'Tis the season for flying reindeer foxes

By Jordan Borstelman, Keeper. Posted: 12/04/09

One of my favorite things about the Yuletide season is all the delicious food that finds its way onto my plate. Turkey, mashed potatoes, and my wife’s signature stuffed portabella mushrooms never get old. At home we do our best to eat well and eat healthy. Anticipating all this yummy food has put me in mind to talk about what our bats eat, and some of the additional treats they receive as well.
Their basic diet is made up of wholesome fruits and vegetables, nothing has been processed, and no preservatives are added. The produce role call starts with Kale, mainly for its iron and calcium content, we add enough to represent the small amount of green leafy plants the bats consume in the wild. Carrots and Sweet potatoes are obviously not in a wild bats diet; digging into the ground for roots and tubers is not natural behavior for a bat, but small amounts of beta carotene is essential for keeping our bats healthy. Apples and pears make up the bulk of the bats diet providing needed calories and some roughage to keep their teeth healthy. Grapes and cantaloupes are added for Vitamins A, B, and C, these two fruits are also our bats favorite food. They often nose about in their bowls initially ignoring the other stuff, in order to pick out the grapes and cantaloupes. Bananas complete the diet adding potassium as well as an assortment of B vitamins. All this produce is chopped up into thumb-sized portions and our own Lubee Fruit Bat supplement is added to round out the vitamin and mineral needs of our animals.
Our enrichment schedule includes the use of whole fruits and vegetables, as well as all natural juices and purees. We have over 25 different toys that can hang from the walls or ceilings. Wood and rope ladders are often slathered in guava baby food, or PVC troughs are filled with juice. Many of them have come from the pages of bird toy catalogs, while the rest are custom made. Each week we order a novel food item that’s not a part of their regular diet, in order to provide a deeper variety of flavors. Novel enrichment hung from the ceiling gives our bats an opportunity to try new flavors and socialize outside of their normal roosting territory. Imagine a new water cooler installed at your workplace, the bats will congregate around the fruit just like your coworkers would migrate to the cooler.

The other treasured experience of the holiday season is enjoying time with family and friends. The bats are in the middle of a very social season themselves, breeding season in fact. Typically the males start showing the first signs. In the wild they would be finding themselves a nice fancy branch near their normal roost. Males mark their territory by using scent glands located on the sides of their neck. This produces a musky oil which they rub on trees and vines looking very much like a cat. Urinating on themselves enhances this natural musk making them smell much more attractive, from a fruit bat’s perspective at least. Our bats display this same behavior, often leaving dark marks on the corners of their enclosures. Scuffles often break out as two bats vie for the same territory. These “altercations” usually take the form of screaming matches, with both bats screeching into each others faces until one of them gives up. Sound like your holiday gatherings?
Last year we had a very successful breeding season, in which a total of 12 healthy pups were born. Now the wee babes are starting to try out their wings and gain independence. Worried moms call out in their chattering voices, as half grown pups wander the pens, strengthening muscles by flapping their wings without letting go with their feet. At feeding time the moms leave their pups behind and go into the night house to feed. It reminds me of my own family holiday dinners, with my sister and our cousins stuck eating at the “kids table”.

So as you celebrate the holiday season this year, remember Lubee’s Flying Foxes are having their own holiday. For them as well as you it’s a time of good food and good fellowship, although I hope for you there’s considerably less screaming. Have a happy holiday and fortunate New Year!

Birthing in Megabats

Brian Pope, Curator. Posted: July 2009

Megabats give birth upside down by hanging from their toes and thumbs in a cradling position. If needed, the female will hang from just her thumbs in an upright position and point her legs towards the ground so that gravity can assist in parturition. Megabats are typically born head first; breech birth may indicate complications during pregnancy. Malayan Flying Fox have a gestation of 180 days after which a single pup is produced. Once the baby is born, the mother immediately pushes the pup towards one of her teats located under the armpit area to begin nursing. Baby bats are approximately 10% of the mother’s weight when born, and have a double claw on each toenail allowing them to grip onto their mother’s abdomen. Pups are also born with a set of sharp milk teeth to facilitate nursing while the mother is foraging or flying. The milk teeth eventually fall out and are replaced by permanent teeth. Pups are born fully furred and alert, but are dependent on their mothers for the first few months of life. Malayan Flying Fox pups begin to fly at 3-4 months and are generally weaned after 6 months.

The birth cycle at Lubee

In captivity, while our bats have the ability to breed all year round, there is still evidence of an innate breeding cycle, with males becoming boisterous and ready for breeding in the Fall. Breeding at Lubee is strictly controlled by keeping males and females in separate pens, and then introducing generally a single male into a female group for breeding. For example, in November 2008, a breeding group of Malayan Flying Fox was established with 1 male and 8 females. After a period of 5 months, the male “Pich”, was pulled to alleviate any stress on the females. Of the 8 females placed in the breeding situation, 4 became pregnant, including “Boupha”. The remaining 3 bats appear to be in their final trimester, and Lubee keepers are anxiously awaiting the new arrivals. The birth of Boupha, a female Malayan Flying Fox in June, adds significant value to the animal collection as this is the first birth of this species since 2005. Since initial importation in 1990, 126 Malayan Flying Foxes have been successfully born and raised to maturity at Lubee Bat Conservancy.

The birth of twins is very exciting, and is the first documented record of twins in this species in captivity. Lubee has had two previous sets of twins (both Malayan flying foxes). Lubee staff will feed the mother extra calcium and food, and watch the pups carefully to ensure their growth rate is normal. However, it is likely we may need to take one of the pups away from the mother to be hand –reared to ensure their survival.

Live from Core

Jordan Borstelmann, Keeper. Posted: 2009

Sitting in front of the computer with this enormous blank slate we are calling Live from Core, I am completely blown away by where to start. Lubee itself has a long history, both while Luis Bacardi lived here on property assembling his varied collection of animals, to the inception of the Lubee Bat Conservancy. Lots of keepers have come and gone in that time, lots of bats too, but I think more important than all the stories about Lubee’s creation, or tales of the wild menagerie that once lived here, would be to tell you about what it is we do, and why it is we do it. I’d like to give you a glimpse of what kind of person decides to spend a large part of their day working with bats.

When I tell people that I take care of bats for a living, they always ask “What do you do exactly?” And I always reply with, “We care for them, clean up after them, feed them, and that’s about it.” Really though that isn’t it, but that’s about all I can say before the barrage of other questions hit, like “What kind of nests do they build?”, or “Do they lay eggs?” So I am going to let this be my opportunity to explain a bit about what the Keepers at Lubee do, what our responsibilities are, what motivates us.

Like most zoo keepers, the Keepers at Lubee start the day cleaning up after the animals. Our most cherished tool is the water hose, and nothing spoils a quick cleanup in the morning like the loss of water pressure. The mornings are also reserved for examining and medicating any bats that need it. Examining, really just means counting them and checking for any injuries they may have received over night. Usually it’s just a loose band or minor scratch. This is really the meat of what it means to be a Lubee Keeper. This is the time when you are checking on the well being of your bats. The better you know the bats the easier it is to detect any issues. When I first started to work here I had trouble telling the different species apart. Now after working here for six months, I can tell if Arthur is having an off day by not being his normal energetic self. It takes careful observation, thoughtfulness, and caring. Instead of simply memorizing what each bat looks like, or reading their number from the identification tag, getting to know the bats personality really is the key to properly caring for a collection.

After our lunch we feed out and do research projects. Feeding out is pretty fun, most of the bats, believe it or not, are most active at this point. I think it’s less a natural cycle, and more about the fact that we are bringing out the grub. The research projects are also pretty cool. We keepers are part scientist, part vet, as well as babysitters for endangered kids. We take DNA samples from the skin on their wings, and cell swabs from the roof of the mouth.

So it goes, and at the days end, everyone feels pretty good. Working with fruit bats is a pretty awesome experience. I don’t think many people ever have a chance to really bond with their work like a Keeper does, and I am happy to be one of them.

Zaphod: The birth of a bat and tribute to Douglas Adams

Tasha King, Head Keeper. Posted: 2009

One of the missions at Lubee Bat Conservancy is to maintain a healthy and genetically stable population of various Pteropus species in captivity. This is done through strictly controlled natural breeding. Fruit bat populations have suffered tremendous declines in the wild due to habitat destruction, overhunting, and persecution. Maintaining genetically viable captive populations is a key component in research, education, and conservation.

Since Dec 10, 2007, Lubee has had two Variable flying fox pups births. The first was born without incident. Keeper Amy Booms found mom and pup happy and healthy during morning rounds. The other, however was quite different.

The keeping staff had been expecting a pup any day. Mom looked like she was going to give birth at any moment. It was Good Friday, and being a holiday, staff leaves early. One of the keepers, Jordan, was to return in the afternoon to administer evening medications and check on the expecting mom, “Zoe”. It was about 3:00pm when I got the call “She’s having her baby!” When I arrived the pup’s head was protruding and facing mom, as is the case in a normal birth, great! 90 minutes later there was minimal progress and mom was exhausted; we knew it was time for a trip to the vet. Once we arrived at the University of Florida College Of Veterinary Medicine, mom was anesthetized. The vets initially had difficulty assisting mom in the birthing process, but eventually succeeded in delivering the pup. Since Jordan was the first person to find the pup, he got to name him. He chose the name “Zaphod” after a character in a Douglas Adam’s book (note : Douglas Adam’s was an enthusiastic voice and supporter of endangered wildlife). “Zaphod” was placed in an incubator while mom was slowly brought out of anesthesia; he was very active and healthy. Once mom awoke, we tried placing “Zaphod” on “Zoe”, but she appeared distraught about the situation. She was sore, in a new place, and had not eaten dinner yet! She tried to bite her pup on all three times attempts to place him on her teat to nurse. The next option was to take mom and pup (kept separately from each other) back to Lubee to make mom feel more secure with her surroundings. There was a very probable chance that “Zaphod” would have to be hand-reared. Although Lubee staff has been successful in hand-rearing, nothing compares to a maternally reared offspring kept in a colony of conspecifics.

Once we arrived at Lubee, we decided to give mom and pup one last chance to bond. We anesthetized “Zoe” and placed “Zaphod” on her while she was asleep to allow him to get some much needed nourishment. He was healthy and active and was very hungry. We then placed mom and pup in a small enclosure together in hopes that mom would awake from the anesthesia and slowly come to notice the new tiny squirming bundle under her wing. The moments of her slowly waking up were some of the most worrisome moments of my life. I crouched in front of the enclosure, gloves on hands, ready to intervene if mom showed any aggression. She was still heavily sedated and slowly climbed to the top of the wire, so far so good! It was 10:30pm at that point and the thought occurred to me “What if something happens once we leave?!” I called Brian Pope, our curator, gave him the update, and asked what he thought. The answer I hoped for and dreaded as well, came - I was going to spend the night with the bats!

Before Jordan left he was kind enough to stop by our break room and grab some cozy couch cushions for me to lay on while I played guardian for little “Zaphod”. I turned the lights out and shone a flashlight on the ground, allowing just enough light to bounce off the floor onto mom so that I could keep an eye on her. She conveniently had a large natural golden circular coloration on her head that made a great light reflector! I wore the gloves all night, in case I would need them in a split second. Every couple of hours, she would make a quick movement, causing me to jump immediately! Fortunately, they were false alarms, but the adrenaline rush I had all night was enough to keep me awake.

Finally, it was 8:00am and the first of our Saturday morning keepers, Michelle Wilhelmy, arrived. I gave her the updates, and she gave me a much needed break. Over the next couple of days we all kept a very close eye on mom and pup, but it was becoming more and more obvious that “Zoe” was actually bonding with her baby. He would spread his tiny wings and she would carefully lick his fingers and wings. It was obvious to us that all of our work paid off, and it was a success!

Now he has more than quadrupled in size, is beginning to hang on his own, and soon will be learning how to fly! Eventually he will come of age when we will need to separate him from mom, but I am sure that will be much easier than it was getting them together!