WHO would have thought that eating bats is linked to a devastating brain illness that produces symptoms similar to those of Lou Gehrig’s, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases?
The Marianas fruit bats are a favorite delicacy among the people of Micronesia. In 1984, however, the CNMI government imposed a moratorium on hunting, harassing or consuming Marianas fruit bats which are now listed as endangered species.
Despite this moratorium, some people are still hunting and eat these bats.
Perhaps the recent study by two scientists linking bat consumption and a bizarre complex of neurodegenerative disease now known as ALS-PDC will make more bat eaters realize that these species are harmful to their health and should not be eaten.
The Chamorros of Guam have been afflicted with this disease “at a far higher rate than other populations throughout the world,” according to neurologist Oliver W. Sacks of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and Paul A. Cox of the National Tropical Botanical Garden in their medical hypothesis published in the March issue of Neurology Journal.
The disease has similarities to Alzheimer’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
The researchers said that during ceremonial occasions and at social events, the Chamorros have a tradition of eating a type of bat known as the flying fox or the fruit bat.
This bat feeds on the cycad plant which has seeds that contain a toxin that can damage brain cells.
Chamorros knew that cycad seeds could be toxic, and they went to great lengths to detoxify them when they used the seeds to make flour.
It turns out, however, that the bats also eat the seeds—and the toxin could accumulate in their fat.
“Chamorro consumption of flying foxes may have generated sufficiently high cumulative doses of plant neurotoxins to result in ALS-PDC neuropathologies, since the flying foxes forage on neurotoxic cycad sees,” the researchers wrote.
The CNMI government—specifically the Department of Lands and Natural Resources and the Department of Public Health—should convey these findings to the public.
DLNR said the population of fruit bats in the Marianas continues to decline due to poaching or illegal hunting, and the degradation or deforestation of their habitats.
Brown tree snakes are also blamed for the declining number of fruit bats, especially on Guam.
Talking about enforcing the law, we wonder what happened to the case involving a man caught by the Division of Fish and Wildlife officers after he was found in possession of 45 dead fruit bats on the morning of Feb. 28.
The bats—20 males and 25 females—were intercepted onboard the fishing vessel Santa Remedios and were believed to have been hunted on Pagan.
Spectacular performance. The annual Flame Tree Arts Festival remains to be one of the CNMI’s “must-see” cultural events. On Saturday, the chanting and the cultural dance performances of the Palau delegation were a standout. The non-use of recorded music made the presentation more authentic. The chanting alone made hundreds of spectators listen and watch attentively. The other performers from the CNMI, Guam and the Marshalls also had good shows.
