One Heatwave Killed 'a Third' of a Bat Species in Australia https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-46859000Over two days in November, record-breaking heat in Australia's north wiped out almost one-third of the nation's spectacled flying foxes, according to researchers.
The animals, also known as spectacled fruit bats, were unable to survive in temperatures which exceeded 42C.Lead researcher Dr Justin Welbergen, an ecologist, believes the "biblical scale" of deaths could be even higher - as many as 30,000 - because some settlements had not been counted.
Australia had only an estimated 75,000 spectacled flying foxes before November, according to government-backed statistics.
"This sort of event has not happened in Australia this far north since European settlement," says Dr Welbergen.
Dr Welbergen says about 10,000 bats of another species - black flying foxes - succumbed to the heat during the same two-day period.
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Australia Heatwave: Overnight Minimum of 35.9C In Noona Sets New Record https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/18/australia-heatwave-sydneys-west-to-hit-45c-after-week-of-extreme-weather-----------------
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-46886798 Australia has just sweltered through at least five of its 10 warmest days on record, authorities estimate.A section of highway connecting Sydney and Melbourne started to melt. Bats fell dead from the trees, struck down by the heat.
On the northern Great Barrier Reef, 99% of baby green sea turtles, a species whose sex is determined by temperature, were found to be female.
In outer suburban Sydney, the heat hit 47.3C (117F) before a cool change knocked it down - to the relative cool of just 43.6C in a neighbouring suburb the following day.
Scenes from a sci-fi novel depicting a scorched future? No, just the first days of
2018 2019 in Australia, where summer is in fierce form
(Thanks TB)