The Status of Fruit Bats on Guam
| dc.contributor.author | Wiles, Gary J. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2008-04-05T06:21:20Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2008-04-05T06:21:20Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 1987 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Two species of fruit bats are known from Guam in the southern Mariana Islands. Pteropus mariannus mariannus has declined greatly in abundance since the early 1900s. Its numbers decreased from an estimated 3,000 animals in 1958 to fewer than 50 individuals in 1978. However, by 1982, the population of this species increased to about 850 to 1,000 bats, probably through immigration of fruit bats to Guam from the island of Rota. Since then , P. m. mariannus appears to be declining once again with only 425 to 500 counted during a February-April 1984 census . A second smaller species, P. tokudae, has always been rare since it was first discovered in the early 1930s. It has not been recorded since 1968 and now is thought to be extinct. Overhunting of Pteropus for use as a delicacy is the main cause for their decline on Guam. Forest clearing and predation by brown tree snakes may be other contributing factors. Both species of Pteropus were listed as endangered on Guam by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in August 1984. | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Wiles GJ. 1987. The status of fruit bats on Guam. Pac Sci 41: 148-157. | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 0030-8870 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10125/1029 | |
| dc.language.iso | en-US | |
| dc.publisher | University of Hawaii Press | |
| dc.title | The Status of Fruit Bats on Guam | |
| dc.type | Article | |
| dc.type.dcmi | Text |