Sultana is a 17 day old orphan Grey-Headed Flying-Fox who was found on the ground on the body of her mother. As is common, they were under powerlines which possibly indicates that mum got an electric shock which she didn’t survive.
Little Sultana has survived, being insulated by mum’s fur.
Initially she was a little “squidgy” – dehydrated, miserable, agitated and stressed.
She has since come good and went to another carer to be raised till she was old enough for creche.
Update: when she was nearly 5 months old, she was released through creche with other orphans who were her age mates.
When the hand raised babies are 3 months old, they go into a creche aviary, where they join other orphans and form a group. They learn batty etiquette and how to live in a batty society.They shrug off their human mums and want to be with the other batties.
When they are emotionally and physically ready, and uninjured, and around 4-5 months old, they’re put into a release cage under a colony and they can integrate into the colony and fly out with the wild bats. If they can’t find enough food, they can always come back to the cage for a feed. Support feeding is put up on the outside of the cage for as long as they are coming back and eating it. When the colony flies out for winter, they have fully integrated and fly out with them.
