The Fruit Bats of Sulawesi Two researchers experience both the abundance and the loss of natural treasures as they explore one of the richest bat habitats on earth . . . On the equator, in the heart of Indonesia, is a land of active volcanoes, dramatic mountains, lush lowland rain forests, and misty montane cloud forests. Its coastline is dotted with beautiful beaches and mangroves, and its coral reefs are some of the most pristine in the world. This land is Sulawesi, home to an exotic array of wildlife, including no less than 62 species of bats. Wallace suggested that Sulawesi, which lies adjacent to the boundary between these two continents, may at one time have been connected to both.
Bats make up approximately half of all the mammal species in Sulawesi.
It also has the greatest number of cave-dwelling fruit bat species found anywhere in the world. Sulawesi's fruit bats, like fruit bats in many tropical zones, play extremely important roles in maintaining the often fragile forest ecosystem. Of the more than 300 species of plants found in Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and tropical Africa that rely upon bats for seed dispersal or pollination, nearly half are of economic importance to humans, yielding products such as timber, dyes, tannins, medicine, and food. In the fall of 1995, we spent six weeks in Sulawesi surveying the island for future study sites for Kirsty's dissertation work, at the same time assessing the need for bat conservation and education. Starting in the south, our first stop was the town of Watansoppeng, where a large number of black flying foxes roost in the town center.