Thirumangaichery

Biodiversity surveys are crucial for India
We monitored the population of flying foxes on a monthly basis over a year in two colonies (Thirumangaichery and Thalachangadu) in Nagai district. The population sizes of bats were significantly decreased between July 1997 and July 1998 in both colonies (F = 145.79, df = 2,23, P < 0.01, Table 1) due to hunting. We observed hunters selling a total of 46 bats in local markets on 22 occasions between June and July 1998 (Figure 1). Hunting and population decline in fruit bats have been widely reported in the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia10,11; and in Taiwan, intensive hunting resulted in the extinction of the Formosan flying fox12. Although the Indian flying fox was reported as a common species6, its population might be declining in some areas.

Thalachangadu 1997 6 550–650 619.2 38.3
Thalachangadu 1998 7 400–550 484.3 51.9

School
Panchayat Union Middle School, Thalachangadu, Thalaiyudaiyayur Koil Pathu