Mariana Fruit Bat
| Mariana Fruit Bat | |
|---|---|
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Chiroptera |
| Family: | Pteropodidae |
| Genus: | Pteropus |
| Species: | P. mariannus |
| Binomial name | |
| Pteropus mariannus Desmarest, 1822 |
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| Mariana Fruit Bat range | |
The Mariana Fruit Bat (Pteropus mariannus), also known as the Mariana flying fox, and the fanihi in Chamorro is a megabat that is found only on Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and Ulithi (an atoll in the Caroline Islands). Habitat loss has driven it to endangered status and it is listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Poachers and food hunters harmed this bat as well as other animals and natural causes.
The Mariana Fruit Bat is a mid-sized bat which weighs between 0.6 to 1.1 lbs (33 - 57.7 dag), and has a forearm length of 5.3 to 6.1 inches (13.4 to 15.6 cm). Males of the species are slightly larger in size than the females. Their abdomens are colored from black to brown, while also having gray hairs. The mantle and the neck are a brighter brown to golden brown color and the head varies from brown to black. Their ears are rounded and their eyes large, giving it the features of a canid, and it is from this that many Megabats are called Flying Foxes.[1]
The bat is a culinary delicacy by Chamorros. Eating fruit bat and is linked to neurological disease called Lytico-Bodig disease. Paul Alan Cox from the Hawaiian National Tropical Botanical Garden in Kalaheo, and Oliver Sacks from Albert Einstein College in New York, found out that the bats consumed large quantities of cycad seeds, and - like some eagles, which were shown to build up levels of the pesticide DDT in fat tissue - probably accumulate the toxins to dangerous levels.[2]
The current population numbers as are of yet unobtained but one known concentration is on Ritidian Point in Guam.[3]
[edit] Subspecies
This species has three subspecies[4]
- Pteropus mariannus mariannus (Guam Mariana Fruit Bat)
- Pteropus mariannus paganensis (Pagan Mariana Fruit Bat)
- Pteropus mariannus ulthiensis (Ulithi Mariana Fruit Bat)
[edit] References
- ^ "Mariana fruit Bat (=Mariana flying fox) (Pteropus mariannus mariannus)", U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Environmental Conservation Online System
- ^ "Bat-Eating Linked to Neurological Illness", National Geographic, June 13, 2003
- ^ Maxfield, Barbara (2009-07-22). Guam National Wildlife Refuge Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan Released for Public Review and Comment. US Fish and Wildlife Service. http://www.fws.gov/pacific/planning/main/docs/HI-PI/Guam/DCCP%20Press%20Release.pdf. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
- ^ Don E. Wilson & DeeAnn M. Reeder (editors). 2005. Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed), Johns Hopkins University Press, 2,142 pp. (Available from Johns Hopkins University Press, 1-800-537-5487 or (410) 516-6900, or at http://www.press.jhu.edu).
[edit] External links
- "Endangered Species in the Pacific Islands: Mariana Fruit Bats / Fanihi", U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Pacific Islands Fish & Wildlife Office
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