 | Script Audiovisual Program photos copyright: Merlin D. Tuttle Produced by: Bat Conservation International Inc. P.O. Box 162603 Austin, Texas 78716 |
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| Script Audiovisual Program photos copyright: Merlin D. Tuttle Produced by: Bat Conservation International Inc. P.O. Box 162603 Austin, Texas 78716 |
| IMAGES | SCRIPT |
| 1. Title slide | Bats: Rain Forest Allies |
| 2. Aerial view of South American rain forest habitat | Rain forests are home to over half of our earth's plant and animal species, including... |
| 3. Gambian epauletted fruit bats (Epomophorus gambianus) roosting in family group | almost 700 kinds of bats that play key ecological roles. |
| 4. Pallas' long-tongued nectar bat (Glossophaga soricina) pollinating Tricanthera | They pollinate many kinds of flowers... |
| 5. Gambian epauletted fruit bat (Epomophorus gambianus) picking fig from bunch | disperse seeds essential to reforestation... |
| 6. Waterhouse's leaf-nosed bat (Macrotus waterhousii) in flight with katydid | keep vast numbers of night-flying insects in check and much more. |
| 7. Gray-headed flying foxes (Pteropus poliocephalus) colony roosting near Sydney, Australia | In fact, bats are the most abundant and diverse of tropical rain forest mammals worldwide. |
| 8. Lyle's flying fox (Pteropus lylei) roosting | Flying foxes that live in Australia, Asia and Africa, come in a striking variety: |
| 9. Little red flying fox (Pteropus scapulatus) portrait | some with winsome faces... |
| 10. Gambian epauletted fruit bat (Epomophorus gambianus) portrait | others with fluffy fur and doe-like eyes, and a few with... |
| 11. Spectacled flying fox (Pteropus conspicillatus) portrait | spectacles. Some Latin American bats even seem to resemble... |
| 12. Tome's sword-nosed bat (Lonchorhina aurita) portrait | dinosaurs, while others have... |
| 13. Wrinkle-faced bat (Centurio senex) portrait | bizarre faces like aliens from another planet... |
| 14. Chapin's free-tailed bat (Chaerephon chapini) portrait | crests they can spread like peacock tails, or even... |
| 15. Australian ghost bat (Macroderma gigas) portrait | ears that would make a jackrabbit jealous. This Australian ghost-faced bat (Macroderma gigas) is a carnivore that uses its huge ears to detect the footsteps of mice and other small animals upon which it feeds. |
| 16. Spix's disk-winged bats (Thyroptera tricolor) roosting in banana leaf | Disc-winged bats have suction-cups on their wrists and feet, enabling them to walk on the slick inner surfaces of unfurling leaves where they live. |
| 17. Heliconia leaf | A variety of other bats have learned to cut the midribs of large leaves to form tents that protect them from tropical rains and predators. |
| 18. White fruit bats (Ectophylla alba) roosting in leaf tent | These Honduran white bats (Ectophylla alba) have cut a large Heliconia leaf, in which... |
| 19. White fruit bats (Ectophylla alba) roosting in leaf tent (close up) | small groups live for several weeks at a time before having to make new tents. |
| 20. Long-tongued dawn fruit bats (Eonycteris spelaea) roosting in cave | Most rain forest bats form larger colonies in caves, some including millions of individuals whose... |
| 21. Wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bat (Chaerephon plicata) emergence over Thai rain forest | spectacular twilight emergences can be seen for miles around. Such colonies can have enormous ecological and even economic impact. |
| 22. Mexican free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis) in flight with moth | Free-tailed bats from single caves containing tens of millions can consume hundreds of tons of insects nightly. Since many of these insects are capable of laying thousands of eggs each, bats are vitally important in maintaining the balance of nature. |
| 23. Niceforo's big-eared bat (Micronycteris nicefori) roosting with roach in mouth | Bats hunt a wide variety of insects, including many that are serious pests of humans. |
| 24. D'Orbigny's round-eared bat (Tonatia syvicola) listening to footsteps of katydid | Some bats use their large ears to hear even the faintest footsteps of a walking katydid. |
| 25. Fringe-lipped bat (Trachops cirrhosus) catching frog from pond | Frog-eating bats simply home in on their prey by listening for a frog's mating calls. The bats identify each species by its unique voice, avoiding frogs that are poisonous or too large to eat. Most bats, including... |
| 26. Greater bulldog bat (Noctilio leporinus) in flight with echolocation diagram | fishing bats that live in Latin America, use extremely sophisticated echolocation. They emit high-frequency calls that bounce off objects in their paths. The echoes allow bats to form visual images of their surroundings, and in this case to detect the tiny tip of a minnow's fin at a pond's surface. |
| 27. Greater bulldog bat (Noctilio leporinus) fishing | Once the minnow is located, the bat dips its huge hind feet into the water with split-second timing to snatch... |
| 28. Greater bulldog bat (Noctilio leporinus) with fish in feet | the unsuspecting minnow, which will be carried off to a convenient perch and eaten. |
| 29. African long-tongued fruit bat (Megaloglossus woermanni) pollinating African butter and tallow (Pentadesma butyracea) flower | Other bats use large eyes and sensitive noses to detect a wide variety of tropical fruits and flowers that produce unique odors and visual cues designed specifically to attract bats. Flowers that rely on bats are typically light colored, making them more visible at night. |
| 30. Hummingbird at Ipomoea guamoclit flower | Red flowers more often attract birds. These are shaped specifically to accommodate a hummingbird's narrow bill. They also open and produce most of their nectar during the day when hummingbirds are active. The diversity of tropical forest vegetation is largely a result of co-evolution between flowering plants and the animals. |
| 31. Butterfly at Lantana flower | Flowers, such as this Lantana, are so tiny that only a butterfly's tongue can enter. |
| 32. "Wrong" bee at Senna flower | In many cases the relationship between a plant and its pollinator is so precise that only a single species of insect, bird or bat can successfully pollinate its flowers. Senna flowers are pollinated by bumblebees. This bee is too small to extract pollen or to contact the flower's reproductive organs. |
| 33. Bumblebee at Senna flower | When the larger bumblebee arrives, its weight tips the flower downward, releasing pollen. The bee's thick body contacts the flower's reproductive organs in the manner required to transfer pollen. |
| 34. Gray-headed flying fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) pollinating bloodwood tree flowers | A flower's size is not necessarily indicative of the size of its pollinator. In Australia many trees of the Eucalypt family produce large clumps of tiny flowers, enabling giant flying foxes with four-foot wing-spans (1.2 m.) to visit hundreds at once. Plants that rely on bats for pollination, come in an amazing variety. Some, such as.... |
| 35. Southern blossom bat (Syconycteris australis) pollinating swamp banksia flower | this swamp banksia from Australia, hardly even look like flowers. |
| 36. Commissaris' nectar bats (Glossophaga commissarisi) approaching mucuna flowers | These mucuna flowers open and release pollen only when visited by small nectar-feeding bats. Special triggering devices fire pollen onto bats but are not tripped by insects. As plants and animals adapt to each other, the odds of survival in relatively stable tropical environments increase. However, any change that harms one, threatens both. |
| 37. Underwood's long-tongued bat (Hylonycteris underwoodi) pollinating Matisia flower | Matisia flowers are apparently so highly specialized that only the Underwood's long-tongued bat is attracted. |
| 38. Close-up of Underwood's long-tongued bat (Hylonycteris underwoodi) pollinating Matisia flower | The flower's unique shape requires a tiny bat with a long nose to arrive at a relatively high speed. In order to reach the nectar deep inside, the bat's rump must contact the flower's hand-shaped reproductive organs. |
| 39. Black flying fox (Pteropus alecto) at bottle brush flower | Some flowers, such as this Australian bottle brush, are adapted to accommodate a wide variety of pollinators, including both birds and bats. They may not be as efficiently pollinated, but they are also less dependent on a single type of pollinator. |
| 40. Bat-dependent fruits | Many rain forest plants that rely on bats to pollinate their flowers or disperse their seeds are familiar and of great economic value. These include bananas and plantains, peaches, avocados and mangoes and many more exotic kinds, such as jack fruit and durian. |
| 41. Durian market | The durian alone, seen here in Singapore, is worth over $120 million annually to Southeast Asian markets. A single fruit can sell for as much as $40. |
| 42. Durian flowers at dusk | Durian flowers open at dusk and are visited by... |
| 43. Long-tongued dawn fruit bat (Eonycteris spelaea) pollinating durian flowers | small flying fox bats. The bats play an important role because the flowers must be pollinated in order to produce fruit. |
| 44. Short-nosed fruit bat (Cynopterus sphinx) pollinating wild banana flower | This short-nosed fruit bat (Cynopterus sphinx) is pollinating wild banana flowers in Thailand. Although cultivated bananas do not produce seeds or need pollination, wild ancestral varieties continue to rely on bats. These plants are sometimes the only source of genes required to combat disease or improve the productivity of commercial bananas. |
| 45. Jamaican fruit bat (Artibeus jamaicensis) pollinating balsa flower | In Latin America, balsa wood harvests continue to rely on bats for pollination, as do many other tropical timber trees worldwide. |
| 46. Spectacled flying fox (Pteropus conspicillatus) pollinating black bean | The black bean tree, here being pollinated by a spectacled flying fox (Pteropus conspicillatus), is one of Australia's most prized sources of wood for veneers, furniture and carving. Rain forest bats also play essential roles as they migrate seasonally into surrounding habitats. |
| 47. Baobab trees in African savannah | The famous baobab of East African savannas is often referred to as the "Tree of Life" because so many other plants and animals depend on it for their survival. Yet it relies on bats as key pollinators. |
| 48. Wahlberg's epauletted fruit bat (Epomophorus wahlbergi) approaching baobab flower | The baobab's snowy white flowers open soon after sundown and are specifically adapted to be pollinated by bats. |
| 49. Wahlberg's epauletted fruit bat (Epomophorus wahlbergi) pollinating baobab flower | As a bat lands on the flower to sip nectar, its neck and chest become coated with pollen, which it then transports to other flowers while feeding. |
| 50. Baobab trees silhouetted at sunset | Without bats, the baobab could die out, threatening the lives of numerous other plants and animals throughout the region. |
| 51. Seba's short-tailed bat (Carollia perspicillata) approaching piper fruit | Worldwide, bats that eat fruit also play key roles in maintaining tropical ecosystems. Fruits are produced as an incentive to induce animals to transport seeds away from parent plants. This short-tailed fruit bat (Carollia perspicillata) is about to take a piper fruit in Costa Rica. |
| 52. Seba's short-tailed bat (Carollia perspicillata) in flight with piper fruit | Piper fruits are specifically designed so bats can snatch them quickly as they fly by. The fruit is carried away... |
| 53. Seba's short-tailed bat (Carollia perspicillata) eating piper fruit while roosting | to a safe perch, allowing the bat to avoid predators, such as owls and snakes, which often hunt at fruit trees. Just one short-tailed fruit bat (Carollia perspicillata) may transport as many as 60,000 seeds to new locations in a single night. Thus even a small colony can account for enormous numbers of seedlings growing in new locations each year. |
| 54. Slash-and-burn of rain forest | As more and more rain forest areas are cut, reforestation by seed-dispersing bats becomes ever more important. |
| 55. Peters' dwarf epauletted fruit bat (Micropteropus pusillus) eating fig | In West Africa small flying foxes account for up to 98 percent of forest regeneration on abandoned farm lands. |
| 56. Yellow-shouldered bat (Sturnira lilium) picking Solanum | In Latin America, yellow-shouldered (Sturnira lilium) and other small fruit bats also can have a dramatic impact through their nightly transport of seeds. |
| 57. Yellow-shouldered bat (Sturnira lilium) in flight with Solanum fruit | Solanum seeds are just some of many pioneer types carried into clearings almost exclusively by bats. |
| 58. Barren area showing early re-growth of Solanum | In this South American clearing the first pioneer plants to regrow came from seeds carried by bats. These extra-hardy species assure shade and moisture in the barren clearing, conditions essential to the survival and growth of delicate forest vegetation. |
| 59. Same barren area three years later | Three years later, reforestation has progressed to a point where other animals, especially birds, can assist the process begun by bats. Birds, too, serve as essential seed dispersers, but since they primarily drop seeds only beneath existing perches, they have little impact until the first pioneer plants grow. |
| 60. Pallas' long-tongued nectar bats (Glossophaga soricina) roosting in cave | Unfortunately, rain forest bats, especially those that live in caves, are among the most rapidly declining of tropical animals. In Latin America they are often confused... |
| 61. Common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) roosting in cave | with vampire bats. The common vampire... |
| 62. Common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) feeding on cow | does feed on cattle and other livestock, has become overpopulated and often must be controlled. |
| 63. Wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bat (Chaerephon plicata) emergence from cave | Unfortunately, beneficial bats that form far larger, more conspicuous colonies in caves are the most easily found and mistakenly killed instead of vampires, sometimes millions at a time. |
| 64. Marianas flying foxes (Pteropus mariannus) colony on Guam | Rain forest bats on Pacific islands are killed for other reasons. Several flying fox species are already endangered or extinct due to unregulated commercial hunting for food. These are among the last survivors on the island of Guam, where... |
| 65. Inspection officers in Guam | game wardens are working diligently to protect both local and imported species from illegal trade. Hundreds of thousands have been killed, though populations can recover where protection is afforded. |
| 66. Marianas flying fox (Pteropus mariannus) pollinating Frycinetia flower | Protection of flying foxes is essential because island trees and shrubs are especially dependent upon them both for pollination and seed dispersal. |
| 67. Guam rain forest habitat | More than half of Guam's tree species rely on flying foxes. |
| 68. Marianas flying fox (Pteropus mariannus) feeding on cycad | Most of the island's fruits are too large for birds or any other animals to carry... |
| 69. Marianas flying fox (Pteropus mariannus) feeding on chuite fruit | making survival of the endangered Marianas fruit bat especially vital. Some progress is being made. For example... |
| 70. American Samoa rain forest habitat | this rain forest in American Samoa is now protected as a flying fox sanctuary. It is a part of the United States National Park System. |
| 71. Gray-headed flying foxes (Pteropus poliocephalus) roosting in small camp | Many flying foxes throughout the Old World tropics are intensely persecuted out of concern from... |
| 72. Fruit harvest near Sydney, Australia | fruit growers who fear the bats will damage crops. |
| 73. Gray-headed flying fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) pollinating brush box | Flying foxes typically feed on native fruits and flowers. |
| 74. Farmers picking green mangoes | Most commercial fruits, such as these mangoes, must be picked green for shipment and thus do not appeal to bats. |
| 75. Egyptian rousette fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) eating mango | Flying foxes do visit orchards to eat fruits that ripen prematurely or that are missed by pickers. Such fruits cannot be marketed anyway. Growers seldom lose marketable fruit except during times of extreme drought when starving bats search for alternative food. |
| 76. Netting over Australian fruit orchard | Smart growers near Sydney, Australia, are increasingly covering their crops with netting that protects fruit from flying foxes as well as from birds and hail that cause even greater damage. The netting also promotes early ripening. |
| 77. Little red flying fox (Pteropus scapulatus) pollinating bloodwood tree | Such progress is encouraging and vital not only to Australia's flying foxes, but also to the native forests which rely on them. |
| 78. Lyle's flying foxes (Pteropus lylei) returning to roost at sunrise | Single flying fox colonies once numbered into the hundreds of thousands and even millions, but today several species are already extinct and many have declined to less than 10 percent of former numbers. They, and the rain forests that depend on them, urgently need our help and understanding in order to survive. |
| 79. Gambian epauletted fruit bat (Epomophorus gambianus) mother roosting with young | Bat Conservation International is working hard to reverse years of neglect and misunderstanding of bats. We cannot do this without your help. We urge you to become involved in support of both bats and tropical rain forest issues. |
| 80. Tongan flying fox (Pteropus tonganus) roosting | Credit Slide |
Bats: Rainforest Allies Script
Mini Slide Set: Rare and Endangered Bats List of Images
Mini Slide Set: Common North American Bats List of Images
Mini Slide Set: Bats in Eastern North American Forests List of Images
Mini Slide Set: Bats in Western North American Forests List of Images
Mini Slide Set: Bats: Partners in Pollination List of Images
Los Murcielagos de America Latina
(English language script for review only)
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