Extreme heat wipes out almost one third of Australia's spectacled flying fox population

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-19/heat-wipes-out-one-third-of-flying-fox-species/10632940?pfmredir=sm&fbclid=IwAR1KUbepzNUL1B9HnU6jBmTVgDK4w0WMa3wluEaMvjLAlKR0fuLyAuM2pV0

By Sharnie Kim and Adam Stephen
Updated 18 Dec 2018, 9:42pm

An extreme heatwave in far north Queensland last month is estimated to have killed more than 23,000 spectacled flying foxes, equating to almost one third of the species in Australia.

The deaths were from colonies in the Cairns area where the mercury soared above 42 degrees Celsius [107.6 F] two days in a row, breaking the city's previous record temperature for November by five degrees [9 F].

Ecologist, Dr Justin Welbergen from the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (Western Sydney University) is collating the numbers of bat deaths and said it was the second-largest mass die-off of flying foxes recorded in Australia and the first time it had happened to this species.

•••••

"Extreme heat events are increasing in frequency, also in terms of intensity and duration, and we can expect more extreme temperatures to occur increasingly frequently further north.

"A certain proportion of such an extreme event can certainly be statistically attributed to climate change for sure. I think the jury is no longer out on that."

Flying foxes dropped dead from roosting trees around Cairns during the heatwave with some residents forced to leave their homes due to the smell from thousands of rotting carcasses.

•••••