Study Links Hunting to Smaller Madagascar Flying Foxes

Madagascar’s flying foxes, among the world’s largest bats, have become smaller over recent decades, researchers report after comparing museum specimens with more recent animals. Measurements of 121 specimens found that bats collected before the 1980s had skulls about 6 percent longer on average than those collected afterward. The researchers say the timing coincides with a shift toward commercial hunting, and suspect that hunters’ preference for larger bats may be driving the change, potentially alongside shorter lifespans. Climate change and habitat loss were also considered as possible explanations, but the study points to hunting pressure as a leading hypothesis rather than proving it caused the decline in size.