Fri 16 Oct 2009
BATS in Mauritius
Posted by Dhaneesha under General
[6] Comments
Again after some months, I finally got an article on which to write 
This morning, I was coming at work in my uncle’s car, and was listening to Radio – Plus. There were some planters busy discussing about bats in Mauritius, meaning, the impact these animals have on our cultivations and economy, mainly in Summer ( including the mangoes and letchis seasons which are for soon 
)
Some seemed so worried as the bats were destroying their fruits at night and thus, they were not expecting much profit this year. They had asked the Ministry of Agriculture to do the necessary.
But as we all know, bats are protected animals in our country because they are unique and, can’t be harmed at all.
The use of nets
The planters had then been proposed to use nets to cover their plants….but what about the big trees? Will the nets be able to cover such plants? how much will this cost?
The discussion was then left pending as some of the planters did not agree at all to use such method of protection even if nets were given to them as gifts.
Other practices.
Another practice in Mauritius involves lighting the trees with bulbs so as to discourage the bats from coming closes. Some planters do not hesitate to make use of poison.
Aren’t they cute? lol
To be short, what do you think is the best solution to this problem?
By the way, HAPPY DIVALI, MANZ GATO BIENNNNNNNNN
Bats are only part of the ecological system of the planet, but sometimes they can be invading the fields, and cause much inconvenience to the planters.
However, people must be aware that not all of them feed on fruits, there are species feeding only on insects, small insects and even blood! And that they are sacred in some countries!
Finding a solution to the problem can be a tough task unless you are planting in a green house. Not all planters are affected by the bats and may be in certain regions only. All of them cannot be eradicated but the amount of destruction caused can surely be decreased by the various ways you mentioned above.
pssst : a few days ago, I was surprised at the number of bats I spotted on Montagne Signaux at night. There were so many, and fortunately, they did not eat me
Lighting doesn’t help. Probably ultrasound emitters might do the job.
yes its true that there are many many bats in Mauritius. There is a tree of “longan” (couma dir sa en anglais ein?? xD) just behind my house and i remember when the fruits are ready, everyday i hear so much noise from these bats which are “looting” all the fruits.
Use of nets is a practice quite often used for this problem. you can see that during the litchis season near beau-songes, where there are lots of litchi trees.. i guess this solution does work if they still using those nets even though i think many bats get killed with this technique.
Hopefully, something will be found to solve this problem and also a solution which does not harm those animals.
VERY TRUE!
Bats are becoming a burden in many parts of the country. They destroying lotsa fruit crops – and its the planters who have to pay the consequences.
I personally like seeing those night creatures gliding as dark shadows in the sky at night, but hell they make a lot of noise, specially when you have fruit trees near your house.
True again that some are protected species and that they are needed to keep a balanced ecosystem, but too much of everything is harmful, right?
A solution has to be devised “ki saap bji maré aur lathi bhi na touté!”….lols
Cheers
I’ve been thinking about those bats while in bus this morning. I’ve thought about the ultrasound emitters that carrotmadman6 also mentioned above. My idea was to put motion sensors in the tree that will trigger the ultrasound.
I do not know which specie the mauritian fruit bat is from, but it is the microbat that uses echolocation and they have less developed sight while the Flying-foxes which are bats from the genus Pteropus (which i suspect the mauritian fruit bats are from) do not use echolation (thus imune to ultrasound emitters). Their eyesight and smelling senses are very well developed!
Lately in mauritius, some are suggesting placing sea-cucumbers (barbara)in the trees and that the bad smell will act as a repellant. Others have talked about using ‘bomli’, ‘poisson sounouk’…
Netting is a solution that can work, provided it is done correctly, that is it should form like a tent covering the whole tree to the groud and making sure that birds do not get entangle into them. But a drawback about this: birds eat insects…by preventing bats, we will be preventing birds as well. This may lead to an increase in insect population in the protected tree which in turn can ruin the fruits.
Putting lights in the trees has been a popular system in Mauritius but it seems the mauritian bats have got used to it. Using bells which have to be activated manually does scare bats away (personal experience) but then, we need to sleep at night…we cannot just keep ringing the bell whole night. Then there is the question of disturbing neighbours with the loud bells in the silent night (personal experience…I was the one ringing).
Anyway, I will definitely do my best to protect my litchi tree this year!
Have tried many of these… but would love 2 c a workable solution koz my litchi tree is next 2 my bedroom n I believe u may guess tha I have to bare the noises made by quarreling bats in December… Bybye sleep… lol