Indonesia is home to about 225 species of bats. One of them which is also endemic to Indonesia is the giant flying fox bat species. These bats have a wing expanse of up to 6 feet (foot). Unfortunately, these mammals are threatened with extinction.
This was stated Head of Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Prof.. Dr. Lukman Hakim at the opening ceremony titled Second South-East Asian International Bat Conference in Bogor on Monday (06/06/2011).
Lukman believes, the extinction of bats in Indonesia can not be separated from the exploitation of karst (limestone) by humans. In fact, the site is the residence of the bat.
Not only that, the threat of extinction of bats also triggered activity or Caving speleologi (search cave). This has been disturbing the peace in hibernating bats. Energy decreases when the bats would composure disturbed by the caver.
In addition, the use of pesticides on insects that are considered pests, it also can interfere with bat populations. This happens when an insect that has been doused pesticides were consumed by female bats. Pesticides that will affect the bat's milk.
"So you could say that bats are an important component in the fauna of Southeast Asia's most endangered" he said.
In fact, bats can be very helpful to balance the ecosystem, including helping the lives of everyday people.
One colony of bats can consume tons of insects every evening, when the bats come out of the nest to find food. For comparison, a brown bat can consume 600 insects in an hour.
"You could say with a bat at least to save the use of pesticides to fifty percent" he added.
In Indonesia, the bats also play an important role in seed dispersal of tropical fruits like mangoes, rambutan, durian duku up. "In fact there are a number of fruit reproductive process depends only on the bat," he added.
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