A report of direct mortality in grey-headed flying-foxes (Pteropus poliocephalus) from the 2019-2020 Australian megafires

Matthew Mo; Mark Minehan; Edward Hack; Vanessa Place; Justin A. Welbergen

doi:10.1071/AM21041

A report of direct mortality in grey-headed flying-foxes (Pteropus poliocephalus) from the 2019-2020 Australian megafires

Matthew Mo, Mark Minehan, Edward Hack, Vanessa Place, Justin A. Welbergen

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5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Study of the impacts of the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires on flying-foxes has mainly focused on the effects of burnt habitat on food availability. It has previously only been assumed that flying-foxes probably died directly from these bushfires. We report an eyewitness account of numbers of grey-headed flying-foxes (Pteropus poliocephalus) being killed as they attempted to escape a bushfire engulfing a flying-fox camp in Jeremadra, New South Wales. Once in the air, most of the flying-foxes dropped to the ground, scattering carcasses throughout the vicinity. This observation represents the only eyewitness report of flying-fox mortalities occurring directly from these bushfires. Given the substantial proportion of the grey-headed flying-fox range affected by these bushfires, we infer that such mortalities likely occurred in other locations.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	419-422
Number of pages	4
Journal	Australian Mammalogy
Volume	44
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1071/AM21041
Publication status	Published - 17 May 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s) . Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Australian Mammal Society.

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Cite this

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abstract = "Study of the impacts of the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires on flying-foxes has mainly focused on the effects of burnt habitat on food availability. It has previously only been assumed that flying-foxes probably died directly from these bushfires. We report an eyewitness account of numbers of grey-headed flying-foxes (Pteropus poliocephalus) being killed as they attempted to escape a bushfire engulfing a flying-fox camp in Jeremadra, New South Wales. Once in the air, most of the flying-foxes dropped to the ground, scattering carcasses throughout the vicinity. This observation represents the only eyewitness report of flying-fox mortalities occurring directly from these bushfires. Given the substantial proportion of the grey-headed flying-fox range affected by these bushfires, we infer that such mortalities likely occurred in other locations.",

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A report of direct mortality in grey-headed flying-foxes (Pteropus poliocephalus) from the 2019-2020 Australian megafires

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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