FURRY FOX BATS DIE AT 117 DEGREES
A hot Aussie summer is killing off hundreds fox bats. They have limited shade in Australia’s suburbs, and subsequently died outside Sydney, Australia over this past weekend. Extreme temperatures soared to 117 degrees Fahrenheit, this is the largest heat wave in the country since 1939.
RESCUE EFFORT FALLS SHORT IN AUSSIE SUMMER
The most recent report shows 224 bats have passed and been collected. Mostly juveniles whose brains were literally boiled from the extreme heat wave. In addition to the bat babies that were found dead lying on the ground, several hundred more remained unreachable in the trees. A rescue group organized the attempted recovery and body collection effort.
FOX BATS GOOD UNTIL 104 DEGREES
There are four species of flying fox bats in Australia alone and all are susceptible to extreme heat. Although they’ve adapted to warmer temperatures, the primarily fruit eating creatures have trouble regulating their body temperature when the weather goes above 104 degrees F. The juvenile bats are in bigger danger because they can’t regulate their bodies as well as adult fox bats, in the hot Aussie summer.
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GREAT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, FOX BATS NEEDED
Fox bats have the ability to fly, therefore they help in the following ways. In the regeneration of Australia’s forests and more importantly pollinating and dispersing the seeds of numerous native plant species.
MAN MADE THREAT, OTHER SIMILAR PROBLEMS
One wildlife group is further concerned about a scheduled fireworks demonstration for the local area later this month that could kill more bats unless it moves locations.
In the Northern Hemisphere, cold weather and the bomb cyclone has had sharks, iguanas and alligators, used to balmy weather, freezing, sometimes to death and other times into a sleeplike state from which they recover.
