Rescued Formosan Flying Fox Pup Gives Insights Into Endangered Species
A Taitung wildlife rescue center is learning how to care for an abandoned Formosan flying fox pup and discovering new things about this endangered species in the process.
Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:00Looking happy and healthy, this bat is a Formosan flying fox pup.
00:05A local volunteer rescued the pup in Hualien a few months ago
00:09and sent her to the Wild One Wildlife Conservation Association,
00:13the only non-profit animal rescue center in eastern Taiwan.
00:17This is the first time such a young bat, just two weeks old, has been rescued in Taiwan.
00:22I happened to find a lonely fox pup over there.
00:26They've been trying to find it for two nights,
00:30but the mother hasn't returned for two days.
00:32If we let it go, it's like waiting for death.
00:35So we have to take it in.
00:38Since this was their first rescue case of this kind,
00:41the center reached out to local and Japanese experts with experience
00:45dealing with this vulnerable species of fruit bats.
00:48Over the past 20 years, we've found a stable population
00:52in Guishan Island and Hualien City.
00:55We think the population might have spread from Japan.
00:59Because the population in Japan is also spreading.
01:04The Formosan flying fox is a subspecies of the Ryukyu flying fox,
01:08the largest bat native to Taiwan.
01:10It's considered to be endangered.
01:12Before 1970, there were over 2,000 of them in eastern Taiwan.
01:17But their numbers dropped drastically due to overhunting.
01:20Today, there could be as few as 200 in the country.
01:25During that time, there was an atmosphere of hunting
01:28or eating some rare animals.
01:31The appearance of the bat is very special.
01:33Its face looks like a fox, like a dog.
01:36And it can fly.
01:38Its wings are one meter long.
01:40So for most people, it's a very different animal.
01:44Staff say the rescued pup is growing healthily.
01:47Now it weighs 230 grams,
01:50almost three times as when it was first found.
01:53Its teeth have been replaced.
01:56So its teeth are very sharp.
01:59Taking care of a megabat is not easy,
02:02as humans can never replace its mother.
02:04Since it was born,
02:06it has been held by its mother 24 hours a day.
02:09Its mother can provide the best breast milk for it.
02:14It's very hard to replace.
02:19To provide the best care for the pup,
02:21the vets and other staff diligently monitor its condition.
02:24They feed it carefully twice a day
02:26and manage its enclosure.
02:29What we can do here is to give it breast milk.
02:31Then it will be willing to fly.
02:33Then it will move to a bigger space
02:35in the Hualien Zoo
02:37to do flying training.
02:39Then we will make sure
02:41whether its ability to survive in the wild is sufficient.
02:45If it's sufficient, it will have a chance to go back.
02:48But it may take some time.
02:50Now that they've had some experience with the pup,
02:53the staff say they've learned new things about the species.
02:56At first, people thought that
02:58there was no such species in Taiwan.
03:01But when we found it,
03:03we realized that there was one.
03:05Why wasn't there one?
03:07Because the research in Taiwan is slowly accumulating.
03:10For researchers and us,
03:12this individual is really important
03:14because it's the beginning of all data.
03:16The census staff admit
03:18they can't know exactly the best way
03:20to care for a Formosan flying fox pup,
03:22as it's never been attempted before.
03:24But they're determined to keep giving it their best shot
03:27and gather as much information as they can while they do.
03:31They hope what they find out
03:33will someday help see the Formosan flying fox
03:35taken off the endangered species list.
03:38Alex Chen and Sani Qi for Taiwan Plus.