Asia-Pacific News

New bat species discovered in the Philippines

Sep 17, 2007, 6:14 GMT

Manila - A new bat species has been discovered in a resort island near the Philippine capital, the government's environment and natural resources department said Monday. The new species of large fruit bat was discovered by a team from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the University of Kansas Biodiversity Research Centre on Mindoro island, 210 kilometres south of Manila. Mundita Lim, director of the DENR's Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau, said the new species was named the Mindoro striped-faced fruitbat. 'The bat is very colourful,' she told the Philipine Star newspaper. 'Most of its hair is orange and it sports three white stripes on its face as well as a black beard, which distinguishes it from all other known fruit bats.' Lim said the discovery brought to 74 the total number of bat species found in the Philippines, 26 of these can only be found in the country. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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New bat species discovered in the Philippines

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