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Do Not Touch The Giant Fox Bats (Um, Ok)

Walking through the Sydney Botanical Gardens after a quick lunch today we heard what sounded like Tucan birds screaming from the trees. With Australia being the land of crazy animals, we figured we weren't hearing your garden variety squawking crow, so we glanced up at the nearest tree and there they were -- tens of giant fox bats, probably over 100 in all.

In perfect Aussie fashion there was a sign under these trees that says:

DO NOT TOUCH THE FLYING FOXES
For many years Grey-headed Flying-foxes have been seasonal visitors to the Royal Botanic Gardens. At night these large bats feed on the flowers and fruits of many native plants and they are important in pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds of these species.

However, as you can see by looking around the Palm Grove, the bats that have set up camp in the Gardens are damaging the trees they roost in. For this reason, the Royal Botanical Gardens has been given a license to use non-harmful methods to discourage the bats from roosting here.

As far as the bat-touching goes, duly noted but we aren't keen to touch some bats. We wouldn't touch a normal bat, let alone a dinosaur flying fox bat. Would you?

Related Stories:
· Jaunted in Sydney [Jaunted]
· Royal Botanical Gardens [Official Site]