Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T13:07:08.473Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Status and distribution of the Pemba flying fox Pteropus voeltzkowi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2009

Abigail Entwistle  and
Nadia Corp
Abigail Entwistle*
Affiliation:
Zoology Department, Aberdeen University, Aberdeen AB24 2TZ, UK.
Nadia Corp
Affiliation:
Zoology Department, Aberdeen University, Aberdeen AB24 2TZ, UK.
*
*Fauna & Flora International, Great Eastern House, Tenison Road, Cambridge CB1 2DT, UK.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The Pemba flying fox Pteropus voeltzkowi is a fruit bat endemic to the island of Pemba, off Tanzania. A total of 41 reported roosting areas were visited in June and July 1995, and 19 occupied roosts were located, most of them in the west of the island, and on small islets off the west and south of Pemba. Roosts were situated in primary forest, secondary forest (overgrown clove plantations), traditional graveyards and mangrove areas. A range of sizes and species of trees were used as roosts. The minimum population of P. voeltzkowi was estimated to be between 4600 and 5500 individuals. In total 94 per cent of the population was located at 10 roost sites. Larger colonies were associated with roosts located in forests, which together supported 75 per cent of the total bat population. Colonies were of mixed sex, but no young or obviously pregnant females were observed. Major threats to this species appeared to be hunting and deforestation (both logging and clearing for agriculture) and P. voeltzkowi is considered to be endangered.

Type
Research Article
Information
Oryx , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , April 1997 , pp. 135 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © Fauna and Flora International 1997

References

Advani, R. 1982. Distribution and status of Chiroptera species in Rajasthan, India. Saugettier Kundliche Mitt. 30 (1), 49–52Google Scholar
Andersen, K. 1912. Catalogue of the Chiroptera in the Collections of the British Museum. I. Megachiroptera, 2nd edn.British Museum (Natural History), London.Google Scholar
Bentjee, H.J. 1990. Botanical Assessment of the Ngezi Forest, Pemba. Forestry Development Project, Technical Paper 1. Forestry Department Zanzibar/FINNIDA.Google Scholar
Cheke, A.S. and Dahl, J.F. 1981. The status of bats on western Indian Ocean islands, with special reference to Pteropus. Mammalia, 45, 205–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Entwistle, A.C. and Corp, N. 1995. The Status and Conservation of the Pemba Flying Fox, Pteropus voeltzkowi. Unpubl. report, Aberdeen University, Aberdeen.Google Scholar
Groombridge, B. (ed.). 1993. 1994 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.Google Scholar
Kingdon, J. 1974. East African Mammals. An Atlas of Evolution in Africa. Vol. IIA. Insectivores and Bats. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Mickleburgh, S.P., Hutson, A.M. and Racey, P.A. 1992. Old World Fruit Bats. An Action Plan for their Conservation. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pakenham, R.H.W. 1984. The Mammals of Zanzibar and Pemba Islands. Privately published by the author.Google Scholar
Pierson, E.D. and Rainey, W.E. 1992. The biology of flying foxes of the genus Pteropus: a review. In Pacific Island Flying Foxes: Proceedings of an International Conservation Conference (eds Wilson, D. E. and Graham, G. L.). US Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Report 90 (23).Google Scholar
Racey, P.A. 1979. Two bats in the Seychelles. Oryx, 15, 148–152CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reason, P.F. and Trewhella, W.J. 1994. The status of Pteropus livingstonii in the Comores. Oryx, 28, 107–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seehausen, O. 1991a. The Pemba fruit bat – on the edge of extinction? Oryx, 25, 110–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seehausen, O. 1991b. The endemic Pemba flying fox. Miombo, 6, 12–13.Google Scholar
Seehausen, O., Ali, S.J., Juma, K.M., Mbarouk, A.A., Mchenga, A.S., Mohammed, M.A. and Mohammed, Z. 1994. Zwischenbericht zum Projekt Pembaflughund. Newsletter of the Zoological Society for the Conservation of Species and Populations, 9 (2), 14–15.Google Scholar
Thomas, D.W. and La Val, R.K. 1988. Survey and census methods. In Ecological and Behavioural Methods for the Study of Bats (ed. Kunz, T. H.). Smithsonian Press, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Walsh, M. 1995. Eating bats on Pemba Island: a local innovation or cultural borrowing? Muita, 10 1995, 15–18.Google Scholar