Gray-headed flying-fox population is stable—10 years of monitoring reveals this threatened species is doing well
Flying foxes, or fruit bats, are familiar to many Australians. So it may come as a surprise to learn two of the four mainland species, both gray-headed and spectacled flying foxes, are threatened with extinction.
Incredibly, the species emerged from the Black Summer of 2019–20 relatively unscathed. Flying foxes also suffer in heat waves and many die, but overall numbers have remained stable.
While this study is good news for the species, we must not become complacent. Heat waves are expected to become more frequent and intense as the climate changes. Only further monitoring can determine its effects.
More than 150,000 grey-headed flying foxes roosted in Gympie, Queensland, after much of their habitat burned during the Black Summer of 2019-20. Credit: Eric Vanderduys, CSIRO