Mojo ♻️

Who knew bat poo could be worth millions?
A new study shows Australia's grey-headed flying foxes are dropping bat ripple magic across millions of hectares. Their seed-dispersing guano helps grow a median of around 90 million new trees every year, mostly eucalypts.
That's an estimated 217 million to 955 million boost to the timber industry alone. Not bad for some flying forest gardeners who connect bushfire-scarred landscapes like pros.
Time to stop seeing them as pests and start celebrating these keystone heroes. Protect the bats, protect the forests.

#flyingfoxes #batripple #australianwildlife #ecosystemservices #biodiversitymatters #savethebats

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-04/economic-value-australian-grey-headed-flying-fox-bat-poo/106507002

Poo of 'endearing' bat worth hundreds of millions, study says

Bats are often thought of as smelly, ugly and noisy, but a study has revealed the economic and ecological value of one Australian species's poo.

Apr 4 at 1:50amWeb
Show threadroodApr 4
@mojo isn't that a big industry in Asia already?
Show threadK~Apr 4
@mojo I don't know of anyone who thinks of bats as pests. I thought bats were already pretty popular. But I guess it doesn't come up in conversation very often, so I wouldn't know.
Show threadMojo ♻️Apr 4
@karadoc I have definitely cursed these bats myself at times. I live in Sydney's eastern suburbs, where our streets are lined with large fig trees. When the figs ripen, the bats descend to feed, and their droppings can do serious damage to car paintwork if you don't clean them off straight away.