Flying-foxes warmly welcomed at Centennial Park
Flying-foxes rarely receive a warm welcome, but Centennial Park in Sydney is taking advantage of peoples’ curiosity about these amazing mammals and is attracting more visitors to the park with a series of tours.
Since the Botanic Gardens started noise disruption to disperse flying-foxes in July 2012, it seems quite a number of the animals have relocated to roost at Lachlan Swamp in Centennial Park where camp numbers increased quite markedly (as well as roosting in other camps around Sydney and elsewhere – these are nomadic creastures after all!). While park management might have had initial concerns about adverse effects from this increase in camp size, these concerns have been replaced with a positive approach for flying-foxes and a focus on attracting more visitors to the park to learn about flying-foxes and other bats. Very active Wildlife Ecologist, KBCS member & PhD student, Tim Pearson has been busy at Centennial Park, educating the rangers on all manner of batty things and leading tours.