Ranger says the $180,000 system will keep temperatures below 40C for grey-headed flying foxes
Victoria’s largest permanent flying fox colony will be able to keep cool over summer thanks to a custom-built $180,000 sprinkler system.
The sprinklers, part of a $5.3m wildlife boost in May’s state budget, will be up and running within months at Melbourne’s Yarra Bend Park to help protect a local colony of up to 50,000 grey-headed flying foxes. Area chief ranger, Brendan Sullivan, said temperatures above 38C can prove fatal to the bats, which are“The idea with this irrigation system is to keep that ambient temperature below 40C so the bats aren’t getting pushed into that extreme level of thermo-regulation,” Sullivan said Monday.
The state’s environment minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said the fruit bats play a vital role in pollinating and dispersing seeds for native forests, and global heating is creating hotter and longer summers, making it harder for them to survive.But not everyone is a fan of the bats, with outgoing Kew MP Tim Smith saying they are a nuisance and spread disease.
“The government is going to spend almost $200k to hose them down when it gets hot over summer. Yes, as everyone knows, I dislike bats, and many other locals hate them too,” he tweeted.after the emergence of the Covid-19 virus in China.
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