--- title: Australia: Heat Wave Causes Overheated Bat Die-Off description: Bats are falling out of the trees due to a heatwave in Australia, with 100,000 flying foxes estimated to have died over the weekend. canonical: https://time.com/5096528/australia-bats-heat-wave-deaths/ author: Eli Meixler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-10T09:15:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:49:15.749Z article:section: Science og:title: Australian Weather Is so Hot That Bats Are Boiling to Death og:description: 100,000 flying fox bats are estimated to have died over the weekend og:url: https://time.com/5096528/australia-bats-heat-wave-deaths/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14d458cab705ea17/6988f7b67cdbac4f7cd5b8ab/gettyimages-883252388.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5616 og:image:height: 3159 og:image:alt: Spectacled Flying Fox, Pteropus conspicillatus, Cairns, Australia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Australian Weather Is so Hot That Bats Are Boiling to Death twitter:description: 100,000 flying fox bats are estimated to have died over the weekend twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt14d458cab705ea17/6988f7b67cdbac4f7cd5b8ab/gettyimages-883252388.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Their Brain Just Fries.' 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Eli Meixler](https://time.com/author/eli/) ## Eli Meixler Jan 10, 2018 9:15 AM UTC  Spectacled flying fox bats in Cairns, Australia seen on April 20, 2015. Spectacled flying fox bats in Cairns, Australia seen on April 20, 2015. Reinhard Dirscherlullstein bild—Getty Images by [Eli Meixler](https://time.com/author/eli/) ## Eli Meixler Jan 10, 2018 9:15 AM UTC Australia has been roiled by a vicious heat wave this past week, with thermostats in [Sydney reaching 117 degrees](http://time.com/5092589/sydney-australia-heat-us-winter-storm/) on Sunday, making it the city’s hottest day since 1939\. Across the country, as firefighters beat back brushfires near Melbourne and a [section of highway asphalt turned into ooze](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/07/world/australia/heat-wave.html), everyone is struggling with the heat — including animals. In southern Queensland, bats are falling out of trees due to the heat, with as many as 100,000 flying fox bats from 25 separate colonies estimated to have [died over the weekend](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-08/hundred-thousand-dead-bats-after-qld-heatwave-rspca-says/5190644), the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals told Australia’s ABC News. According to a local environmental and animal rights group, more than 400 flying foxes — a type of fruit bat — [died on Sunday](https://www.facebook.com/helpsavethewildlifeandbushlandsincampbelltown/posts/1413256872153438) in the Sydney suburb Campbelltown as the overheated mammals fell out of trees or abandoned their young to search for water to drink or drench their fur to help cool down. “They basically boil,” Campbelltown colony manager Kate Ryan [told](http://www.camdenadvertiser.com.au/story/5155014/campbelltown-bats-boiled-alive-as-extreme-temperatures-leave-hundreds-dead/) the Camden Narellan _Advertiser_. “It affects their brain – their brain just fries and they become incoherent.” The bats struggle to regulate their internal body temperatures when the heat rises above 104 degrees, and habitat loss has driven them further from life-saving lakes and rivers. Large-scale die offs could have other ecological consequences, as the the bats play an [important role in plant pollination](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/01/09/its-so-hot-in-australia-that-bats-brains-are-frying/?utm%5Fterm=.0a7e643a71f4) in eastern Australia, according to the Washington _Post_. Meanwhile in the U.S., animals were forced to contended with extreme temperatures on the opposite end of the thermometer as a [bomb cyclone froze the Northeast](http://time.com/5085306/bomb-cyclone-east-coast-weather-cold-winter/) with icy winds and historic cold weather. In Florida, where temperatures dipped below 40 degrees last week, it was so cold that [iguanas were falling](http://time.com/5091036/frozen-iguanas-florida/) out of trees. At one North Carolina park, [alligators were trapped in a frozen swamp](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2018/01/09/these-alligators-spent-days-trapped-in-swamp-ice-and-survived/), their snouts jutting above the water line to help the hibernating reptiles breathe, the Washington _Post_ reported. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5096528/australia-bats-heat-wave-deaths/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5096528/australia-bats-heat-wave-deaths/"},"headline":"'Their Brain Just Fries.' 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