Bats take flight as 'Damar' trees die in Bogor garden

Bats take flight as 'Damar' trees die in Bogor garden

BOGOR (JP): Dozens of Agathis (Araucareaceae) trees, most of
which are hundreds of years old, at the Bogor Botanical Gardens
are feared to be dead as a large number of their barks have been
peeled away by visitors, who use them for amulets.

Many of the visitors believed the barks of the Damar trees, as
locals call them, brought luck to their businesses, an official
of the park said on Saturday.

Following the possible extinction of the old trees from the
botanical gardens, the fate of thousands of bats (Pteroupus
Vampyrus) at the park could be endangered since they are losing
their nesting places.

The Agathis trees have long been used by the bats, whose wing
spans can reach as long as one meter and have a flying speed of
60 kilometers per hour, as their favorite nesting site.

The trees can reach some 20 meters high.

According to the official, who asked not to be named, about
1,000 bats have migrated outside the park following the loss of
their habitat and it is feared that they will disappear from the
vast botanical gardens.

"Besides playing a role in natural ecosystem, as bats help
spread the seeds of plants, they are also rare species that need
to be protected," he said.

Based on a field observation, the trees in the park were also
dying because of their age. Many of their branches were already
broken as they could no longer bear the weight of the bats which
hung on them in large groups.

Park officials have even built fences around the trees to
avoid their further destruction.

The Bogor Botanical Gardens, which is home to 12,128 plant
specimens from 1,281 genera or 203 families, has been dubbed as
the botanical gardens with the largest collection in the world.

But the garden's administration chief I.B.K. Arsana denied the
story, saying that the trees, together with others trees in the
gardens such as pine trees, had always died slowly because of the
heavy presence of the bats.

"Besides the Damar trees, there are other trees of some 70
years old which have also had a similar situation," he said.

Those trees died because of old age and rotten roots, Arsana
said, adding that none of the trees or their barks had been
reported stolen or damaged by visitors.

"If a visitor is caught stealing the Damar barks, we'll bring
them to the police," Arsana said.

Souvenir traders in the garden, however, said that many of the
Damar barks were offered and sold around the park as people
believed in its magic charm.

"People say if they posses the bark of the trees, their
businesses will grow and be successful with many customers, just
like a group of bats crawling on the trees," Asep, a souvenir
seller, said.

Asep, however, said that he never stole the bark from the
gardens.

"The park guards are good friends of mine," he said.

But, he said, many visitors had stolen them from time to time.
(21/edt)