Fruit Bat

It didn't take long for Harry to leave the safety of the specialised bat release cage and find his own way in the world.

Each year several baby bats are successfully hand-raised and released back into the wild. Harry and many other bats will be taking on the role of dispersing seeds and pollen from eucalypts and other native plants, this role will ensure that there will continue to be enough native species of vegetation for other native Australian animals.

Sadly, Harry's rocky start to life is not an uncommon one. Many young Flying Foxes become orphaned after their mothers get caught in netting which is used to protect fruit trees, or tangled in powerlines and electrocuted. Numerous bats also succumb to heat stress whilst habitat loss and drought affect the species greatly with minimal fruit, flowers and nectar available to them.

Flying Foxes play a vital role in Australia's forests spreading the seeds of trees and plants from which they have eaten through their droppings. Every bat which is rescued when orphaned or injured and can be returned to the wild helps regenerate Australia's native bushlands.

Flying Foxes were first found in fossil records dating back 35 million years ago.  They arrived in Australia during the ice ages, by flying the short distances between islands when sea levels were much lower.

There are five species of bats, the Red, Grey-headed and Black Flying Foxes. The Grey-headed and Black Flying Foxes are mostly coastal but the little Red Flying Fox is highly nomadic following the flowering of eucalypts along the coastal and inland rivers.

The Grey Headed Flying Fox is a threatened species and it is important for people to start to understand the role they play within the environment. They are a "key stone" species, which means that they are important for other species survival.