World’s largest bat species found only in Mambukal Resort

CEBU, Philippines - The world’s largest and heaviest flying fox, also called the golden-crown flying fox, is among the bat species endemic or found only at Mambukal Resort in Barangay Minoyan of Murcia town, Negros Occidental.

Wildlife biologist Lisa Paguntalan of the Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Inc. said the presence of these bats in the province demands help from the government and the public in protecting and preserving these mammals from extinction.

Paguntalan appealed to tourists and to the locals not to disturb the habitat of the bats, such as tapping of trees to rouse the animals from sleep and fly for attraction purposes.

These disturbances can cause stress on the bats, whose mothers may lose babies in the process, especially during the breeding months from February to August. “When bats are not disturbed, they go back to their roosting and populate,” she said.

The campaign to protect the bats at Mambukal Resort had however been paying off, with the latest monitoring showing their population rising from 84 to 360.

Paguntalan further called for the protection of trees as wildlife thrives on areas below 1,000 meters. Higher than that level is a different environment unsuitable for the bats’ survival. Sixty percent of trees in forests are pollinated by bats when they transfer it from one flower to another and by defecation. “No forest, no wildlife,” she said.

The Mambukal Resort lies 1,200 feet or about 366 meters above sea level and serves as a gateway to the Mount Kanlaon Volcano, which is the highest mountain peak in the Visayas, with a height of 8,088 feet or about 2,465 meters and a base diameter of 30,000 meters. (FREEMAN)