Bat Diversity in Zoos

RatioTile

RatioTile

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Most zoos I've been to that have bats keep fruit bats, namely flying foxes, presumably due to ease of diet. I've also seen vampire bats once a very long time ago as part of a show at Universal Studios Hollywood, and the Japanese Pipistrelle at Ueno and Tama Zoos in Japan. According to Zootierliste, many European zoos keep a variety of insectivorous bats. Has anyone here seen and photographed them? I'm planning a trip to Asa Zoo in Japan, which has Greater Horseshoe Bat, East Asian Free-Tailed Bat, and Birdlike Noctule, which hopefully can be photographed. I'm interested in hearing what bat species ZooChatters have seen.
 
I have seen:

Large Flying Fox (Columbus)
Rodrigues Flying Fox (Brookfield)
Egyptian Fruit Bat (Brookfield, Lincoln Park, Minnesota, Timbavati Wildlife Park)
Ruwenzori Long-haired Fruit Bat (Milwaukee, Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary [now absent from the latter])
Long-haired Rousette (Minnesota)
Straw-colored Fruit Bat (Milwaukee, Racine, Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary)
Seba's Short-tailed Bat (Henry Vilas)
Common Vampire Bat (Milwaukee, Brookfield [now absent from the latter])
Big Brown Bat (Ledgeview Nature Center and a local educational outreach program)
Little Brown Bat (wild)
Eastern Red Bat (wild)
Hoary Bat (wild)

I've probably seen several more species in the wild but been unable to identify them.
 
I've seen a lot of bat species in zoos in my life, and even in the wild! But I mostly remember seeing vampire bats at multiple zoos, and a plethora flying fox species. With the occasional insectivorous bat mixed in!
 
RatioTile said:
According to Zootierliste, many European zoos keep a variety of insectivorous bats.
Click to expand...
No, they don't. A very limited number of European institutions keep very few insectivorous bats, usually single specimens of native species that can't be released back into the wild. The most common Yangochiroptera species in European zoos is Carollia perspicillata, which is mainly frugivorous. Others, such as Phyllostomus discolor, are at best omnivorous. Or nectarivorous / sanguivorous.
** on ZTL means that the species in question used to be kept in an European zoo, but is not kept any longer.
 
North Carolina Zoo has Common Vampire Bat. Greensboro Science Center had Egyptian Fruit Bats during my May 2018 visit (unsure if they are still there; the facility changed a lot between my previous 2 visits).

My August 2017 visit to Omaha HDZ yielded free-flying (!) Egyptian Fruit Bats in Lied Jungle, Straw-colored Fruit Bats in Expedition Madagascar, and various species in Kingdoms of the Night Unfortunately, I did not record what exact species they had, but off the top of my head, I remember Indian Fruit bats, Bulldog bats, Spear-nosed bats, and Vampire bats. I believe there is a recent(ish) species list floating around here somewhere that is accurate as far as I remember.
 
In general I've found that bat diversity is significantly better in European zoos than American zoos, however I by far the best zoo for bats I've been to is Omaha, which keeps a whopping 10 species!

Total, I've seen 24 species in captivity:
-Mexican Free-Tailed Bat (San Antonio Zoo)
-Greater Bulldog Bat (Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo)
-Jamaican Fruit Bat (Roger Williams Park Zoo, Tulsa Zoo, Wildlife World Zoo)
-Seba's Short-Tailed Bat (15 collections across the US and Europe)
-Common Vampire Bat (6 collections across the US, 1 in Europe)
-White-Winged Vampire Bat (Rosamond Gifford Zoo)
-Pallas's Long-Tongued Bat (Bronx Zoo, Houston Zoo, Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, Plzen Zoo)
-Southern Long-Nosed Bat (Krefeld Zoo, Plzen Zoo)
-Lesser Long-Nosed Bat (Fort Worth Zoo)
-Pale Spear-Nosed Bat (Nowe Zoo Poznan, Plzen Zoo)
-Greater Spear-Nosed Bat (Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo)
-Straw-Colored Bat (5 collections across the US, 1 in Europe)
-Gambian Epauletted Bat (Krefeld Zoo)
-Indian Flying Fox (Bronx Zoo, Cincinnati Zoo, Houston Zoo, Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, Sedgwick County Zoo)
-Vietnamese Small Flying Fox (Leipzig Zoo)
-Livingstone's Flying Fox (Bristol Zoo)
-Lyle's Flying Fox (Wroclaw Zoo)
-Little Golden-Mantled Flying Fox (Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo)
-Rodrigues Flying Fox (12 collections across the US and Europe)
-Little Red Flying Fox (Wingham Wildlife Park) *NO LONGER ALIVE
-Malaysian Flying Fox (Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo)
-Egyptian Fruit Bat (12 collections across the US and Europe)
-Ruwenzori Rousette (Franklin Park Zoo, Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo)
-Pallid Bat (Fort Worth Zoo)

~Thylo
 
@ThylacineAlive Several of your numbers regarding chiroptera husbandry in European zoos are incorrect. Among others:
- More than 40 institutions in Europe keep Carollia perspecillata
- Three European zoos keep Desmodus rotundus.
- Glossophaga soricina is kept in nine European zoos.
- Eidolon helvum is kept in a dozen institutions
etc etc.
Rousettus aegyptiacus, free-flying in a walk-through exhibit or not, is kept in a great number of European zoos.

As for American institutions keeping bats, the Lubee Bat Conservancy is vital for the furtherance of bat breeding in American zoos.
 
Batto said:
@ThylacineAlive Several of your numbers regarding chiroptera husbandry in European zoos are incorrect. Among others:
- More than 40 institutions in Europe keep Carollia perspecillata
- Three European zoos keep Desmodus rotundus.
- Glossophaga soricina is kept in nine European zoos.
- Eidolon helvum is kept in a dozen institutions
etc etc.
Rousettus aegyptiacus, free-flying in a walk-through exhibit or not, is kept in a great number of European zoos.

As for American institutions keeping bats, the Lubee Bat Conservancy is vital for the furtherance of bat breeding in American zoos.
Click to expand...
He was only listing the places where he has seen the species.
 
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.
 
Batto said:
@ThylacineAlive Several of your numbers regarding chiroptera husbandry in European zoos are incorrect. Among others:
- More than 40 institutions in Europe keep Carollia perspecillata
- Three European zoos keep Desmodus rotundus.
- Glossophaga soricina is kept in nine European zoos.
- Eidolon helvum is kept in a dozen institutions
etc etc.
Rousettus aegyptiacus, free-flying in a walk-through exhibit or not, is kept in a great number of European zoos.

As for American institutions keeping bats, the Lubee Bat Conservancy is vital for the furtherance of bat breeding in American zoos.
Click to expand...

As @Chlidonias said, I was only listing where I'd seen them. Most of the species on my list are kept at more places. Thanks for the overall totals, though! Lubee has a few species not kept/viewable elsewhere, though I don't recall what off-hand.

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.
Click to expand...

Option A: Blind them with flash
Option B: Don't do option A.

Unfortunately that's about all I can say on the matter. I don't really try photographing bats not kept in diurnal settings.

~Thylo
 
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.
Click to expand...

ThylacineAlive said:
Option A: Blind them with flash
Option B: Don't do option A.

Unfortunately that's about all I can say on the matter. I don't really try photographing bats not kept in diurnal settings.
Click to expand...

My best advice is to choose a bat in the most well-lit area of the enclosure, wait until it's relatively still, then take a bunch of photos and hope something turns out well. I don't really know how flash photography affects animals, so I personally always choose option B and tell myself, "Bats are hard to photograph. C'est la vie."

@Arizona Docent does a lot of photography, he might have some tips.
 
I've seen more bat species in the wild (European / temperate and Neotropical) but have seen more than a couple of interesting species in zoos over the years too.

Latin America :

Lesser long nosed bat - Los Coyotes zoo, Mexico

Common vampire bat - ZOOMAT , Mexico

Egyptian fruit bat - Chapultepec zoo , Mexico

Malagasy flying fox - Zoo Leon , Mexico

Large flying fox - Sao Paulo aquarium , Brazil

Europe:

Seba's short tailed bat - ZSL , UK

Rodrigues flying fox - ZSL , UK

Livingstone fruit bat - Bristol zoo , UK (Long time ago)
 
The Detroit Zoo was going to convert the former Penguinarium into a bat conservation center; I don't know what species were contemplated.

However, like most zoo, I'd guess, the shutdown has cost the zoo a lot of money and the contractor who built the new penguin display screwed up, there was leakage, and it was closed last year until this month...or later. So they've put the penguins over there, not on display. I haven't been able to find any current information on the status of the project. I'll report if I learn any.
 
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