Bats, interesting and extremely important, but misunderstood creatures have been the focus of special events held each October during "Bat Month" at Tackapausha since 1975. Throughout the years, several species of bats have made appearances at Tackapausha, but none have ever been on permanent public exhibition.

The bats on exhibit are native to the middle east and most of Africa, south of the Sahara desert. These individuals came from the Center of Wildlife Conservation and were born in captivity at their Bronx, New York facility.

There are ten species of Egyptian fruit bats and they occur in a variety of habitats from lowlands to mountains where they roost in ancient tombs and temples, rock crevices, garden trees, date plantations, but are most common in caves.

In the wild, fruit bats eat fruit juices and flower nectar. As they gather food, they carry pollen from one place to another, enabling native stocks of plants to keep healthy through genetic diversity.

At Tackapausha, they are fed a diet of banana, apples, melon, grapes, kiwi fruit, canned feline and primate food and a special vitamin supplement that smells like malted milk mix. They are especially fond of cantaloupe and will drop down to the bottom of the cage to retrieve a piece of fallen melon.

A large viewing window in the exhibit enables visitors to get a close-up view of bat antics. The day/night light cycle in this exhibit has been reversed so the bats fly, eat and interact with each other during the day (their night). The bats are appoximately seven inches long with their wings folded, have a long dog-like snout and make chattering sounds to communicate with each other. They are highly sociable animals and cluster together, maintaining bodily contact when they roost, often leading to disagreements among the bats.

Come get a close-up view of these amazing members of the most diverse and geographically dispersed group of animals in the world-- bats. (Article reprinted from Globalink.)

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