Food preferences.pdf - Dl Sjp Ac Lk

114 Yapa, Kumarasinghe DigQlIQ, Ratnasooriyahuman dominated landscapes (Corlet, 1998) and thus could be a major "fruitpest." However, it should be recognised that attack on fruits per night may00 much higher than the estimated values since there are two other fruiteating bat species in Sri Lanka. Although mango was the least preferred fruitin this study, damage on mango may be higher in a mono-culture plantation.In the present study, whenever ripe fruits were used, animals preferredthese to raw fruits, specially in the case of mango and guava. Therefore,damage by bats, at least partly, may be reduced by plucking fruits raw. Theresults of this study also showed that bats prefer almond (which is not acommercial crop in Sri Lanka) over mango and guava. Therefore, it isworthwhile to examine whether the attack on mango would be reduced ifthere are several other fruit types such as almond.In conclusion this study demonstrates that Cynopterus has a fairlyhigh fruit consumption per day (l2-48g) and as such is capable of causingheavy damage to fruits. Results also show that a single meal of Cynopterusconsisted of several types of fruits and there exists a preference for certainfruits over others. Although at this stage, it is premature to suggest that theapplication of the dietary preferences of Cynopterus can be exploited tominimise the damage to economically important fruits, it is worthwhile tocarry out a further in-depth study on the feeding preferences of fruit eatingbats in Sri Lanka.Table I: Average daily consumption of adult Cynopterus for guava, almond and mango. (means± SEMfor three nights)Fruit typeAnimal Noguava (g) almond(g) mango total(g)59.5±20.2 11.0±6.3 2.4±.3 72.8234Mean consumption50.0±12.7 22.0±3.7 13.3±2.7 85.430.4±6.7 12.9±2.5 8.1±1.9 51.352.6±8.5 33.7±4.4 24.6±O.3 111.048.1±6.4 19.9±3.1 12.1±2.5(per animal)Avg.Consumption 1.I 0.44 0.28 1.75Igram body wt