Gambian Epauletted Fruit Bat
Encyclopedia
The Gambian Epauletted Fruit Bat (Epomophorus gambianus) is a species of megabat
in the Pteropodidae family.
The species is known to travel in packs and are also known to be tropical. It is found in Benin
, Burkina Faso
, Cameroon
, Central African Republic
, Chad
, Democratic Republic of the Congo
, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia
, Gambia, Ghana
, Guinea
, Guinea-Bissau
, Liberia
, Mali
, Nigeria
, Senegal
, Sierra Leone
, Sudan
, and Togo
. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, dry savanna, and moist savanna. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Populations of epauletted fruit bats are threatened by pesticides on fruit, human disturbance and over-collecting in the past. However the number one reason it may be threatened is habitat destruction. All bats are protected under the Wildlife Act, 1975. (Kunz, Thomas and Paul Racey)
Mostly found in Africa, these creatures have grayish-brown color fur with a white patch at the base of their ear in both males and females. These fruit bats are also very noisy creatures. The male makes a noise somewhat like a dog's bark but it is known to the other bats to be a musical sound.
It is very easy to tell the male fruit bat from the female fruit bat. In comparison the males are usually larger than the females. The males also have gland-like pouches in the skin of their shoulder, that is surrounded by light colored patches and/or tufts of fur. Thus, one of the reasons why they are named Gambian Epauletted Fruit Bats, it produces the effect of epaulettes; a decorative or ornamental piece. The only way one would be able to see the epaulettes is when the male becomes stressed or sexually stimulated. Both males and females have small rounded ears, with a dog-like muzzle. (Neuweiler)
Their head and body length are usually 125–250 mm and their wing span is about 508 mm for the males. This creature also has a tail that is hard to detect beneath the inter femoral membrane.
Both male and female Gambian Epauletted Fruit bats are about the length of a forearm, 60–100 mm. The species is known to hang off of evergreen trees during the day alone or spread out from one another and travel in packs of hundreds during the late hours of the night in the forest of Africa.
The social behavior within fruit-bat camps does not stop at individual family groups. The whole colony is organized, with separate peripheral groups of immatures and non-breeding adults. The epauletted fruit bats travel in small groups of six to twenty bats. When the fruit bats
are in flight, they remain together in long processions. The leaders often change, yet they retain the same direction of flight(Mickleburgh).
They frequently sniff at each other’s scent glands to establish personal recognition. Which represents high levels of social organization. When one is shot down, they show great concern and gather round swooping low to inspect it; a sign of affinity rather than totally independent behaviour. They roost during the day in mango trees and bamboo reeds or other trees. The Gambian Epauletted Fruit bats hang upside down alone or in groups up to twenty. The species' droppings support whole ecosystems of unique organisms, including bacteria useful in detoxifying wastes, and producing gasohol. This species feeds on nectar and fruits of many West African trees, presumably acting as pollinator
and/or seed
disperser. Some flowering trees depend on the bats for pollination
(Fenton).
The pack move during sunset in large flocks from resting areas to feeding areas. To avoid predators, the bats will carry fruit away from the tree before eating. Over several nights bats may carry more than a ton of seeds from a single wild fig tree, dramatically increasing the number of seedlings that will survive in new locations. The fruit bats spend over half their lives roosting in various places(Wilson).
On the outskirts of the camp non-territorial males act as guards. They are alert to the slightest disturbance. They perform a visual inspection and either give a loud alarm signal, or remain still, keeping an eye open (Nowalk).
The Gambian Epauletted Fruit bats are unlike other bats because they use sight rather than echolocation
to find food. They also rely heavily on their smell because they use it to locate food and establish bonds with one another(Nowalk).
The fig is not a very nutritious food source because it is low in protein and high in sugar, but it is abundant, so the bats must cover a large amount of trees to receive the nutrition necessary to sustain flight and feed their young.
But these bats are not limited to eating just figs they have also been known to feed on bananas, mangoes, guavas, and the nectar from the Parka Clappertoniana flowers. They feed on all of the above but the fig is the primary source because it is in bloom longer than the rest. The Epauletted Fruit Bat has been known to spend eight to ten hours flying around from tree to tree eating because they burn more energy flying than the receive from the figs. (Morris)
It is very important that these bats spend so much time getting food because if not then they will not have enough nutrients to give to their young and their babies will not survive. The young do stay in the nest while the parents retrieve the food but instead hang on to its mother's teats in flight. This is only until about five weeks, when the bat begins to learn to fly and sheds its milk teeth. (Fenton)
. The males of these species are usually larger than the females and in addition possess glandular pouches in the skin of the shoulder which are surrounded by light colored tufts of hair. These produce the effect of epaulets, and are how the species received its name (Wilson).
The species have more than one mate at a time. The males emit mating calls during the breeding season; which is around April to May and October to November (Wimsatt).
Males fly at night to different locations to mate. There, they begin courting calls which attracts the females. While making their mating calls, males will flash snowy white patches of fur on their shoulders, called epaulets, which are usually concealed. Because they do this at night, the large white furs are more visible under the lighting conditions (Wilson).
The gestation
period usually lasts about six months, and pregnant females will roost apart from the males. There is usually one young per birth (Morris).
Although fertilization ensues immediately after mating, there is little development of the embryo. The delay in embryonic development ensures that birth coincides with a season when food is abundant enough to maintain lactating females, which have a high demand for energy. The delay in embryonic development also permits mating to take place when both males and females are in prime physical condition and have access to good supplies of food (Wimsatt).
Newborns grow rapidly, with various parts of their bodies growing at different rates. At birth, the thumbs and hind feet are almost adult size, and grow very little. However, the forearm and other bones supporting the wing enlarge quickly, producing a wing area in adults that is 10 times the size at birth. They rapidly gain weight until they are weaned. But once they begin to eat fruit instead of their mother's milk, their body weight decrease and they use up the fat reserve they have built up during nursing (Wimsatt).
At birth the species are equipped with distinctive milk teeth that appear to be useless as tools for eating solid food, but help them attach to their mother's teats. The shedding of milk teeth and the emergence of permanent teeth occurs at about the same time as the bats learn to fly and begin to eat fruit (Fenton).
The lifespan of this bat is long for being such a small mammal. Most epauletted fruit bats can live up to 28 years, and average about 21 years. The mechanism for such long life in bats is not know with certainty. Some suggest the longevity in bats is related to the calpain
content of neurons (Fenton).
The epauletted fruit bat's geographic range is from southern Zaire
and Tanzania
to eastern south Africa
, and southern Sudan
and Ethiopia
to Senegal
and southern Mali
(Wilson). They are typically a lowland species occurring below 500 meters above sea level, however the Ethiopian populations have been found to occur up to 2,000 meters above sea level. It is native to the countries of Benin
, Burkina Faso
, Cameroon
, Central African Republic
, Chad
, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo
, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana
, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia
, Mali, Nigeria
, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Togo
(Mickleburgh).
As a fairly adaptable species to many types of environments, they can be found in a variety of habitats ranging from the dry savanna, moist savanna, mosaic, bushland, tropical dry forests, and subtropical dry forests habitats. They have also been reported to inhabit areas of partially degraded forest, mangrove, and swamp forest habitats. This species of bats prefer to live on the edge of forests and they tend to roost in places ranging from thick foliage, accumulated roots along stream banks, below the thatch of open sheds, and large tree hollows (Fenton).
The species also tend to roost in small groups or as individuals. They can also roost low in trees during the day, undisturbed by the presence of people and even within areas that receive considerable light. These bats have been known to have a presence in agricultural areas with orchards of bananas, figs, mangoes, guavas, and other fruits. They have made the move to human areas due to encroachment by humans into their natural habitats (Reeder).
, but they also suffer the symptoms of the disease
and eventually die from it. Bats are not unaffected carriers of rabies. So if all bats had rabies, there would be no bats in the world. When bat specimens are sent into state laboratories for testing, the number of bats with rabies is around 5-10%. This figure is highly inflated because only those bats that are suspected of having rabies are brought in to be tested. Past research indicates that the actual incidence of rabies in bat populations is less than 0.5% in most areas. (Bats and Rabies)
It is also often believed that if a rabid animal contracts the rabies virus, that it will attack you; that is not always the case. The disease can manifest in two ways. The animal can be come paralyzed, or it can become aggressive. Bats will usually exhibit the paralytic form of rabies, which immobilizes the animal. Although they are not usually aggressive, bats will bite if they are threatened(Bat Conservation).
Rabies is a deadly viral disease of the central nervous system
. In almost all cases, the virus is passed on through the bite, contact with infected saliva, nervous tissues, open wounds or the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose and mouth of an infected animal. Like all other animals, if bats get infected with this disease, they will die. (Bat conservation)
If humans come in contact with rabies, it is far worse. After the infection has happened, symptoms can developed about 10 days to seven months.
Some warning signs that occur include pain, burning and numbness at the place of infection. Also people with the disease nag about not being able to sleep, headaches, irritability, difficulty swallowing and throat spasms. They fear of swallowing because it causes foaming at the mouth. (Bat Conservation)
When the systems appear, death follows 2-12 days after. If any bat bites a person they should get tested right away for rabies and treatment should be immediately.
Most marks or bites from bats cannot be detected. Most punctures are a millimeter or less in diameter. Post-exposures treatment should be handled and get a shot. If a human is exposed to rabies, one should get initial IM injection of Human Rabies immune Globulin, otherwise known as HRIG. (Bats and Rabies)
Megabat
Megabats constitute the suborder Megachiroptera, family Pteropodidae of the order Chiroptera . They are also called fruit bats, old world fruit bats, or flying foxes.-Description:...
in the Pteropodidae family.
The species is known to travel in packs and are also known to be tropical. It is found in Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
, Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
, Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
, Central African Republic
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the north east, South Sudan in the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west. The CAR covers a land area of about ,...
, Chad
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, Gambia, Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
, Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau
The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Senegal to the north, and Guinea to the south and east, with the Atlantic Ocean to its west....
, Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
, Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
, Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
, Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, and Togo
Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately...
. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, dry savanna, and moist savanna. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Populations of epauletted fruit bats are threatened by pesticides on fruit, human disturbance and over-collecting in the past. However the number one reason it may be threatened is habitat destruction. All bats are protected under the Wildlife Act, 1975. (Kunz, Thomas and Paul Racey)
Mostly found in Africa, these creatures have grayish-brown color fur with a white patch at the base of their ear in both males and females. These fruit bats are also very noisy creatures. The male makes a noise somewhat like a dog's bark but it is known to the other bats to be a musical sound.
It is very easy to tell the male fruit bat from the female fruit bat. In comparison the males are usually larger than the females. The males also have gland-like pouches in the skin of their shoulder, that is surrounded by light colored patches and/or tufts of fur. Thus, one of the reasons why they are named Gambian Epauletted Fruit Bats, it produces the effect of epaulettes; a decorative or ornamental piece. The only way one would be able to see the epaulettes is when the male becomes stressed or sexually stimulated. Both males and females have small rounded ears, with a dog-like muzzle. (Neuweiler)
Their head and body length are usually 125–250 mm and their wing span is about 508 mm for the males. This creature also has a tail that is hard to detect beneath the inter femoral membrane.
Both male and female Gambian Epauletted Fruit bats are about the length of a forearm, 60–100 mm. The species is known to hang off of evergreen trees during the day alone or spread out from one another and travel in packs of hundreds during the late hours of the night in the forest of Africa.
Behavior
The Gambian Epauletted Fruit bats are frugivorous and will appear wherever fig, mango, guava or banana trees are in fruit.The social behavior within fruit-bat camps does not stop at individual family groups. The whole colony is organized, with separate peripheral groups of immatures and non-breeding adults. The epauletted fruit bats travel in small groups of six to twenty bats. When the fruit bats
Fruit Bats
Fruit Bats is an American rock band formed in 1997 in Chicago. Noted as an early entrant into the folk-rock boom of the early 2000s, the group has had many personnel changes but revolves around singer/songwriter Eric D. Johnson.-History:In 2000, Eric D...
are in flight, they remain together in long processions. The leaders often change, yet they retain the same direction of flight(Mickleburgh).
They frequently sniff at each other’s scent glands to establish personal recognition. Which represents high levels of social organization. When one is shot down, they show great concern and gather round swooping low to inspect it; a sign of affinity rather than totally independent behaviour. They roost during the day in mango trees and bamboo reeds or other trees. The Gambian Epauletted Fruit bats hang upside down alone or in groups up to twenty. The species' droppings support whole ecosystems of unique organisms, including bacteria useful in detoxifying wastes, and producing gasohol. This species feeds on nectar and fruits of many West African trees, presumably acting as pollinator
Pollinator
A pollinator is the biotic agent that moves pollen from the male anthers of a flower to the female stigma of a flower to accomplish fertilization or syngamy of the female gamete in the ovule of the flower by the male gamete from the pollen grain...
and/or seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
disperser. Some flowering trees depend on the bats for pollination
Pollination
Pollination is the process by which pollen is transferred in plants, thereby enabling fertilisation and sexual reproduction. Pollen grains transport the male gametes to where the female gamete are contained within the carpel; in gymnosperms the pollen is directly applied to the ovule itself...
(Fenton).
The pack move during sunset in large flocks from resting areas to feeding areas. To avoid predators, the bats will carry fruit away from the tree before eating. Over several nights bats may carry more than a ton of seeds from a single wild fig tree, dramatically increasing the number of seedlings that will survive in new locations. The fruit bats spend over half their lives roosting in various places(Wilson).
On the outskirts of the camp non-territorial males act as guards. They are alert to the slightest disturbance. They perform a visual inspection and either give a loud alarm signal, or remain still, keeping an eye open (Nowalk).
The Gambian Epauletted Fruit bats are unlike other bats because they use sight rather than echolocation
Animal echolocation
Echolocation, also called biosonar, is the biological sonar used by several kinds of animals.Echolocating animals emit calls out to the environment and listen to the echoes of those calls that return from various objects near them. They use these echoes to locate and identify the objects...
to find food. They also rely heavily on their smell because they use it to locate food and establish bonds with one another(Nowalk).
Diet
As noted before the bat is a small fruit eating mammal that is found mainly in southern Africa. These bats can be found flying from tree to tree feeding on their primary food source the fig.The fig is not a very nutritious food source because it is low in protein and high in sugar, but it is abundant, so the bats must cover a large amount of trees to receive the nutrition necessary to sustain flight and feed their young.
But these bats are not limited to eating just figs they have also been known to feed on bananas, mangoes, guavas, and the nectar from the Parka Clappertoniana flowers. They feed on all of the above but the fig is the primary source because it is in bloom longer than the rest. The Epauletted Fruit Bat has been known to spend eight to ten hours flying around from tree to tree eating because they burn more energy flying than the receive from the figs. (Morris)
It is very important that these bats spend so much time getting food because if not then they will not have enough nutrients to give to their young and their babies will not survive. The young do stay in the nest while the parents retrieve the food but instead hang on to its mother's teats in flight. This is only until about five weeks, when the bat begins to learn to fly and sheds its milk teeth. (Fenton)
Reproduction
The Gambian Epauletted Fruit bats show sexual dimorphismSexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
. The males of these species are usually larger than the females and in addition possess glandular pouches in the skin of the shoulder which are surrounded by light colored tufts of hair. These produce the effect of epaulets, and are how the species received its name (Wilson).
The species have more than one mate at a time. The males emit mating calls during the breeding season; which is around April to May and October to November (Wimsatt).
Males fly at night to different locations to mate. There, they begin courting calls which attracts the females. While making their mating calls, males will flash snowy white patches of fur on their shoulders, called epaulets, which are usually concealed. Because they do this at night, the large white furs are more visible under the lighting conditions (Wilson).
The gestation
Gestation
Gestation is the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside a female viviparous animal. Mammals during pregnancy can have one or more gestations at the same time ....
period usually lasts about six months, and pregnant females will roost apart from the males. There is usually one young per birth (Morris).
Although fertilization ensues immediately after mating, there is little development of the embryo. The delay in embryonic development ensures that birth coincides with a season when food is abundant enough to maintain lactating females, which have a high demand for energy. The delay in embryonic development also permits mating to take place when both males and females are in prime physical condition and have access to good supplies of food (Wimsatt).
Newborns grow rapidly, with various parts of their bodies growing at different rates. At birth, the thumbs and hind feet are almost adult size, and grow very little. However, the forearm and other bones supporting the wing enlarge quickly, producing a wing area in adults that is 10 times the size at birth. They rapidly gain weight until they are weaned. But once they begin to eat fruit instead of their mother's milk, their body weight decrease and they use up the fat reserve they have built up during nursing (Wimsatt).
At birth the species are equipped with distinctive milk teeth that appear to be useless as tools for eating solid food, but help them attach to their mother's teats. The shedding of milk teeth and the emergence of permanent teeth occurs at about the same time as the bats learn to fly and begin to eat fruit (Fenton).
The lifespan of this bat is long for being such a small mammal. Most epauletted fruit bats can live up to 28 years, and average about 21 years. The mechanism for such long life in bats is not know with certainty. Some suggest the longevity in bats is related to the calpain
Calpain
A calpain is a protein belonging to the family of calcium-dependent, non-lysosomal cysteine proteases expressed ubiquitously in mammals and many other organisms. Calpains constitute the C2 family of protease clan CA in the MEROPS database...
content of neurons (Fenton).
Habitat
Fruit bats are tropical animals, but some species live in areas with only a limited fruiting season, as in east Africa where the Gambian epauletted fruit bat might feed on figs during the rainy season but in the semi-arid conditions of the rest of the year may have to fly several hundred miles to find a different climate where other trees are still in fruit.The epauletted fruit bat's geographic range is from southern Zaire
Zaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
and Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
to eastern south Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, and southern Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
and Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
to Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
and southern Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
(Wilson). They are typically a lowland species occurring below 500 meters above sea level, however the Ethiopian populations have been found to occur up to 2,000 meters above sea level. It is native to the countries of Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
, Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
, Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
, Central African Republic
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the north east, South Sudan in the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west. The CAR covers a land area of about ,...
, Chad
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
, Mali, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Togo
Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately...
(Mickleburgh).
As a fairly adaptable species to many types of environments, they can be found in a variety of habitats ranging from the dry savanna, moist savanna, mosaic, bushland, tropical dry forests, and subtropical dry forests habitats. They have also been reported to inhabit areas of partially degraded forest, mangrove, and swamp forest habitats. This species of bats prefer to live on the edge of forests and they tend to roost in places ranging from thick foliage, accumulated roots along stream banks, below the thatch of open sheds, and large tree hollows (Fenton).
The species also tend to roost in small groups or as individuals. They can also roost low in trees during the day, undisturbed by the presence of people and even within areas that receive considerable light. These bats have been known to have a presence in agricultural areas with orchards of bananas, figs, mangoes, guavas, and other fruits. They have made the move to human areas due to encroachment by humans into their natural habitats (Reeder).
Health risks
A misconception about bats is that they are all rabid. Bats can contract rabiesRabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms...
, but they also suffer the symptoms of the disease
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
and eventually die from it. Bats are not unaffected carriers of rabies. So if all bats had rabies, there would be no bats in the world. When bat specimens are sent into state laboratories for testing, the number of bats with rabies is around 5-10%. This figure is highly inflated because only those bats that are suspected of having rabies are brought in to be tested. Past research indicates that the actual incidence of rabies in bat populations is less than 0.5% in most areas. (Bats and Rabies)
It is also often believed that if a rabid animal contracts the rabies virus, that it will attack you; that is not always the case. The disease can manifest in two ways. The animal can be come paralyzed, or it can become aggressive. Bats will usually exhibit the paralytic form of rabies, which immobilizes the animal. Although they are not usually aggressive, bats will bite if they are threatened(Bat Conservation).
Rabies is a deadly viral disease of the central nervous system
Central nervous system
The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...
. In almost all cases, the virus is passed on through the bite, contact with infected saliva, nervous tissues, open wounds or the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose and mouth of an infected animal. Like all other animals, if bats get infected with this disease, they will die. (Bat conservation)
If humans come in contact with rabies, it is far worse. After the infection has happened, symptoms can developed about 10 days to seven months.
Some warning signs that occur include pain, burning and numbness at the place of infection. Also people with the disease nag about not being able to sleep, headaches, irritability, difficulty swallowing and throat spasms. They fear of swallowing because it causes foaming at the mouth. (Bat Conservation)
When the systems appear, death follows 2-12 days after. If any bat bites a person they should get tested right away for rabies and treatment should be immediately.
Most marks or bites from bats cannot be detected. Most punctures are a millimeter or less in diameter. Post-exposures treatment should be handled and get a shot. If a human is exposed to rabies, one should get initial IM injection of Human Rabies immune Globulin, otherwise known as HRIG. (Bats and Rabies)