Rescuing the fruit bats of the Seychelles

On his recent visit to the Seychelles, Discover Animals’ Geoff Moore also spent time filming at the island’s fruit bat rehabilitation centre, Protect Paradise, finding out how vital the animals are to the islands’ eco-system.

He talks to Tamara Dreyer, who set up Protect Paradise, about how the organisation rescues the fruit bats (also known as flying foxes) – the only native mammals in the Seychelles – when they fall off their mothers and become displaced.

At night when they eat and disperse seeds, they help to regrow forests on the island, and play an important role in pollination and fertilising the landscape.

When the bats are rescued, they are wrapped in a special material that mimics their mothers’ wings and are fed an enriched milk to help strengthen their bones. They are slowly rehabilitated over a period of months, ready to be released back into the wild.

Protect Paradise is currently campaigning to eliminate the exploitation of the fruit bats for meat, which poses a severe threat to their population.