The Mauritius fruit bat (Pteropus niger) has been the subject of repeated culling campaigns, in response to pressure from the fruit-growing industry concerned over damage to commercially valuable orchard crops such as lychees. More than 31,000 fruit-bearing lychee trees also exist in private backyards, making this an issue for Mauritian general public and not only for the commercial fruit production.
"We assessed the damage among backyard lychee trees attributable to fruit bats and other causes around Vacoas-Phoenix, Central Mauritius and evaluated the impact of using protective netting as a mitigation strategy - The scientists at Mauritian Wildlife Foundation of Vacoas explain - Fruit yield from panicles that were protected from depredation by nylon netting was approximately one third greater than that from unprotected panicles.
Lychee damage: natural split (a, b), unknown (c), bird damage (d, e and f), and bat damage (g, h and i).
We estimate that fruit bats are responsible for approximately 42% of the total damage but there are difficulties in attributing damage to a single cause in such assessments. Although we demonstrate the value of protective netting, we recognize that barriers to implementation exist and that a more holistic approach that includes crop protection, forest restoration strategies and addresses negative public attitudes towards bats in general is required to ensure the persistence of this endemic species."
Source: Tollington S., Kareemun Z., Augustin A., Lallchand K., Tatayah V., Zimmermann A., 'Quantifying the damage caused by fruit bats to backyard lychee trees in Mauritius and evaluating the benefits of protective netting', 2019, PLoS One, Vol. 14(8):e0220955.