It takes more than a village to save an
endangered species, but it's a good place to start. The Rodrigues fruit bat has benefited tremendously
from local reforestation efforts, yet a genetically viable future continues to be dependent upon
international captive breeding programs. Critically endangered, and cute as a button, these rare bats
have had no trouble catching the eye of conservationists and villagers alike.
When their population numbers plummeted to below 100 in 1975, world-renowned naturalist Gerald
Durrell was prompted to collect 23 of the last remaining Rodrigues fruit bats from the wild and
establish two emergency breeding colonies as a hedge against their extinction. Thirty years later
these amazingly resilient animals have come back from the brink, with wild numbers currently in excess
of 5,000. The Philadelphia Zoo's role in the story of the Rodrigues fruit bat began with a field study
that lead to the creation of an awarding-winning conservation program.
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| Wildlife Matters Presents |
Holy Flying Mammals!
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
6:00 p.m. – 8:00
p.m.
Join Philadelphia Zoo and Heritage Conservancy staffers for an in depth look at how international and
local bat conservation efforts are coming together. Strategies currently in place to save critically
endangered Rodrigues fruit bats from a small island in the Indian Ocean and those being developed to
maintain the little brown bat's status as "the most common bat in North America," are not so different.
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| Kids Care |
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"Snakes and snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of."
Throw in a few toads and lizards and you've got a budding herpetologist — or two. 16 year-old Alex Johnson
and Robert Joyce are passionate about all things reptilian, and they've printed a magazine to prove it! More > |
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| In Person |
As the familiar glow of police lights appeared in his rearview mirror Steve worried that he would lose his target if he pulled
over. But he knew he shouldn't try to outrun the cops.
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| Take Action |
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Shop At ACME
Your weekly trip to the local Acme can save rare animals on the other side of the world.
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Build a Bat Box
If you build it, will they come? Maybe, but it could take awhile. Bats are very discriminating house hunters.
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