Bats Are Literally Falling Out of Trees in Australia Because It's So Hot

It’s hard to feel grateful for something like the polar vortex, though you wouldn’t wish this sort of antipodal summer on anyone or anything: It’s so damn hot that bats are literally dropping out of trees by the thousands in Australia.

Just before the polar vortex began breaking record lows in America, a record-breaking heat wave was holding Australia in its sweaty grip. Beginning on December 27 to cap off Australia’s hottest year on record, the highs blew past previous records in Queensland and northern New South Wales where, on January 3, the temperature rose to 118 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking the previous record high by seven degrees.

As a result, 100,000 Australian bats have died due to the heat, The Telegraph reports. While bats aren’t always the most beloved animals in the world, no one in Australia is enjoying coming across hundreds of bats dead on the forest floor.

A few months ago, the city of Ipswich was debating about whether to relocate a colony of flying fox fruit bats that had taken up residence in the trees of a nature reserve in Queens Park. But as the temperature in Ipswich topped 110 degrees on Saturday, city workers were left picking up more than 1,000 dead bats.

"Whatever anyone's opinion is either side of the bat debate, no one wishes this sort of tragedy on the bats," Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale told The Queensland Times.

“While I don't appreciate the bats being in Queens Park, it is not something I'd wish on them," the mayor said, adding that it’s a testament to the severity of the heat wave and that “the poor old bats don't know how to deal with the heat.”

That same day, Queensland resident Murray Paas posted a video on YouTube of the hundreds of dead bats he came across on his property, some still hanging from the trees, many scattered on the ground. “I don’t necessarily like the bats, but I don’t like seeing them dead,” Paas told The Guardian. For health and safety reasons—fruit bats have been known to carry the Australian bat lyssavirus—he was advised to let the city come clean up the bats, but by the second day, Paas reported, “the smell is already overwhelming.”

While people have mastered going to the beach, or the over-air-conditioned movies, there just isn’t much that bats can do when the temperature rises. Paas said the bats were moving down to lower branches in the trees, hoping to escape the heat above, but as his video shows they had limited success.

"When the temperatures go over 43 degrees [Celcius, or 109 Fahrenheit], that's when they are really impacted,” said Bat Conservation and Rescue president Louise Saunders, who has been caring for orphaned flying foxes following the heat wave. “It's just total heat exhaustion, so renal failure, the whole gamut. It's just a matter of shutting down."

Not only is the potential collapse of Australian bat colonies bad in present, as pollinators that disperse seeds and pollinate flowering plants, flying foxes are “are crucial to keeping native forests healthy,” according to Queensland’s Department of Environment and Heritage Protection.

Flying foxes are native to Australia—55-million-year old bat fossils were found in Queensland even. The fact that so many died during a heat wave really underscores how unusual and extreme the heat wave was. Sometimes all the talk of “global warming” loses track of the fact that the impact is always felt locally.

A long-time advocate for bats, Saunders told the Queensland Times that if there’s at least a silver lining to the massive bat death, it’s been the public response to the news. "We've had donations just flooding in," she said. Additionally the bats old opponents have invited Saunders to use the opportunity to educate the public about their fellow mammals. “The misinformation has been rampant and the mayor of Ipswich has actually invited us to do some public education at Queens Park. And that's a fantastic thing as well."

For now, the bats will have to keep hanging on: Another heat wave is spreading across the country this week. Tomorrow, parts of northwest Western Australia may top 120 degrees Fahrenheit.