Madagascar's museum collections reveal smaller flying foxes
· BehindLines newsroom
Skulls preserved in museums shed light on a change in Madagascar's flying foxes. A study published on 29 October in the Journal of Mammalogy describes a reduction in several skull dimensions in Pteropus rufus. Researchers link this pattern to the expansion of commercial hunting, while retaining a caveat about causation.
Comparing animals separated by decades
The article's abstract explains that the analysis uses cranial and dental measurements from specimens spanning more than 150 years. It also examines age-related differences, to avoid confusing a morphological change with the presence of more young animals.
Several skull measurements decrease in adults. Teeth show a less uniform pattern: most traits studied decline, while another increases. The findings therefore cannot be reduced to an identical shrinkage in every part measured.
In a Field Museum statement carried by Phys.org, the authors say they examined 121 specimens from nine American and European museums. Emily Cornelius Ruhs describes a marked decline beginning around 1980.
Hunting is a possible explanation, not a proven sole cause
Ruhs says this period would coincide with the increased commercialisation of hunting. She suggests one possible explanation: larger individuals could be more visible targets and provide more meat.
However, she stresses that the work establishes a correlation, without explicitly demonstrating that hunting caused the decline. Deforestation, climate or changes in the seasonal availability of fruit could also contribute.
The significance extends beyond skull shape. The abstract notes that these bats disperse seeds and reproduce slowly. The authors call for stronger protection, monitoring and a formal assessment of population viability. These findings warn of combined pressures; they are neither a current census of the entire species nor a quantified forecast of its disappearance.