 Cleobatra was
sent to Bat
World by an Arizona zoo. The young bat sustained permanent toe injuries from hanging
onto the stiff wire that was used for her caging, and she was no longer able to hang upside-down. Not having the
resources to care for an invalid bat, the zoo staff decided to send her to Bat
World Sanctuary. At Bat World Cleobatra discovered that she
could easily hang upside-down on the soft netting, vines and limbs that decorated the
inside of the flight cage. In no time at all she was "hanging out"
with over 20 other Egyptian fruit bats that live in a simulated
indoor forest at Bat World.
The flight cage floor is thickly padded in case a bat falls, but another
adaptation has been added to the cage for Cleo. Soft
mesh hammocks hang from the ceiling throughout the flight cage to allow Cleo to rest her toes.
Her favorite hammock is beside a large fruit dish.
Cleobatra is lively and
active at night, munching on fresh pieces of melons, apples, pears, peaches,
mangos,
grapes and figs that fill over a dozen dishes throughout the flight cage. She particularly
enjoys "fruit kabob" night, when whole peeled apples and mangos are skewered
onto kabobs and hung from the flight cage ceiling. Cleobatra
seems to take delight in hanging directly on an apple,
teasing the other bats by nibbling off small pieces while hogging it all to
herself.
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