Diet And Behaviour Of Dog-Faced Fruit Bats In Singapore

Dog-faced fruit bat

(Cynopterus brachyotis)

IUCN 级别

LC 无危

EX 灭绝

The challenge

Not Gotham but Singapore: understanding the bats in our city

Southeast Asia is one of the world’s most rapidly urbanising regions but it hasn’t received as much attention by urban ecologists as other parts of the world. The region is home to more than a quarter of the global bat species but its bats are poorly studied. Bats provide valuable ecosystem services like seed dispersal, but we don’t know if they provide the same services in cities. Dog-faced fruit bats are a key seed disperser in the forests of Asia, but we’ve yet to know what their role in propagating plants in Singapore is.

The goal

Friends not terrifying foes: bats in our ecosystem

This research project is the first attempt to document the ecosystem services provided by urban bats. We worked with Dr. Joanna Coleman from NUS on this study. Dog-faced fruit bats are a fascinating species to study because they’ve changed their roosting behaviour in Singapore to seemingly adapt to our rapidly urbanising environment. In other cities they usually use leaves for roosting but here in Singapore, they use buildings and overpasses as well. By analysing their diet (and finding out how urbanisation affects diet), finding out where they forage and using molecular techniques, the team aims to further research on dog-faced fruit bats. The team also hopes to find out just what plants are being propagated by these remarkable bats and what role they play in the conservation of rare plant species, or the propagation of invasive plant species on the island.

Our role

Fieldwork and lab studies to better understand our bat friends

We supported Dr. Coleman and her team for their fieldwork across Singapore, and to carry out the important molecular lab work that forms a key thrust of this project’s research and outcomes.

The impact

What you eat is who you are

As the first serious attempt to analyse the diets of bats in Singapore that also looks at how diet is linked to roosting behaviour and reproduction, the project will add to important scientific research on biodiversity in Singapore. Though the dog-faced fruit bat does not need urgent conservation action, the research will still provide insights into how bats maintain genetic diversity in urban forests. This means we can learn more about conserving vegetation and wildlife habitats across Singapore. Ultimately, the study and its findings will be communicated to the broader public to help dispel any myths and negative that people may have about bats, so that we can do more to conserve the species as a whole.