Here we consider the bushmeat trade

Here we consider the bushmeat trade of the African straw-colored fruit bat, (Eidolon helvum) in Ghana. Little is known of the use of this species as bushmeat, and 31 supposedly comprehensive bushmeat survey papers failed to report anything on bats (Mickleburgh et al., 2009). A number of reports, however, mention the massive threat many species of fruit bats face as a result of severe overhunting (e.g. Struebig et al., 2007), and the IUCN Red List reports E. helvum as a near-threatened species due to overhunting (IUCN, 2010). The disparity between the lack of fruit bats being recorded in markets in Ghana where other types of bushmeat are found for sale (e.g. Cowlishaw et al., 2005b) and the reports of overhunting may indicate that bats do not follow a typical bushmeat commodity chain and standard bushmeat surveys may therefore be underestimating impacts. E. helvum, like many bat species, is especially vulnerable to hunting, due to a slow reproductive rate (Mutere, 1965). It is also an extremely widespread and highly mobile species (DeFrees and Wilson, 1988, Richter and Cumming, 2005) which could, in principle, help to reduce impacts if hunting is localized and limited. However, E. helvum congregates in large, predictable roosts (Happold and Happold, 1978), exposing a large proportion of the wider population to hunting, and likely resulting in widespread impacts across the range.