Giant bat makes comeback in Tanzania (Pemba flying fox fruit bat, 5-foot plus wingspan)

Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 10/30/08 | Reuters

[NormsRevenge]

OSLO (Reuters) – A giant bat with a wingspan up to 5.5 feet has made a comeback from the brink of extinction in Tanzania in a rare conservation success, an environmental group said on Friday.

Numbers of the Pemba flying fox, a type of fruit bat, have risen to 22,000 since it was rated critically endangered two decades ago when "only a scant few individual fruit bats could be observed," British-based Fauna and Flora International said.

In a release coinciding with Halloween, it said that the bat's maximum wingspan was "greater than the height of the average British woman."

[NormsRevenge]

no relation to the

[xcamel]

[NormsRevenge]

Tastes like chicken, I hear. ;-)

[ottbmare]

Yuck. Are we absolutely sure that bringing them back from the brink of extinction was the best idea? Some thing you just leave alone. . .

[xcamel]

Amazingly, they’re very friendly, and the Maori used to keep them as pets.

[Hawk1976]

That’s A HUGE BAT!

[50cal Smokepole]

[BunnySlippers]

Yeah!

[ottbmare]

Amazingly, they’re very friendly, and the Maori used to keep them as pets.

ICK!

They may be very friendly to the Maori. My understanding is that the Maori used to eat people. Coincidence? You decide.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Fruit bats are cute - they look like little foxes:

[ottbmare]

They are not cute and they do not look like little foxes. They look like little rats.

So call the ACLU and sue me, I’m a speciesist.

[mefistofelerevised]

Horrifying? Obama is horrifying, not these bats.
But then I’m a freak here. I like wildlife.

[JoeProBono]

[gungadin]

Amazingly, they’re very friendly, and the Maori used to keep them as pets.

I think both the Tanzanians and the Maoris would be surprised to find they shared any history LOL.

Perhaps some tongue-in-cheek in your post. :)

[xcamel]

tribal teleportation - about 8,000 miles... just for the great pets.

[xcamel]

I knew I remembered the Tasman Fruit Bat (And the Maori) from somewhere long ago...And here it is...

http://books.google.com/books?id=Da6ySizodsAC&printsec=frontcover

Not a complete reference, but enough.

[gungadin]

Hmmmm... New Zealand only has only two native fruit bats but they appear to be rare. I have never seen one and don't know of anyone who has. Little is known about them as they seem to be few in number. I would guess many that live here would be surprised to know that there are even bats in NZ. Apparently, also, early Maoris in NZ associated them with death so would never have kept them as pets.

I think your link is referring to the Tasmanian (as distinct from Tanzanian) fruit bat (1200 miles across the ocean over in Australia).

[SunkenCiv]

ThunderBat!!! Aiiieeeeeee!