We wait eagerly for the evening when scorching
summer is at its peak. Clear nights with cool breeze just after the sun drops
beyond the horizon tempt us to roam outside, more preferably on the terrace.
Reminiscing the older days, when I have lived with my folks (family and
neighbors), who prefer to sleep outside under the twinkling sky when rooms were
humid. All we know at that time there was no sign of air conditioners only fans
were well known, and condition worse if light gone during the night. So sleeping
outside was a paradise state. The precedent reason is more related to health.
My father advised that sleep under the sky with a natural breeze is utterly
healthy. And yes that’s true! Childhood sleep was really good.
Indian Flying Fox - Pteropus giganteus (Source -google)
By that time, we
siblings used to count moving satellites and shooting stars. Universe chapter
was one of my favorite chapters from Physics. When 90’s students were learning
Universe, I am sure we all had the same dream like ‘Kalpana Chawla. Oh! what
innocent fantasies we had, when we were connected with nature. Those were
really great and fairy-tale dreams.
Another thing that
captured my eyes was a medium-sized creature with large wings, flying just
above the height of tree crown. When I asked my grandma about this, she said we
call it ‘Mann’ehh’ (the unexplored folk name for fruit-bat). She
explained about these night birds who return back to camp during dusk after
collecting food or completing their daily duty. I believed, so name ‘Mann’ehh’ got
fixed into my head with its appearance.
 |
| Evening Flight of Pteropus giganteus (Source -google) |
Most of them were
seeing as moving predominantly in one direction. Under moon-night, they looked
like unique birds and little scary with grey color. That time I have never seen
them flying in daylight, only regular birds. So I thought they left their
colony in search of food toward the east before I woke up. Or maybe in the
morning, I was not as focused as the night on the sky or busy getting ready for
my school.
These are some of the
memories we are leaving behind with unauthentic identification.
But later I got to know
about this flying creature and surprised me as it is no more a ‘bird’ but
a unique flying mammal having no tail at its posterior. It is ‘big bat’ or Indian
fruit bat or Pteropus giganteus
or P. medius of order Chiroptera. It
also got its unique name as ‘flying fox’ after resembling its face shape as
foxy. Cladistically, bats share most of the unique features like
mammals having a somewhere common ancestor in deep past. They have forelimbs
like us which have well-adapted wings. They are warm-blooded animals, who can
regulate their body temperature. They give birth to a young one and later feed,
nurse their young one like mammals.
Please don’t believe in
the myth that bats are responsible for COVID-19
During the early stages of
corona outbreak fruit bats were targeted with hate comments like as disease vector of Covid-19, even by various specialists
without taking the research first. Just on the basis of historical events of
the spread of the virus of corona family by bats. Rumors were spreading
explosively when myths were added to un-reviewed facts. That is even worse.
Yes, it
is true that coronavirus and bats are evolving together since a million years
ago. But we need to be authentic for specific sources of viruses of the same
family. A research was conducted by the French Research Institute where
they decipher the genetic material sequence of existing viruses in bat. It was
found to be a different virus (SARS and SARS-Cov-2) of the corona family
irrespective of the current COVID virus.
We
should accept the scientific facts and ignore the myth which already created
hate toward bats which are incredible pollinator and insect pest eater. They
are commendable in keeping the balance in nature. They help in seed
dispersal and the natural regeneration of number of tropical trees. That’s why;
they are referred to as ‘Keystone species’ for the Indian Ecosystem. These
flying creatures prefer to roost gregariously on large trees. They live in a
colony called a camp with different member capacity or colony size can go up to
1000 population. These frugivorous mammals select the fruit-bearing trees
having grooves; strong lateral branches like trees belong to the Ficus family, Mangifera
indica (Mango), Madhuca indica (Mahua), Eugenia
jambolana (Jamun), Musa spp. (Banana), Dalbergia
sissoo (Tali), Terminalia arjuna (Arjun), Eucalyptus
spp. (Safeda), and also roost in busy Bamboos.
Moreover if we talk about zoonotic disease, these animals and birds are not responsible for spreading infection but we human are interfering in their wild domain, exploiting nature and natural balance.
