Bat Conservation and Rescue Queensland member Paisley Hadley
By Guy Creighton
UNRIPE fruit of the Cocos palm has been blamed for contributing to a rapid decline in all three of the common flying fox species.
And a local member of Bat Conservation and Rescue Queensland warns the loss of flying foxes could also pose a threat to the future of the koala.
Paisley Hadley says this is because flying foxes are important for pollination of the eucalypts that koalas feed on.
“If we don’t keep the flying foxes, then we’ll lose the koalas as well.”
Paislie said the Cocos, or Queen Palm, can be dangerous to the different species of flying fox in multiple ways.
“It’s something that is consistently part of our bat rescues.
“At this time of the year, when their natural food is limited, you will find them trying to get the fruit from the palm.
“But the tree is poisonous to the mammal.
“When the fruit isn’t ripe, it can cause diarrhoea, constipation and poison them in other ways.
“Also when it is ripening the sinew of the fruit can get caught in their mouths and they can’t swallow or spit it out so they end up choking.”
Paisley said once the fruit had ripened it was usually fine for the bat to eat.
But as the fruit dropped the bats would be subject to domestic and feral predators.
The palm itself was also harmful to the bat, given that the razor sharp leaves could make easy work of the delicate membrane of a flying fox wing.
However, because the bats were such prolific pollinators, the Cocos palms were popping up in natural growth rainforests and places where they shouldn’t be.
Paisley said the Cocos palm was not a declared pest under Queensland Government legislation, but the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry did recommend the removal of the species.
And she had words of advice for those who don’t like the flying fox.
“The solution is simple,” she said. “We’d like to see the palms removed if possible, but we know that is not entirely feasible.
“But even just cutting the fruit off will give the bats no incentive to come close to the trees, or your house.’
Paisley emphasised the importance of flying foxes to the ecosystem.
Not only were they needed to pollinate the eucalypts which were the food trees of the koalas, they were also needed to pollinate the really tall rainforest trees – because nothing else would.
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