Little Mariana Fruit Bat, or Flying Fox, 2022
mixed media on paper with metallic accents
5.125" x 7"
$97 including US shipping
From the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposal for removing 23 species from the Federal Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants due to extinction:
The little Mariana fruit bat (
Pteropus tokudae
) was listed as endangered on August 27, 1984 (49 FR 33881), and was included in the Recovery Plan for Mariana Fruit Bat (
Pteropus mariannus,
or fanihi in the Chamorro language) and the Little Mariana Fruit Bat (USFWS 1990). Last observed in 1968, the little Mariana fruit bat was “among the most critically endangered species of wildlife under U.S. jurisdiction,” as noted in the 1984 final listing rule (49 FR 33881, August 27, 1984, p. 49 FR 33882), which cited hunting and loss of habitat as the primary factors contributing to its rarity.
The little Mariana fruit bat belonged to a primarily tropical group of bats in the Megachiroptera suborder characterized by relatively large size, frugivorous diet (fruit-eating), and lack of echolocation.
In addition to possibly having been inherently rare, as suggested by the literature, a concurrent decline in the little Mariana fruit bat population likely occurred during the well-documented decrease in Mariana fruit bat abundance on Guam in the 1900s. In 1920, it was “not an uncommon sight” to see fruit bats flying over the forest during the daytime in Guam (Wiles 1987, p. 150). Just 10 years later (when the first two little Mariana fruit bat specimens were collected), fruit bats were uncommon on the island (Wiles 1987, p. 150), and were found mostly in northern Guam; introduced firearms may have been a contributing factor in their decline because they increased the efficiency of hunting.