Page 76 - JWP 120122

68 70 Heng Pei Pei, Lim Kuang Hock, Cheong Yoon Ling, Noraini Osman, Noraina Majid, Tan Poai Ean,
Heng Pei Pei, Lim Kuang Hock, Cheong Yoon Ling, Noraini Osman, Noraina Majid,
Tan Poai Ean, Shyamini Ann Samson, Ali Aman Marine, Mohd Hazilas Mat Hashim,
Shyamini Ann Samson, Ali Aman Marine, Mohd Hazilas Mat Hashim, Mohd Yahya Izral Umpong,
Mohd Yahya Izral Umpong, Balvinder Singh Gill & Lim Boo Liat
Balvinder Singh Gill & Lim Boo Liat

DISCUSSION

Across the two species, male flying foxes are typically larger than females
(McNab & Armstrong, 2001), in consistent with the comparison of body
measurement between different sexes of P. hypomelanus and P. vampyrus in
our study. The P. vampyrus during the specimen collection period of 1967-1977
was found dominant at a few specific habitats at states of Kuala Lumpur and
Selangor areas (Puchong, Ulu Gombak Bukit Lagong, Subang and Sungai Buloh).
Nevertheless, a more recent study in 2003-2006 discovered the largest colonies
of greater flying foxes found in states of Johor (Benut), Pahang (Tanjung Agas)
and Perak (Lenggong) (Epstein et al., 2009). These changes of dominant habitat
reflect that those previous roost sites had been abandoned due to habitat loss of
aggressive deforestation. Another survey of P. vampyrus documented that 40 out
of 115 locally recognized roost sites in Peninsular Malaysia were no longer in use
(Mohd-Azlan et al., 2011). Furthermore, literature evidently suggested that
international migration and long-distance travel during nocturnal foraging bouts,
are normal movement patterns of P. vampyrus, through the demonstration of
home range analysis employing satellite telemetry data. It was observed that bats
collared and released in Benut, Johor (Malaysia) crossed the Malacca Straits to
Sumatra (Indonesia), while bats in released in Perak (Malaysia) moved into
Thailand. Therefore, the conservation management strategies should be
coordinated across countries while habitat continuity across international borders
is highly needed (Kunz & Jones, 2000; Bates et al., 2008; Epstein et al., 2009).

Flying foxes play an important role in the regeneration of cleared forests, as they
have the ability to retain seeds in the gut for up to 20 hours before spreading the
seeds beyond the forest fragments through flight over large distances up to 20 km
from the parent tree, hence are particularly important in fragmented forests (Aziz
et al., 2017b; Oleksy et al., 2017). In addition, they are also host to the parasitic
nematode Litmosa maki in their abdominal cavity which again emphasizes their
ecosystem significance. Besides that, ectoparasites from the families Laelapidae,
Nycteribiidae, and Spinturnicidae have also been reported among flying foxes in
Malaysia (Mohd-Azlan et al., 2011).

The widespread decline in the flying fox populations had been reported in both
peninsular and eastern Malaysia (Mohd-Azlan et al., 2011; Struebig et al., 2007;
Mickleburgh et al., 2009), due to several causes. Firstly, human activities impact
their environments. Secondly, the biological traits make this population especially
vulnerable to threats: they aggregate than usual during mating and birthing,
therefore, causing hunting likely to be easier; they also have a relatively long
gestation period of six months (McIlwee & Martin, 2002) but only give birth to
one pup per year (Kunz & Jones, 2000). Even when nearly all female (90%)