A Roost of Fruit Bats in Benin! - Observation of the Week, 7/18/23

Our Observation of the Week is this group of Straw-coloured Fruit Bats (Eidolon helvum, Roussette paillée africaine in French), seen in Benin by @gbiribou!

“I have been interested in nature since childhood thanks to my father, who is also in this field, and through my studies,” says Roméo Gbiribou. who goes by Gbiribou. At university, Gbiribou studied planning and management of natural resources, and has since been working with his father’s conservation organization: ONG Espace Vert et Développement (ONG-EVD). 

“[The Straw-coloured Fruit Bat] habitat is right in the city and I would like to find a way to conserve them with the help of ONG-EVD,” explains Gbiribou. “But before that, we have to show their presence, and since they are almost threatened and very important for nature, it is important to me to protect them against poachers.” So he’s been observing them on iNaturalist to document the population.

This bat species, while widespread and living in communities of over 100,000 individuals, is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, due to deforestation and hunting/persecution by humans. The plan to protect this population, Gbiribou says, is to raise awareness of the bats and to build barriers and prohibition plates to prevent poaching. “Finally, we are going to reforest and strengthen the habitat. A monitoring and management committee will also be set up to oversee all of this.”

Gbiribou (above) heard about iNat via the German company GIZ, who supports his group’s activities, and their Program Manager Mr. Horst. “So I tried iNaturalist, and it's now part of our working tools,” he explains. “We also use it for environmental education sessions with children and young people.”

I use iNaturalist primarily to find out about plant and animal species around me. Thanks to iNaturalist, I learned to recognize several species of birds and plants like Sesamun radiatium (many impressive articles on this plant and its family). Then iNaturalist allows me to make biodiversity inventories  of the sites of conservation interest on which we work with our NGO. And finally, iNaturalist allows us to share this data with anyone, at any time, allowing us to highlight our work.

(Gbiribou’s responses were in French and were translated with the help of Google and @sylvainmorin. Some quotes have been lightly edited for clarity.)

- This observation is in Afribats, one of the oldest projects on iNaturalist! (It’s project #197)

- Straw-coloured fruit bats migrate in huge numbers near the end of the year. Here’s some footage of them emerging at night in Kasanka National Park, Zambia, a major migration destination.

Posted on July 18, 2023 08:26 PM by tiwane