THREE miles outside the bustling streets of the capital, the portion of Kings Highway at the small yet growing shopping centre in Nabua slowly gives way to Nasinu, the country’s most densely populated township.
A right turn at Lady Maraia Road, opposite the home of the local rugby league club — Nabua Broncos, will take you between British American Tobacco Fiji’s cigarette manufacturing facility and the Great Council of Chiefs-run institution, Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna Memorial School.
The place straddles the border between the municipalities of Suva and neighbouring Nasinu. But its inimitable uniqueness is not its roads, fast cars and buildings, but its best kept secret.
Behind the shadows of RSMS’ buildings, near the banks of the Wainivula River and among towering mahogany and pine trees, you’ll find a noisy colony of arboreal megabats that have made the nearby Donnelly Park their roosting place.
If you ever have the rare chance to stroll through this forest park of coniferous and deciduous wood during the heat of the day, you won’t miss noticing the high-pitched clicking and upside-down huddles of these flying foxes.
You might also sense an unfamiliar smell, which locals describe as ‘boi sigasiga’ or ‘sweaty smell’. This musty or ammonia-type scent gets pervasive when the colony is a big one.
My knowledge of bats up until last week was limited to the evolutionary time-line and study of mammals in my Form 7 biology classes and the few iTaukei phrases and fables I know where bats are mentioned.
So the idea of visiting what could possibly be Suva’s biggest bat roost appealed to me when it first came up. I took my first ride to Lady Maraia Road.
It can be deduced that the bats of Donnelly Park choose its trees as a roosting haven because it provides an accessible and comfortable place to live.
At such a height, the flying mammals feel well protected from predators and sheltered from ground threats and the harsh elements.
Secondly, it seems like a fantastic place to forage for fruits, nectar and insects.
The exact time the bat colony ‘moved in’ is unknown. However, it may have settled in the area between two and three decades ago, based on ex-RSMS students’ accounts.
According to Vatimi Mateiwai, who attended RSMS in 1976 and was part of the school’s first student council in 1980 before becoming headboy in 1981, the trees outside the school were mostly jamun plants.
He said while bats would feed on their crimson fruits, they did not roost in large numbers within the school compound.
“I believe the bats moved in once more and more trees were cut down (within the greater Suva-Nausori corridor) to make way for development and suitable roosting trees became scarce,” Mr Matewai explained.
“In those days, we’d often spot white herons and other birds that frequented the river and mangrove swamp. Now we can hardly see them.”
One student of the 90s said by the time she joined RSMS bats had already been around, which means they could have settled any time between the 80s and the 90s.
Donnelly Park, RSMS
RSMS’ Donnelly Park got its name from William Earnest Donnelly, a New Zealand teacher and Methodist Church reverend who was the school’s first principal when it got established in August 1960 on the advice of the GCC during its meeting in 1959.
Mr Donnelly also taught at Lelean Memorial School in Nausori and Levuka Public School on Ovalau.
RSMS manager, Levi Raicola, said since he took up the position in 2018, he has always found the mammals to be unique animals and amazing to watch.
“Students have come to consider the bat colony as part of the school. They don’t seem to mind the noise and they treat them with respect,” Mr Raicola said.
“I often share with students information on the important role bats play in dispersing seeds. Without them the supply of many of our wild fruits would diminish.”
Mr Raicola also said he’s been around long enough to understand some of the bat’s peculiar behaviour.
“I’ve noticed that before they leave the roost in the evening, they usually perform a ritualistic exercise. That is, they hover around the roost for a few times and spread out their wings before they finally take off. They leave at dusk and come back at dawn.”
The bats of Donnelly Park are important for Fiji; they play a vital role in pest control, pollinating plants and dispersing seeds.
A recent scientific paper on the economic value of bats to agriculture estimated that bats provided nontoxic pest-control services totalling $3.7 billion to $53 billion per year across the US.
Bats also play a role in pollinating and distributing certain species of agave used as the source of tequila, a multimillion-dollar industry in Mexico, while bat guano (excrement) has traditionally been used as fertiliser for crops in various parts of the world and is also sold commercially.
According to literature put together by local conservation NGO, Nature Fiji (Vakamareqeti Viti), five of six species of bats in Fiji are “endangered or critically endangered.”
It says tree bats are virtually vegetarian, have excellent night vision and mostly roost in trees but some are known to be cave dwellers.
Fiji’s tree dwelling species are the Fiji flying fox or Fiji monkey-faced bat (Mirimiri acrodonta), which is endemic to Fiji and critically endangered; Pacific flying fox (Pteropus tonganus) and the Samoan flying fox (Pteropus samoensis), which is currently threatened.
Beka mirimiri or Fiji flying fox can be spotted on the country’s 10 cent coin.
Vakamareqeti Viti believes the loss of bats from Fiji’s forests can have “catastrophic effects on the viability of the country’s forest” systems, and ultimately, “ecosystem resilience to the impacts of climate change”.
“Looking after our forests is not just about looking after our trees, it is also about looking after the diversity in them,” it says.
Facts on bats
According to scientists, bats may live up to more than 30 years, and generally produce one offspring called a pup per year. Their mating season takes place around the colder parts of the year and pregnant females gather in groups called maternity roosts.
The young bats are fed milk produced by the mother until four to six weeks of age and are ready for their first flight by one month of age.
Bats reach maturity anywhere from one to two years of age.
Seventy per cent of the world’s bats feed on insects, the remainder feed on fruit, nectar, meat, and even small fish.
Bats use roosts, like the trees of Donnelly Park, for different reasons based on the time of day and year. Roost types include the day roost, night roost, maternity roost, bachelor roost, and hibernation roost.
During the day, tree bats typically stay close to each other so that they are free of disturbances and predators. Also, they provide dark, quiet conditions where they can rest for several hours before they search for food at night.
Day roosts are usually at least 10-15 feet above ground and can be as many as 30 miles away from foraging grounds and water sources.
At night, however, bats feed and roost in between. They choose roosts that are near their foraging grounds and ideal for socialising, digesting food, and resting.
Although most bats live less than 20 years in the wild, scientists have documented some species that can live for more than 30 years.
In August last year, a cave containing thousands of endangered Pacific Sheath-tailed bats was discovered on Vanuabalavu in Lau.
The find was believed to be the biggest population and roost for this species in Fiji and the region.
The bat colony at RSMS is perhaps one of the biggest urban bat sanctuaries around (there’s one within the Government House compound) and every effort should be made to protect them and the small pine and mahogany forest they live in.
Development and human activities have and continue to endanger our bat population and their displacement can increase our reliance on chemical pesticides in the future, which can in turn threaten both our environment and our health, jeopardising the natural balance in our ecosystems and the survival of many of our species of plants and animals.
So the next time you see a bat flying across the skies or squealing in your teitei, don’t think of blood-sucking vampires but the very survival of our seasonal fruits like mangoes, kavika and breadfruit and the amazing flying mammals fighting to endure the crossroads of change.
