I was traveling on the Polonnaruwa-New Town Road, to my cousin’s house. It was about 4.30 pm. After traveling for about 2 minutes, I saw in the sky a lot of birds flying in one direction.
I stopped and looked closely. There were a lot of bats, flying to east. When I looked closely, I saw that they were coming from a nearby tree.
It was a big tree full of bats. There were several bats in nearby trees too. The villages told that there are several bet trees like these in Polonnaruwa. Some people are truing to chase away these bats, but they always return to the same place. Chasing away bats from a bat tree is illegal in Sri Lanka.
There was a wood apple tree near the bat tree. There was couple of fruits on the ground. I tasted one and they are really delicious. You should try them too.
I also found a “thalagoya” ( a commonly found reptile in the dry zone) in that place. This is a picture of it. It is not that clear. I couldn’t get a better picture, because I was afraid to go near it, because I have herd that they attack you by their tail. I don’t know whether it is true.
3 comments:
Please read this old Tamil poem:
Fruits of thick-shelled wood apple may be in plenty and nearby,
Yet fruit bats won’t approach those fruits anyway.
Mean people may have great wealth and live nearby,
Still the poor won’t count them upon as resourceful.
(Nālatiyār, 261) (Tr: M. Annamalai; modified)
Do you think fruit bats avoid wood apple trees?
Thanks,
Ashraf
My email id is: nvkashraf@gmail.com
Thanks,
ashraf
I do not know much about bats, but at that time, there were no bats in that particular wood apple tree. So, I do not think they eat wood apple. Any way it is a very interesting poem. The one who wrote this poem must have seen this and thought to use it to describe the harsh truth in the society. Thank you very much for sharing it with us!
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