WCS 3-Sentence Science

Fruit Bat Survival in Madagascar

November 22, 2019

CREDIT: ARISTIDE ANDRIANARIMISA/WCS MADAGASCAR

Each year, Wildlife Conservation Society scientists publish more than 300 peer-reviewed studies and papers. “WCS 3-Sentence Science” is a regular tip-sheet — in bite sized helpings — of some of this published work.

Here we present work by WCS Madagascar’s Aristide Andrianarimisa on the factors impacting survival success in fruit bats.

1. Researchers tagged 1,801 Malagasy fruit bats (Rousenus madagascariensis) to study the population size and apparent survival of individuals in relation to age and sex.
2. They found that for males, apparent survival is lower in adults compared to sub-adults; while for females the opposite is true, and that the overall survival rate in this population is strongly influenced by mortality and secondarily by dispersal.
3. Apparent survival of individuals has a positive impact on population growth but less than birth rate, thus showing that the health and sustainability of the population relies heavily on individual survival.

Study and Journal: “Population size and survival of the Malagasy fruit bat Rousettus madagascariensis (Pteropodidae) in Ankarana, northern Madagascar” from Acta Chiropterologica
WCS Co-Author(s): Aristide Andrianarimisa, Research and Science Coordinator, WCS Madagascar

For more information, contact: Stephen Sautner, 718–220–3682, ssautner@wcs.org.