Flying foxes are large bats. Scientists found that one kind in Madagascar is getting smaller. They shared their findings on 29 October.
The team studied 121 bats from nine museums. People collected these animals over more than 150 years. The scientists measured the bones in their heads and their teeth. The head bones of bats collected after the 1980s were about 6 per cent smaller than those of older bats.
Hunting may help explain this change. Before the 1980s, people mostly caught bats to feed their families or small communities. Then people began selling more bats in markets and restaurants. Hunters may have chosen the biggest bats because they provided more food.
The number of these bats has also fallen. About 300,000 lived in Madagascar in the early 2000s, but scientists think that number has since fallen by two-thirds. Smaller bodies might make life harder for the bats when their surroundings change or they face disease. Changes in the climate and the loss of places to live are other possible reasons for their smaller size.
