Bat as food
Bats as food are eaten by people in parts of some North American,[1] Asian, African, Pacific Rim countries,[2] and cultures, including the United States, China,[3] Vietnam, Seychelles, the Philippines,[4][5][6] Indonesia,[7] Palau, Thailand,[8] and Guam.[9][10] Half the megabat (fruit bat) species are hunted for food but only eight percent of the insectivorous bat species are.[11] In Guam, Mariana fruit bats (Pteropus mariannus) are considered a delicacy.[12][13]
History[edit]
Bats have likely been consumed as a food source since prehistoric times in the Asia-Pacific region. Chronostratigraphic analysis of archaeological sites indicate that bats could have been exploited as a food source since 74,000 years ago by Homo floresiensis. On tropical islands, hunting large fruit bats was a worthwhile expenditure for prehistoric hominins. These megabats could be easily captured in caves in large numbers, and processing effort was also minimal.[14]
Bats have been hunted by Aboriginal Australians for thousands of years, extending into modern times. Popular game species are the black flying fox and the little red flying fox. In 1997, it was estimated that the Aboriginal people of the Top End consumed 180,000 flying foxes each year.[15]
While it has been suggested that the Taíno people of Puerto Rico consumed bat meat in pre-Columbian times, no bat bones have been documented in their midden heaps, making it unlikely that bat meat was a substantial dietary component. No other New World cultures are thought to have hunted bats for meat, though bat bones have been identified in midden heaps on the Caribbean island of Saba.[16][17]
The consumption of bat meat in Europe has been scarce, not only because of repugnance, but also because of the size of European bats, which being all insectivores are also small.[18] In the past it has been recorded the custom of the peasants of Costozza (in the province of Vicenza, Italy) to eat bats,[19] especially horseshoe bats.[20][18] After World War II the bats of Costozza's caves were almost extinct "for the ruthless hunting that the natives make of them, at the time of the grape, in order to assimilate them with the most tasty little birds."[21] In 1959 it was reported that "in some places [of Italy], for example in Liguria and Veneto regions, the bats are or were used as food."[22]
In the Torah and in the Bible, the book of Leviticus (11:13–19) forbids consumption of bat: "These you shall detest among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: (...) the bat."
In the Geographica of Strabo it is described the city of Borsippa (now Birs Nimrud in Iraq), where there was a large number of bats captured by the inhabitants, who "salad them to eat them".[18] In the sixteenth century Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi refers in his treatise Ornitologia that bats have a white meat, edible, and excellent flavor.[18]
Preparation prior to cooking
Another image of preparation
Ready for cooking
Issues[edit]
Overexploitation[edit]
Bats are most vulnerable to overhunting in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and islands of Oceania and the Indian Ocean. Bats are susceptible to overhunting as they have naturally low rates of reproduction and many species are highly colonial, which makes it easier for them to be hunted in large numbers.[43] Overhunting is believed to be the primary cause of extinction for the small Mauritian flying fox and the Guam flying fox.[51]
