Featured Post

THIS IS WHAT I DO

Barbed wire | Rescue | THIS IS WHAT I DO checking barbed wire in my own time. volunteer.

Premature bat pup finally ready for release Megabat Flying fox Fruit bat


In a remarkable tale of care, a premature grey-headed flying fox that has been looked after by north-coast WIRES volunteers and hand fed for three months is now ready for release.

The group’s chief bat-carer Lib Ruytenberg said the little fellow was found by a group of Shearwater Steiner students at Mullumbimby .

When he first came came into WIRES’ care, the tiny newborn weighed only 46 grams, about half the normal birth weight.

He was kept in a humidicrib for the first few weeks and would take less than 1 ml of special formula per feed.
‘Attempting to raise a pup like this is a delicate task and uncertain in its outcome,’ Libe said.

‘Flying-fox pups normally open their eyes immediately after birth but this little guy did not open his eyes until he was 11 days old.

‘As the weeks went by, he continued to grow and finally convinced carers that he would indeed survive. Now at nearly 300 grams and flying, he is enjoying blossoms and fruit and will soon be released with other flying fox orphans.’

Lib said that while adult bats are normally released near the colony that they came from, in the case of pups ‘they need to be “soft fed’ for a period of time after they are released’.

‘In our area there are only two care facilities in the region of bat camps: they are at Bellingen and Alstonville, so he will be released in one of those two places some time in the next couple of weeks,’ she said.

Interestingly, flying foxes are the only wildlife species which benefit from forming a bond with a human. WIRES have to be careful not to humanise all other wildlife species. Flying-foxes, however, bond with their human carer for the first 10 weeks of life then, just like human teenagers, only want to mix with their own kind and are no longer interested in their primary carers.

Flying foxes are very special animals. They are the only flying mammals and, as nature’s gardeners, they are the only pollinators and long-distance carriers of seeds to enable the growth of particular hardwood trees. Rainforests would be sparse without them.

Grey-headed flying foxes are categorised as vulnerable to extinction on the national Threatened Species list.

WIRES is a registered charity, not a government service, and relies heavily on donations from the general public.

The all-volunteer Northern Rivers branch needs various types of assistance — as not all members do animal rescues. Call the local 24-hour hotline on 6628 1898 or go to http://wiresnr.org/Helping.html to find out how you can help.



COMMENTS

BLOGGER: 2
Thanks for your comment and support. All comments are moderated. Word verification might be used to reduce spam.

Name

Articles,51,Audio,23,Backyard,24,Barbed Wire,35,Bat Art,56,Bat Books,94,Bat Box,27,Bat Clothing,16,Bat Issues,642,Bat Stamps,1,Bats,4,Bats for Children,39,Bats for the Home,70,Electrocution,9,Events,39,info on bats,643,Jackie Sparrow,26,Microbats,469,Misc,121,Netting,40,Newsletter,5,Promoting,152,Rehab,92,Rehab 2011,7,Rehab 2012,25,Rehab 2013,15,Rehab 2014,6,Rehab 2015,108,Rehab 2016,136,Rehab 2017,73,Rehab 2018,29,Rehab 2019,2,Release Cage,2,RESCUE,74,Rescue 2011,1,Rescue 2012,7,RESCUE 2013,18,RESCUE 2014,8,RESCUE 2015,25,Rescue 2016,20,RESCUE 2017,16,Rescue 2018,10,Rescue 2019,6,Rob Mies,11,Shooting,2,Vegetation,27,Video,399,Virus,128,WebSites-Bat,45,
ltr
item
BatsRule!: Premature bat pup finally ready for release Megabat Flying fox Fruit bat
Premature bat pup finally ready for release Megabat Flying fox Fruit bat
Premature bat pup finally ready for release Megabat Flying fox Fruit bat
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OwvsAIZ0fl4/VpQV8IAkjDI/AAAAAAACEpo/Vi5h1y7qWkI/s1600/Premature%2Bbat%2Bpup%2Bfinally%2Bready%2Bfor%2Brelease2.jpg
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OwvsAIZ0fl4/VpQV8IAkjDI/AAAAAAACEpo/Vi5h1y7qWkI/s72-c/Premature%2Bbat%2Bpup%2Bfinally%2Bready%2Bfor%2Brelease2.jpg
BatsRule!
http://batsrule-helpsavewildlife.blogspot.com/2016/01/premature-bat-pup-finally-ready-for.html
http://batsrule-helpsavewildlife.blogspot.com/
http://batsrule-helpsavewildlife.blogspot.com/
http://batsrule-helpsavewildlife.blogspot.com/2016/01/premature-bat-pup-finally-ready-for.html
true
4238281482117672351
UTF-8
Loaded All Posts Not found any posts VIEW ALL Readmore Reply Cancel reply Delete By Home PAGES POSTS View All RECOMMENDED FOR YOU LABEL ARCHIVE SEARCH ALL POSTS Not found any post match with your request Back Home Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat January February March April May June July August September October November December Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec just now 1 minute ago $$1$$ minutes ago 1 hour ago $$1$$ hours ago Yesterday $$1$$ days ago $$1$$ weeks ago more than 5 weeks ago Followers Follow THIS PREMIUM CONTENT IS LOCKED STEP 1: Share to a social network STEP 2: Click the link on your social network Copy All Code Select All Code All codes were copied to your clipboard Can not copy the codes / texts, please press [CTRL]+[C] (or CMD+C with Mac) to copy