The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Nocturnal `visitors' in Golconda under threat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Nocturnal `visitors' in Golconda under threat

M. Sai Gopal

The population of bats is dwindling fast The population of `Fulvous Fruit Bat' species is dwindling fast

FAVOURITE HAUNT: The inner walls of the Rani Mahal in Golconda have been sealed, preventing free access to `Fruit Bats.' - Photo: P.V.Sivakumar

HYDERABAD: The squealing of bats has surely died down over the years. Now one has to concentrate hard to listen to their sounds and flapping of wings. With their habitat almost gone, the numbers have started dwindling sharply.

Yes, we are talking about the `Fulvous Fruit Bat' species, whose population about half a decade ago in the Golconda fort was more than 10,000. Bat biologists in the twin cities who frequent these bat sites now point out that the figure would be 4,000 or even less. Not long ago, biologists used to swear and take pride in the fact that the Rani Mahal in Golconda fort alone sheltered thousands of bats. The fort was considered to be the only urban setting in the twin cities ideal for proliferation of this type of bat species.

Fulvous Fruit Bats are nocturnal, hang upside down and spend their days roosting on the dark walls of Golconda fort. They emerge from the roost only to forage for food late in the evening and return just before dawn.

"Trouble began when the authorities started building walls inside the Rani Mahal for the sound and light show. Over the years, this played havoc with the natural habitat of fruit bats of Golconda," informs bat researcher from Osmania University, Zoology Department, C. Srinivasulu.

Extensive green cover near Golconda fort, the presence of a large number of fruit trees and the abandoned fort were ideal conditions for fruit bats to spawn. "These bats were living through ages and were a part of our heritage ," says Mr. Srinivasulu.

Had their been a concerted effort to promote bat sites in Golconda as an `urban tourism' project, as is the case of similar bat sites in South East Asian and Western countries, things would have been different, experts feel. "In places like Texas and even in Thailand, tourists pay to visit and observe bat sites. This gives a fillip to tourism and help in conserving the bat habitat ," says Bhargavi Srinivasulu, another bat researcher.

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