Evaluation of Egyptian Fruit Bat Enclosure at Paradise Wildlife Park

Evaluation of Egyptian Fruit Bat Enclosure at Paradise Wildlife Park

The Egyptian Fruit Bat enclosure at Paradise Wildlife Park has many good and bad points as is the way with many zoo enclosures. Enclosures should mimic the natural environments of the animals that inhabit them and this can be very hard to do is captivity. The Egyptian Fruit Bat enclosure which is shown in the image below has a walk in area for the public in which the bats are actually free roaming, they have one nest box, mesh along the ceiling of the enclosure and many trees and branches based around the enclosure, there is a barrier up around the public path of the enclosure to still prevent the public from getting too close to the animals and there is a small water bowl placed on the top of their nest box.

Substrate - The first part of the enclosure in which I am going to evaluate is the substrate, the flooring for the public path in the enclosure is made up of tiles, and this is a good material to have been used because it is save and it is easily cleaned, it meets the keepers and the public’s needs, the one down side to the public path substrate is that it doesn’t really mimic the bats natural environment but if it was too then this would be quite impractical. The substrate for the rest of the bat enclosure is sand which is a brilliant substrate because it meets the needs of not only the keepers, but also the public and the bats, it mimics the bats natural habitat and this is good for the public as well because they can see the bats in an enclosure which is close to the bats natural habitat. It is also excellent for meeting the keeper’s needs because it is cheap and easy to clean and maintain.

Water Source – The water source in the Egyptian Fruit Bat enclosure was actually quite poor, it merely consisted of a small water bowl placed on top of the nest box with two stones placed in it. For the amount of bats there were in the enclosure this amount of water really was inadequate. It was also a very unnatural source of water for the bats as it was in a metal bowl. To make this better they could have a large bowl placed someone in the enclosure or they could have multiple bowls that are more natural looking to the environment theme of the enclosure as this will not only be more pleasing the eye for visitors but will also be better for the bats. One good point about the water source is that it is easy to refill and move for the keepers.

Food source - The food source for the bats was rather good because once a day keepers went into the enclosure with a large bucket of food and placed it on all the branches all around the enclosure. This was good because it meets the needs of everyone perfectly. It mimics that natural ways in which bats feed in the wild, it looks appealing and good to the visitors and encourages bats to fly around for their food just like they would in the wild which allows the visitors to see and appreciate them at their best. It is also great for the keepers because it is easy to do, doesn’t take much time and is easy to clean up the next day. The only improvement which I can suggest is to introduce some real fruit plants and trees so that it is more natural and this will save time because the fruits will grow naturally and won’t need to be cut up and placed out, it would also make the enclosure look a lot more appealing to the eye.

Variation in temperature – The variation in temperature in the enclosure was quite good other than the fact that in winter it would become slightly too cold so therefore the bats wouldn’t be as active and this meant they weren’t able to express natural behaviour. The heat came from one side of the enclosure and the heat was able to naturally rise and there was an open door allowing cooler air to get into the enclosure and this open door was what caused the temperature to be cooler than it should be during winter. As an improvement the enclosure could have a stronger heating system, it could be placed in a different part of the enclosure such as the back and the enclosure should be more able to keep heat without it losing it through open doors etc.

Air movement – The air movement in this enclosure was adequate, the enclosure had an open door at the front so therefore lots of fresh air could get in and there were also actual vents in the enclosure. But this wasn’t as good as it could have been as you could still smell fruit in there and this attracted flies, a way to improve the air movement would be to maybe placed fans in the enclosure to encourage the air to move in and out and to get rid of the constant smell of fruit.

Lighting – The lighting in the bat enclosure is great for both the keepers and the public because it is completely lit so this means that the public are able to see the bats really clearly and around the whole enclosure and it also means that it is a lot easier for the keepers to keep an eye on the bats and to clean the enclosure because they can see fully. On the other hand this isn’t brilliant for the bats because they are nocturnal animals and they spend most of their time in dark caves and in the natural environment would not normally be exposed to much light at all so therefore this isn’t a brilliant feature of the enclosure. A way to make this better and more suitable for not only the keepers and the public but also for the bats is to have the lights in the enclosure but only turn them all on when absolutely necessary and for the other time have all of the lights off because the roof of the bat enclosure allows natural sunlight to shine through so therefore the enclosure will still be partially lit so that the public can see and things and although bats don’t see much natural sunlight it is much better than artificial light.

Humidity control – The bat enclosure at Paradise does not have a very good humidity control system. It consists of occasionally spraying the enclosure with a small hand held spray and then due to the high temperature this creating some humidity but this does not create the necessary amount of humidity for bats and it is also quite impractical for the keepers to do every day. A better system would be to have sprinklers that are on an automatic timer as this would provide the correct amount of humidity for the bats and it would be a lot more practical for the keepers because it would mean that they wouldn’t have to spend time spraying the whole enclosure every day which would save a lot of time and effort.

Size – The size of the enclosure meets the minimum requirements of an Egyptian Fruit bat enclosure but for the number of bats it holds it could be bigger so that they could have a lot more room to fly around. The exact size of the enclosure was 3 ½ m long, 4m wide and about 5m high. The ceiling height is perfect because it gives bats the freedom and space to fly but they don’t have much ground room for when they are flying low when they are eating and things and so therefore this is the area that I believe should be made a little bigger.

Boundaries and access – The boundaries of the bat enclosure are very good, there are plastic slats at the entrance to allow members of the public in and to keep the bats from getting out and I think this is the best type of entrance because it is very effective, there is also a second set of plastic slats to ensure extra safety in case a bat was to get out of the first set of slats. As the perimeter of the walk way there is a raised wooden barrier and this is good because although people could get over it because it is raised and the wooden beams are close together this deters people from it and even if they did they couldn’t actually get to the bats because the bats have the space to fly to safety. It is good for the bats because it means that the areas which they can fly in their enclosure are not restricted and it is a good thing for the keepers because it means that the whole enclosure is easily accessible because keepers are able to just enter the enclosure through the doors and then climb over the barriers. Improvements could be made to ensure that people don’t climb over the barriers such as make them higher but this would make it less easily accessible to keepers and will also restrict where the bats can fly. There is also access to the enclosure on the other side of the barriers which is a small door which can be useful during cleaning if you don’t want to dirty the floors and also as an entry and exit point for keepers when the bat house is busy.

Hygiene - The only bad point about the hygiene in this enclosure is due to the poor air movement the enclosure constantly smells of fruit and so therefore this attracts flies, other than that the enclosure is very hygienic and very easy to clean. The walls have a smooth hard covering over them and are painted to look like Egyptian desert which is incredibly pleasing to the eye of the public but the main purpose of it is so that it is easy to clean. The sand used as substrate is easy to clean because you can scope up any of it that is dirty and rake it regularly to make sure it remains fresh for as long as possible. The barriers and signs are all easy to wipe stuff off of too and the tiled public walkway is easy to clean too because you can just wash it down. The building doesn’t have a drainage system on the inside but this isn’t a problem because you can squeegee all of the dirty water outside where there are plenty or drains and this is not a problem because the building is quite small in all.

Enrichment and toys – As enrichment for the bats they are not given anything temporary but there enclosure is regularly changed around so that they are not bored and things remain interesting. They have many branches and logs and rocks in their enclosure which mimic their natural environment and allow keepers to pierce their food on all of the branches so they can consume it like they would in the wild. They also have a layer of mesh along the ceiling in order for the bats to be able to hang upside down, the only fault with this is that it is not plastic coated so therefore it could damage the bats wing membranes if they fly too close to it. They have many hanging shelves which rock which keepers also place fruit on and they also have ropes which hang so that the bats can also hang on them.

Social structure - The social structure of the bat colony in the enclosure at Paradise was brilliant and mimics exactly how they would live in the wild, the only way that they could improve it would be to give the bats more space to roam. They have a colony of about 40 bats, male’s females, young and old. Bats live in large colonies like this in the wild and the keepers try to have as little to do with them as possible unless they need to intervene, which is good because it means that the bats are living just as they would in their natural habitats.

Resting places and areas to hide – This is probably one of the worst areas of the enclosure as in a bats natural habitat they spend most of their time in caves or very secluded dark areas and they are very shy animals. The only hiding/resting place in the enclosure is a little nest box in the left hand corner of the enclosure. It is not very big so therefore isn’t of any use to a colony of 40+ bats. To improve this they should either provide the bats with a much bigger nest box that they can all use or provide them with multiple nest boxes. They could also just provide them with a more secluded area which they could shelter in that is away from the public. The one good point about this set up though is that it is good for the public because it means that the bats are almost always out where they can be seen.

Signs and education – The signs around the bat enclosure were very informative. There was a big one just as you go into the enclosure which informed you of what species they are, where they come from, what they eat and other facts about them. Then around the actual enclosure there was a small sign in the shape of bats which had quick fun facts about general bat species which was really good and seemed to interest people. The only way in which these can be improved is for the small bats signs to be made slightly bigger so that they stand out more and are easy to read. There is also a bat feed and talk which is a great way to get the public interested and to teach them about bats and in the talk they don’t only talk about Egyptian Fruit bats they speak about other species and bats in general which is good. They answer any questions that the public have which gets them involved and keeps them interested. The bat feed because you got to see how the keepers but the food out for the bats and why they hang it on branches and you also got to learn about what they eat but it seemed to be a bit of a disappointment to members of the public because the bats don’t come down to feed while people are there as they are shy and nocturnal but this cannot be helped.

Stereotypical behaviour – As far as I could tell there was no stereotypical behaviour being shown in the bats other than the fact that they do not actually sleep properly during the day. Other than that they behave normally hanging upside down huddled together in one corner of the enclosure, occasionally squabbling over the best spots and then in the evenings when the zoo has quietened down and their food is out they begin to fly around as they would in the wild and feast. The reason for them not properly sleeping during the day is probably due to the public being in their enclosure throughout the day and this may be stressful for them as they are such shy animals.

So overall I think the enclosure was successful at trying to mimic an Egyptian Fruit Bats natural habitat but it still had some major flaws which could be amended. To the public the enclosure meets all of their needs and shows and teaches them a vast range of information about bats in general as well as the Egyptian Fruit Bat species. For the keepers the enclosure is also perfect because it meets all of keeper’s requirements. When it comes to the bats though this is where the enclosure is lacking, they desperately need more privacy from the public through more or larger nest boxes being provided and this may stop any stereotypical behaviour which is being shown. They also need a better water source and better humidity and temperature control in their enclosure to provide them with a more suitable environment. It is however hard to mimic an animal’s natural habitat completely in captivity and there will always be improvements that could be made. Also when creating an enclosure in a zoo it must meet needs of the keepers and the public too and this is most of the time a near impossible task so overall I think that the Egyptian Fruit Bat enclosure at Paradise Wildlife Park is good and only need to make a few adjustments that are necessary.