Bungee-jumping birth caught on camera of critically endangered megabat pup as part of vital breeding programme

Staff at Northumberland Zoo, a family-run, not-for-profit zoo, were in the right place at the right time to witness the extreme birth of a critically endangered Livingstone’s Fruit Bat pup on Mother’s Day.

This behaviour has never been caught on camera previously and people around the world are seeing for the first-time how unique the birthing process of the Livingstone’s Fruit Bat is compared to other species of fruit bat.

Keepers noticed that Selene was showing unusual behaviours and experiencing discomfort from around 3pm, spending a lot of time licking herself.

It did not take long before the keepers realised that she was going into labour. For the next few hours, Selene kept flipping herself the ‘right way up’ and hanging from her thumbs numerous times, trying to use gravity to help her ‘pull’ the pup out.

After around 2 hours of labour, Selene made one final flip and pushed the pup out where it hung suspended from just the umbilical cord for around 11 seconds before the mother turned upside-down again to allow the pup to grab onto her. As the mothers become more experienced with pups, the duration of time that the pups spend suspended by their umbilical cord is reduced.

As bats are mammals, the pup’s instinct is to manoeuvre itself towards the mother’s teat which is located under their ‘armpit’ and protected by the wing. This location allows the pups to attach themselves and stay safe whilst the mothers can still fly around and feed.

In a surprise development of events, keepers witnessed another female bat, called Sima, had immediately rushed over to help Selene with cleaning the bat pup. Four-year old Sima is also the mother of ‘Hadrian’, a male bat who was the first ever bat pup born at Northumberland Zoo in November last year.

This alloparental care behaviour has never been recorded in this species, making it an added bonus to these Mother’s Day events. Alloparental care refers to an individual giving care to a non-descendant offspring.

This particular discovery has caught the attention of scientists around the world as this is a part of fruit bat life which is not always easy to witness. A scientific paper will be published regarding all of the events, behaviours and interactions that were caught on film pre and post birth.

Not only were we treated to one amazing bat birth, but a second female, Thea who is just 2.5 years old also gave birth to her first pup over the Mother’s Day weekend in the same way. Livingstone’s Fruit Bats only give birth once a year to one pup at a time.

With only 1,200 of these bats left in the wild and just over 100 of these bats in captivity, these bat pups are vital to the future of the species and breeding programme.

Both pups are doing well and the keepers are able to check them visually throughout the day. The sexes of the pups are not known yet and this will be determined on the first vet health check.

Already home to Snow Leopards and tiny harvest mice, the Zoo is home to the world’s second captive breeding population of Livingstone’s Fruit Bats, becoming the UK mainland’s only location where you can see these rare bats.

The zoo has a purpose-built, sustainable facility where these flying mammals can be shown at their best with ample room to spread their wings and fly. These ‘flying foxes’, as they are affectionately called, have an impressive wingspan of up to 1.2 metres and they are the world’s third largest bat species.

The bats at the Zoo are part of a vital captive breeding programme, in association with Gerald Durrell’s Jersey Zoo, to increase their population in captivity and maintain a captive back-up group in case their wild counter-parts become extinct. Currently, there are only just over 100 of these bats in captivity in the world between Northumberland, Jersey and a zoo in France.

Zoo Curator, Maxine Bradley, stated “It was an incredible moment to witness the birth of such a rare species – and to be able to capture it on camera for the world to share this experience with us was breath-taking.”

“For a moment there, we thought it was all over as we watched, helplessly, from 20 metres away, but we were then relieved to see Selene pull through and do such a great job.”

Unlike most bat exhibits within Zoos, the Fruit Bat Island’ exhibit is a day-time exhibit, allowing visitors to see the residents up close and in daylight. “Our goal with this exhibit is to change visitor perceptions with regards to bats. These bats have adorable fox-like furry faces, with big Mickey Mouse ears and huge eyes - I want people to fall in love with them and gain a new favourite animal when they visit.” says Maxine.

Livingstone’s Fruit Bats originate from just two small islands that form part of the Republic of Comoros in the Indian Ocean, northwest of Madagascar. The most recent survey found approximately 1,200 wild bats in as few as 25 different roost sites across remote areas of the two islands. This species is at risk of imminent extinction, which means they are likely to become extinct in the near future. This is due to deforestation and the risk of severe tropical storms.

The Comoros is a developing nation with an exponentially increasing human population who use trees for building & industry, and land for growing food & earning survival income.

With increased global warming effects, the stronger cyclones and hurricanes that hit the Comoros Islands bring a high risk of destroying bat roosts, creating mudslides and whisking fragmented bat populations out to sea where they then become stranded.

Northumberland Zoo supports the vital conservation work carried out by Dahari NGO who are based in the Comoros, responsible for protecting natural habitats and educating the people who share the islands with this rare and elusive species.

Northumberland Zoo has recently won Gold in the Northeast Tourism Awards in the ‘Ethical, Responsible & Sustainable Tourism’ category as well as a Bronze award in the ‘Large Visitor Attraction of the Year’ category.