Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"

It's the Century of the Fruitbat! Well … not really, not here on Roundworld at least. But here is a nice fruit bat for y'all anyway! This is a Wahlberg's Epauletted Fruit Bat, Epomophorus wahlbergi. It's named after Johan August Wahlberg, who explored and collected animals in Africa in the Nineteenth Century. It's the only fruit bat species that is common in my own part of the world, and I've seen it a few times. I'm especially proud of having drawn this one upside-down! They're cute little critters, with dog-like faces. A friend of ours had a big mahogany tree in her garden, which these bats used as a roost. You could stand under the tree and look straight up, and there they'd be, dangling from the branches between the luxurious leaves. Some would be sleeping, wrapping themselves in their big wing membranes, but some would stare inquisitively down at you, their ears twitching. They have a pair of white spots at the base of each ear, which are easily visible from below.

Singers of the Savannah Nights

Many people hear these fruit bats at night … but not many are aware that they're listening to fruit bats! The call of this bat is a high, ringing sound, just a single note, repeated over and over and over. People who note it, might think it's a kind of frog, a kind of insect, or a kind of bird … most are quite surprised when I tell them it's a fruit bat! Even here in Polokwane they are heard frequently in the nights and evenings. The sound is that of a single territorial male. The bats live in small groups, probably all related, and just the dominant male sings. In suitable habitat, these males (and their family groups) are spaced at a distance of at least 200m/yards.

While the singing is a powerful long-range signal advertising these bats' presence, they have short-range signals as well. The 'epaulettes' after which they're named, are pouches lined with long, white fur, on their shoulders. Normally, the white fur is hidden inside the pouch, but with each of these bat's ringing calls, these pouches puff outward, turning inside-out in effect, suddenly showing the white fur, as a brief white flash. Simultaneously, a gland inside the 'epaulette' releases a kind of musty vapour, carrying the singing male's scent and pheromones. The white flash and the glandular exudation are shorter-range signals, also of the male's dominance and virility. Together with the calls these signals therefore involve sight, sound and smell!

Seed Distribution & Pollination Service

Ecologically, these bats are extremely valuable. They eat the fruit of a great many species of tree that grow in the savannah, especially the large trees found along rivers. They are especially fond of the fruit of wild fig trees. As such, they help distribute the seeds of all these trees. Fruit bats typically go pluck the fruit off the tree bearing it, sometimes in mid-flight, and then go sit down and eat the fruit at leisure in their favourite perching site. Fruit bats don't have very efficient digestion. They stuff the fruit into their faces, and then chew it to squeeze the juice out of the pulp. They have special ridges on their palates that help them squash the fruit. They get out as much juice as they can, then spit out the left-over skins and fibers. The seeds, too, mostly land on the ground below the roosting tree. Smaller seeds they might ingest and then deposit below in their droppings. But such places have plentiful nourishment for germinating seeds. They may also excrete some of the seeds while flying around, dispersing them even more widely. Thus they help maintain montane, coastal and riverine forests.

This bat species also occasionally feeds on flowers, pollen and nectar. In this case, they will also play a role in pollination; most likely in large-flowered tree species like Baobabs and Sausage Trees.

Wahlberg's Epauletted Fruit Bat is not rare, occurring in the warm, moist savannahs, woodlands and forests of Africa mostly south of the equator. There are several other species of epauletted and other fruit bats on the continent. While in nature they play a vital role, they sometimes cause big losses in commercial fruit orchards.

Colours of Wildlife Archive

Willem

02.11.15 Front Page

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