15/04/2026
Successful tubie soft release.
Here in the Daintree rainforest, we get a lot of Eastern tube-nosed bats in care, and this (for us) is a really exciting photo. Benita came to us from barbed wire with pretty substantial damage to one wing. Tubies can heal amazingly well, so into care she came. A few weeks later, she gave birth to Benny and did a great job of raising him. Her wing re-grew, and she mastered hovering in their cage. We then hung the cage outside on the verandah to allow them to ‘get their bearings’ for a few days. Three nights ago, we ‘soft released’ them. We are in a high-set house amongst the trees, and after letting them feed in the cage till late, we hung chunks of fruit on a branch tied to the verandah rails nearby and opened their cage door. The next morning, we got up to find the cage empty and some fruit on the branch eaten. After the second night, even more fruit was eaten, and at one point we saw a tubie hovering in to land and feed. This photo was last night - night number three out in the wild. Tubies rarely come back to feed after release, so this is so exciting. They know where to get some top-up food and cannot be camped too far away. We think this is Benny, which is a great result, as he was raised entirely in a house, whereas Benita came in as a wild adult and would be very ‘street smart’, knowing all the native food trees. Not only did Benita’s wing regrow, but both were housed in a small cage for quite some time, but with fluttering and hovering, any perceived lack of muscle tone is not apparent, and every night they grow stronger. I actually saw this one fly in last night (while Connie grabbed the camera), and the hovering ability and flight control before landing were a joy to behold. We will obviously continue to hang fruit out for quite some time while they use it. Also, note a freeloader (a green cricket) feeding on the bottom chunk of apple.
