Breeding Cycle of Straw-Colored Fruit Bat, Eidolon helvum, at Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Uncovering the fruit bat bushmeat commodity chain and the true extent of fruit bat hunting in Ghana, West Africa

“…Thus the large number of bats we recorded in trade could actually result from an increase in the use of small animals as commercial goods. This shift, if confirmed, would be more of a concern for a slow reproducer like E. helvum (Fayenuwo and Halstead, 1974) than for other small, more rapidly breeding species like T. swinderianus . More directed monitoring of the bat trade will be needed in the future to assess whether, and in what way, patterns of trade are changing.…”

How Does Africa's Most Hunted Bat Vary Across the Continent? Population Traits of the Straw-Coloured Fruit Bat (Eidolon helvum) and Its Interactions with Humans

“…Urban roosts in bat-hunting regions tend to be in the tallest trees available, and often within sites that provide some form of 'sanctuary' where hunting is discouraged. This includes hospital grounds (Accra, Kampala), embassies (Accra, Libreville), botanical gardens (Accra, Ile-Ife (Fayenuwo and Halstead, 1974)), hotels (São Tomé), palace gardens (Kano (Barau et al, 2013)), zoos (Kumasi) and military, private or corporate compounds (Accra, Yaounde). Alternatively, it may be that these locations are some of the few areas within these cities with sufficient numbers of large, tall trees remaining to accommodate large roosts, since roosts in regions where E. helvum were not hunted for bushmeat or regularly disturbed were also observed in hospital grounds (Muheza, Nguludi), embassies (Malabo), and private compounds (Dar es Salaam).…”

Old world fruit bats: an action plan for their conservation

“…Two reproductive strategies are reported; one involving a gestation of four months with conceptions in the autumn and births in the spring (Andersen, 1912), the other involving an extended gestation of at least nine months, incorporating a period of delayed implantation which results in births timed to coincide with the onset of the rainy season (Mutere, 1967;Fayenuwo and Halstead, 1974;Funmilayo, 1979). Anciaux de Faveaux (1978) recorded two colonies of E. helvum both breeding at 2° of latitude S, as having different conception times.…”