With a wingspan of over a meter, the gray-headed flying fox – Australia’s largest native raven bats – is causing a series of power outages in Adelaide.
The gray-headed fox has caused 40 power outages this year, leaving 25,000 homes in Adelaide in dire straits, according to The Guardian.
The gray-headed flying fox – a member of the giant bat family – first appeared in the Botanical Park in downtown Adelaide in 2010. Since then, their numbers have grown steadily. , especially this year.
Adelaide doesn’t have the same summer heat waves as it usually does. This means that the number of bats in the city has increased dramatically. And the flying bats caused a lot of trouble for the inhabitants.
“Newly cultivated bats are leaving the herd for the first time to find food. They hit the gate here. This is really noticeable because the number of bat species in the city is usually not large. It is quite unusual that many young bats survive.
This situation caused a lot of problems for the electricity supplier SA Power Networks. On average, bats cause 4 major power cuts per week. Every time bats up to 1m wide collide or get stranded on power lines, 500-1,000 homes lose power.
To remedy this situation, SA Power Networks said the company is trying to equip more equipment to repel animals on the network.
Unlike the east coast, big bats are a recent phenomenon in urban areas of southern Australia. Therefore, the power grid here is not built against big bats.
“In fact, bats move about 70 km every night, in all directions in search of food. Therefore, it is not easy to identify which areas should be upgraded as a priority. We are working with the government on measures to minimize damage to the power grid and limit the number of bats that die, ”added Paul Roberts, director of SA Power Networks.
SA Power Networks said it was working with the University of Adelaide to identify other factors that could lead to power outages such as trees growing on power lines.
“As young bats have more flying experience, network incidents should decrease. In addition, a large number of bats will likely move to other states, instead of Adelaide if food becomes scarce in the winter, ”added Jason van Weenan.
