Ooty: The arrival of a large colony of fruit bats, also known as mega bat, at the Coonoor and Wellington slopes near here, has astonished the Greens and Ecologists alike.
The phenomenon has triggered further interest to study the changing ecological parameters that play a role in bat population to migrate to high altitude elevations.
Stating that it is really surprising to spot the colony of fruit bats at the Wellington-Coonoor junction in the Nilgiris, Mr. N. Sadiq Ali, founder of the Wildlife and Nature Conservation Trust, said that usually, the bat avoids high altitudes as they are ecologically and physiologically adapted to live in the plains and in hot weather.
“A colony of bats was spotted in recent times in Mettupalayam in the foothills of the Nilgiris. One has to study to ascertain whether this colony ascended to the Coonoor slopes for a short stay or it is some other colony which migrated to Coonoor. The bats usually avoid high altitudes. The arrival of the bat colony in Coonoor looks to be a new ecological phenomenon which needs further studies as for the past couple of decades, no such arrival of bats was reported in the Nilgiris,” he added.
Mr. V. Sivadass, managing trustee of the Nilgiris Environment and Socio-cultural Trust, said that heavy rains in neighbouring Kerala played havoc with the fruiting periodicity of wild fruits in the forests there that could have forced this bat colony to migrate to Coonoor in search of fruit as this species of bat exclusively feeds on fruits.
“Any disturbance to its breeding behavior in their native range would also have triggered this colony to migrate to high altitude ranges in the Nilgiris in search of a safer breeding habitat. We have to keep a watch on their movement in the hills to arrive at a further conclusion to determine whether it is a temporary migration or whether this bat colony will try to adapt and settle down in the Coonoor slopes,” he explained.
