Bat Diversity in Zoos

Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Is the Rodrigues fruit bat particularly common in US zoos ?
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Yes, it seems to be a popular species to showcase and conserve. Philadelphia, Central Park, Prospect Park, Bronx, Oregon, San Diego, Moody Gardens, and Disney's Animal Kingdom also have them. But Chester Zoo in England have the biggest population of them.

Yet another reason for me to try checking out new zoos in the near future.
 
Tapir Master said:
Yes, it seems to be a popular species to showcase and conserve. Philadelphia, Central Park, Prospect Park, Bronx, Oregon, San Diego, Moody Gardens, and Disney's Animal Kingdom also have them. But Chester Zoo in England have the biggest population of them.

Yet another reason for me to try checking out new zoos in the near future.
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Quite a lot of zoos , keeping these evidently.

Worth mentioning though that it all started with this species with the efforts of Jersey zoo and @Carl Jones.
 
Does anyone knows if fruit bats and flying fox can live in mixed enclosures with other animals? E.g. an exibith with malayan tapir or terrestrial birds?
 
OkapiJohn said:
Does anyone knows if fruit bats and flying fox can live in mixed enclosures with other animals? E.g. an exibith with malayan tapir or terrestrial birds?
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In many situations yes, and this is frequently done. Tropic houses in zoos often have free-flying bats, for example.

Of course, as with all mixed-species exhibits it is not necessarily possible in *all* situations. Species, exhibit design, number of individuals, breeding requirements, and specific individual/group dynamics and personalities all have to be taken into account.
 
Dassie rat said:
Rodrigues' flying foxes share an enclosure with monkeys and tamanduas at London Zoo
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Apparently also with sloths, golden lion tamarins and common marmosets at Drusillas zoo also in the UK too.

I have mixed feelings about these mixed species exhibits at London and Drusillas as on the one hand they are kind of interesting in terms of them being workable.

However, I don't particularly like that these are not biogeographically accurate as I think it detracts from the educational value.
 
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In Beauval Zoo, there are (since 2020 or late 2019) a big flock of Rodrigues Fruit Bats (only female now) in an aviary, with different other species, mainly from Indian Ocean islands and East Africa : Aldabra Giant Tortoises, Glossy Starlings (3 species), Von der Decken's Hornbills and, for a while, Coconut Crabs (now they're in backstage because they tried to escape digging the soil, and even fell from the top of the aviary).
 
Haliaeetus said:
In Beauval Zoo, there are (since 2020 or late 2019) a big flock of Rodrigues Fruit Bats (only female now) in an aviary, with different other species, mainly from Indian Ocean islands and East Africa : Aldabra Giant Tortoises, Glossy Starlings (3 species), Von der Decken's Hornbills and, for a while, Coconut Crabs (now they're in backstage because they tried to escape digging the soil, and even fell from the top of the aviary).
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I think that the Indian Ocean Island species mix at Beauval sounds much better for Rodrigues fruit bats.

Maybe I'm just a little bit fastidious on this issue but I think when you have an endangered species in a zoo from a particular region like for example Mauritius in the case of that fruit bat and you then keep it together with something from a totally different biogeographic region like golden lion tamarins from the Atlantic rainforest Brazil even if the mix proves to be compatible what does it achieve in educational terms for visitors ?

I think what it does is just make the average visitor lump rainforests and fauna from all over the world together in their minds instead of learning about the different habitats / ecosystems and species native to these (and the threats these face) and you lose an opportunity in effective environmental education.

Maybe I'm wrong about that though, I don't know.
 
RatioTile said:
Also, does anyone have any tips for good bat photography? Dark exhibits + constant movement = really bad photos. I usually aim for the bats at rest or eating food in the bowls. Flying foxes are better because they're kept in light and they don't move much when roosting.
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I know this is late as I just seen this but I do have some experience with low light photography situations at zoos. It’s almost impossible to get good focus in low light situations with point and shoot cameras. You’ll need a DSLR or Mirrorless camera, full frame cameras tend to perform better in low light with better detail. You want to shoot on the widest aperture available, ideally: f/1.8, f/1.4, f/1.2. Depending how fast they are moving, make sure you’re on continuous focus unless you’re actually good at manual focusing. Shutter speed for a relatively fast animal especially birds or bats in flight, nothing less than 1/500. However by doing so, you will need to increase your ISO significantly ergo adding more grain to the photo and decrease in lack of sharpness. For moments when some bats are still, you can drop the shutter speed more and shoot between 1/125 and 1/250. It’ll allow for you to compensate for any sudden movements from your camera since low light photography the image can be more shaky. I shoot in low light using my Nikon Z50 and the NIKKOR Z 85mm f/1.8 S lens. It helps me get sharper images or at least as sharp as possible since no external light sources or flashes can be used. I hope this helped you and wish you luck getting what you need! :)
 
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