Roost trees at three Pteropus conspicillatus camps in the Australian Wet Tropics were monitored for the presence and absence of individuals over a four month period. The number of individual P. conspicillatus in roost trees varied on a variety of time scales, with seasonal changes in abundance overlain on highly variable day-to-day patterns of roost use. Although the presence of individual, high site fidelity behaviour could not be precluded, the high turnover of flying-fox numbers on a within-tree basis precludes the presence of highly stable social groups, over the duration of this study at least. Further clarification of the extent of roost fidelity within camps is likely to be a significant component for the conservation and management of flying-foxes.

This study was undertaken to gain some knowledge of Flying-fox (Megachiroptera: Pteropodidae) learning ability, using 10 Spectacled Flying-foxes Pteropus conspicillatus in a free-operant conditioning paradigm. The subjects were trained to pull levers for a juice reward in the controlled environment of a modified Skinner box. All sessions were monitored and recorded on video. During the course of the experiment a difference was found in the learning behaviour between the three hand-raised and the seven wild-raised subjects. The three hand-raised Flying-foxes learned the task in the seventh, ninth or fourteenth 10-minute session whereas the wild-raised animals did not learn to pull the levers. When returned to the experimental chamber more than three years later two of the hand-reared subjects immediately pulled the levers to receive juice. It showed that these animals remembered the experimental chamber, the location and the reward for pulling the levers.

Grey-headed Flying-foxes can be difficult to capture and process in sufficient numbers for population studies, and here we describe a successful method to do both and evaluate its practicality. Over the year 2006/07 (24 nights) we captured and banded with ABBBS bands 466 flying-foxes from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. Depending on weather conditions and net orientation, between 8 and 53 bats were captured per session as they returned to the roost site in the early morning. Animals were captured using a 12 m long mist-net on pulleys attached to two 13.2 m tall aluminium masts, individually assembled from 6 smaller poles. The poles were relatively light but required 4 people for safe net assembly. Data were obtained from 259 processed individuals, except juveniles, heavily pregnant females, and females with attached young, which were banded and released immediately. We anaesthetised each individual and recorded standard morphometric measurements. Pollen, faecal, and tissue samples (blood, membrane puncture and a tooth) were collected, and 6 animals were fitted with radio collars. The processing lasted within 10 minutes/animal and bats generally recovered from the anaesthetic within an hour. When fully alert, each bat was released back into the camp by flying it across a lawn to the roost trees. No casualties resulted from capturing or processing the flying-foxes, and no processed animal was subsequently found ill or dead as a result of this study.

Determining the population dynamics of the vulnerable Grey-headed Flying-fox, Pteropus poliocephalus requires accurate methods of estimating the age of wild animals. Traditionally, wild juvenile P. poliocephalus have been aged by comparing their forearm measurements to those of known-aged captive bred juveniles. To determine the degree of plasticity in the forearm growth rate and hence the reliability of this method, the forearm growth of two groups of captive-bred flying-foxes whose mothers were fed different diets was compared. The difference in diet, a protein supplement of pollen rather than milk powder, made no significant difference in the average length of the forearm at birth, but there were significant differences in the subsequent growth of each growth parameter tested, with the pollen supplemented maternal diet providing faster post-natal growth than the milk supplemented maternal diet. Maternal diet was also significantly correlated with a difference in the sex ratio with a majority of females being produced on the milk supplemented maternal diet and a majority of males being produced on the pollen supplemented maternal diet. There was no significant difference in the post-natal forearm growth of males and females independent of their mother's diet. The sigmoidal curve that best described the average post-natal growth rate of mother-reared P. poliocephalus was the Logistic Model Function. As the diet of wild flying-foxes varies from year to year it is likely that the growth rates of wild mother-reared flying-foxes vary from year to year along with the age of competent flight and independence. The plasticity in the forearm growth rate indicates that estimating the age of wild juvenile flying-foxes using growth rates of captive mother reared juveniles is unlikely to be an accurate method of ageing wild juvenile flying-foxes and other methods of ageing these animals should be investigated.

Flying-foxes generate polarised responses from the community: from those who are pro flying-foxes and their conservation to those who perceive the animals as disease-ridden pests that are in plague proportions and have no value. Much time is thus spent by wildlife managers in dealing with these perceptions rather than managing the real issues. In addition, there are still gaps in our ecological knowledge of flying-foxes, which need to be filled in order to better manage these animals. This paper outlines a Commonwealth-funded, collaborative project involving universities, local councils and individuals that is being co-ordinated by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. The project aims to undertake actions to benefit the conservation of the four species of flying-fox found on mainland Australia: Grey-headed Flying-fox Pteropus poliocephalus , Spectacled Flying-fox P. conspicillatus , Black Flying-fox P. alecto , and Little red Flying-fox P. scapulatus , across the state of Queensland. The principal areas of work are: education, population monitoring, habitat use and mapping and roost site use.

Orchardists have used electrified grids, which kill or injure flying-foxes, to “protect” fruit crops. In recent years legal challenges to this practice have been mounted on conservation and animal cruelty grounds. A 2001 Federal Court judgement prohibited use of one 6.4km grid because it adversely affected World Heritage values. Subsequently, Queensland stopped permitting lethal grid operation - an orchardist's appeal against this was withdrawn before going to court. Two NSW orchardists using a grid pleaded guilty to charges of cruelty/ aggravated cruelty. Orchardists' responses to these cases, and difficulties in policing the many grids which remain in working order stimulated this review. It summarises evidence that grids are ineffective in preventing damage to crops; do not selectively kill flying-fox “scouts”; will significantly hasten decline of flying-fox populations; do not kill flying-foxes “instantly” but inflict extreme pain and suffering before death; injure some animals, which survive in severe pain, and cause pain/ suffering to suckling young via death of mothers. Apropos the NSW Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act , grids cause (1) multiple uncontrolled acts of cruelty: multiple in that many bats are affected; uncontrolled in that there is no control on numbers of bats affected; acts of cruelty , in that animals are unreasonably and unjustifiably mutilated, maimed, terrified, exposed to excessive (electrical) heat and inflicted with pain. (2) multiple uncontrolled acts of aggravated cruelty , in causing death or serious disablement of multiple animals , some being so severely injured that it is cruel to leave them alive. Since exclusion netting provides orchardists with a wholly effective, non-lethal means of protecting crops, electrocution grid operations should be prohibited, and compliance strictly policed.

From the time of European settlement of Australia, flying-foxes have been treated as vermin and their management has focused on attempts to control numbers in local areas by culling and disturbance. The listing of Grey-headed Flying-foxes as vulnerable under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (TSC Act) heralded a controversial shift in management to accommodate conservation goals. The decision to list Grey-headed Flying-foxes was based on a decline in numbers related predominately to habitat loss and was taken after a lengthy and thorough review of evidence gathered from a range of experts and the public. Grey-headed Flying-foxes migrate hundreds of kilometres between successive areas of nectar flow, and the numbers present in a local area fluctuate widely between seasons and between years. Intensive episodes of crop damage or conflict at roosts occur intermittently in line with the irregular patterns of nectar flow and migrations. The practice of killing Grey-headed Flying-foxes in crops, and disrupting them at roosts, is carried out on the assumption that the species is organised as discrete local populations whose size can be controlled locally. They continue to be primary management tools despite their failure either to provide consistent protection to the commercial fruit industry or to resolve conflict at controversial camps. There is an urgent need to develop new approaches to flying-fox management. It is our view that effective methods of on-crop control and conflict resolution at camps are essential to the recovery of Grey-headed Flying-foxes.