Batting For the Bats by Gargi Mishra
Without Batman in our reel life, bats would have become completely an existence representing evil. In this time of pandemic, bats are much vilified. So, let's have a peek into this otherwise fascinating creature. Yes, here I introduce Indian Fruit Bat as my next near and dear one. They are disreputed as the powerhouse of zoonotic diseases.
Tigga Kingston, Co-Chair of the Bat Specialist Group (in an interview to Down To Earth magazine) says "By destroying natural habitats, stressing and exploiting wildlife, we are breaking down barriers that normally prevent spillover from wildlife hosts to people."
That is exactly what I said to my kins at the outbreak of Covid-19 but in different words. I said by destroying nature we are fast approaching towards the hosts which had kept these deadly pathogens away from us since ages.
Whenever I think about bats a vivid childhood memory comes alive. A tree that had more hanging bats than leaves. With dusk, they would glide away as if to attend a grand supper. This would be the sight through summer months.
During that time also people were equally susceptible to the viruses spread by the droppings of bats, I think. But I had never heard of any of that sort rather people were eating them to cure certain diseases.
Bat is the only mammal that can fly. Indian Flying Fox or Greater Indian fruit bat is the largest bat in Indian Subcontinent and one of the largest bats in the world. It lives closer to water bodies, humans and agriculture lands to ensure food security.
It is a nocturnal animal which has an uncanny resemblance with that of a fox and hence the name. It has black back, yellow-brown mantle, brown head, chestnut-brown underparts and large eyes. Its leathery wings seem as if a thin membrane is extended from the toes to its hands being connected along with the body.
Many bats use sound (bio-sonar technology) to detect preys and other obstacles which is called 'echolocation'. But Indian Fruit Bat depends on its strong sense of smell and vision to detect food. They can see up to 1 kilometer at night. Being a frugivorous and nectarivores in nature they feed mainly on ripe fruits. In this process they sometimes destroy the fruit farms hence considered as vermin. They spit out the undigested fiber obtained from fruits. Blame their rapid digestive system and inability to digest fibers which earned them a misinterpretation of defecating through their mouth.
We should not forget their contribution to maintain a healthy ecosystem. They are great pollinators, seed dispersers and pest suppression agents. A single Flying Fox can disperse up to 60,000 seeds in one night. Without them our forests may become genetically weak and loose diversity.
They are infamous as a disease vector. Tigga Kingston says "Bats are good at suppressing viruses and rarely show clinical signs of sickness even when infected with viruses that can cause disease in other mammals." I feel that our interaction with bats is very negligible (all of you ask yourselves when lastly you interacted with a bat!). So, if we don't break the protective barrier(nature) between us then they will never impact us in any way.
It is believed that bat meat can heal rheumatism, asthma and chest pain and its hair can cure fever with shivering. There is a lucrative business of bat meat running at a parallel level with other meat businesses in some parts of the world. But their decline in population is not due to consumption rather habitat destruction due to urbanization and road widening.
To my extreme happiness I came to know that there are people who understood this species much more closely than rest of the world. The "Kabatabandha" village of Odisha conserve Indian Fruit bat. To the people of Puliangulam (Tamil Nadu, India) Indian Flying Fox are not vermins rather sacred and protected by the local spirit "Muniyandi".
(Photo credit : Gargi Mishra)
