foxes in Campbelltown belong to the species Pteropus poliocephalus, better known as the gray-headed flying fox. Their wingspans can stretch more than 3.3 feet (1 meter), and they can weigh more than 2.2 lbs. (1 kilogram). Important pollinators, the bats eat mainly nectar, pollen and fruit.
Temperatures higher than 86 degrees F (30 degrees C) can be dangerous to young flying foxes, Ryan told the Advertiser, because their bodies lose the ability to regulate their temperature. For the Campbelltown colony, a lack of both water and shade exacerbates the problem, she said…..more here
