Association of Zoos and Aquariums

Rodrigues Fruit Bat Conservation Program Receives International Conservation Award

CONTACT: Jane Ballentine, (301)562-0777 x252

COLUMBUS, OH 11 September 2003 -- The American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA) today awarded the International Conservation Award to ten accredited zoos for the “Rodrigues Fruit Bat Conservation Program.” Program officials accepted the award at AZA's 79th Annual Conference, meeting here this week.

With golden-highlighted chocolate-brown fur, big brown eyes, small triangular ears, and naked black wings, Rodrigues fruit bats resemble miniature chow dogs with wings. They're adorably cute and seriously endangered. Found only on the tiny island of Rodrigues in the southwestern Indian Ocean, these bats are threatened with extinction due almost solely to human activities.

About 300 years ago people settled on Rodrigues and began to clear the forests to make room for farms and livestock. Forests are essential to Rodrigues fruit bats' survival; these bats roost in trees and feed on the trees' fruits, flowers, nectar, and leaves. Without forests, the bats' numbers declined and by the mid-1970's there were less than 100 bats left on Rodrigues. At this time, as a hedge against possible extinction in the wild, twenty-seven bats were captured to found a captive population. All of the Rodrigues fruit bats in zoos worldwide descend from these twenty-seven founders.

Fortunately, Rodriguans began to make changes to their land management practices and to set aside habitat for bats. The bat numbers slowly increased both in the wild and in zoos. A goal of most captive management programs, including this one, is to retain in the captive population as much as possible of the genetic diversity of the wild population. Towards this end, staff from the Philadelphia Zoo initiated a project to quantify genetic diversity in each population. This project included a trip to Rodrigues to capture wild bats and to obtain tiny tissue samples from them and from bats in the captive colony on nearby Mauritius.

Genetic analyses demonstrated that the both bat populations retained substantial genetic diversity as compared to many other endangered mammal species and that the captive population was sufficiently genetically diverse to avoid problems associated with inbreeding. Molecular techniques developed during this study were subsequently used to establish relatedness estimates for all of the bats in the North American zoo population upon which all breeding recommendations are based.

While on Rodrigues studying bats, Philadelphia Zoo staff also taught lessons about bats in every primary school on the island. Bat lessons were developed by the AZA Bat TAG in cooperation with Rodriguan school administrators. The lessons were well received and inspired an initiative to place a full-time environmental educator on Rodrigues. In 1998, Mary Jane Raboude was hired as Rodrigues first-ever environmental educator. In the five years hence, the program has grown tremendously and now influences many aspects of life on Rodrigues.

The educator works in cooperation with community groups, schools, government ministries, and NGOs to provide information and resources to support their positive environmental initiatives. The success of the environmental educator project has created a welcoming atmosphere on Rodrigues for further environmental initiatives resulting in successful grant application to fund new conservation projects and six new full-time conservation jobs. Increased focus on the environment has had positive implications for the bats, too; there are now estimated to be over 5000 of them living on Rodrigues.

The ten AZA accredited zoos that participate in the project are: The Philadelphia Zoo, Oregon Zoo, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Woodland Park Zoo, Roger Williams Park Zoo, Blank Park Zoo, John Ball Zoo, Riverbanks Zoo, Folsom Children's Zoo, and the Biodome de Montreal.

The International Conservation Award is presented each year by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association for recognition of outstanding dedication to international conservation issues and development of natural resources.

NOTE: For additional information, please contact Gretchen Toner at the Philadelphia Zoo at 215/243-5205.

The American Zoo and Aquarium Association was founded in 1924 and currently represents 213 accredited zoos and aquariums in North America. AZA's mission is to support membership excellence in conservation, education, science and recreation.