Overview
- The Field Museum study published Oct. 29, 2026 measured skull and tooth features from 121 Pteropus rufus specimens collected over roughly 150 years and found skulls collected after the 1980s are about 6 percent shorter than earlier specimens.
- Scientists took measurements at nine natural history museums to create a long-term baseline that revealed a clear size shift beginning around 1980, a pattern not visible in short-term field studies alone.
- The timing coincides with the commercialization of flying-fox hunting in Madagascar, leading authors to hypothesize that hunters may have selectively removed larger, older bats and changed the population’s size structure.
- Authors emphasize the result shows correlation not proof of cause, report estimates of substantial population decline since the early 2000s, and call for stronger legal protection at breeding sites plus genetic and targeted surveys to clarify causes.
- The bats are key fruit eaters and seed dispersers and are also a food source for some Malagasy communities, so changes in size and numbers could harm forest regeneration and force policymakers to balance conservation with local livelihoods.