10 Malayan flying fox bats born at Lubee conservancy

Ten of 14 baby Malayan flying fox bats have been born at the Lubee Bat Conservancy, and the others are due to arrive in the coming weeks, said Anthony Mason, a keeper at the nonprofit agency north of Gainesville.

“So far, everything has gone incredibly well,” Mason said.

Now they just need names.

A $250 donation buys naming rights, he said. The money will be used to sponsor outreach programs for children in underserved areas.

Breeding these exotic, threatened and endangered bats is central to the mission of the Lubee Bat Conservancy, founded in 1989 by Luis “Lubee” F. Bacardi, one of the heirs to the Bacardi Limited liquor company fortune.

The international nonprofit receives no money from the liquor company itself, however, and is supported by an endowment bequeathed after Bacardi’s death, along with grants and private donations.

Spread out on 110 acres about 25 minutes north of UF at 1309 NW 192nd Ave., the conservancy is devoted to conservation, education and research efforts to help protect fruit and nectar bats and their habitats.

The conservancy maintains a population of 200 bats from 11 different species, which are loaned out to zoos around the world for research and education.

Lubee’s breeding program is carefully managed to make sure bats don’t breed with related bats, in order to maintain genetic diversity.

Lubee has 67 Malayan flying foxes — 47 females and 20 males. Fourteen females were successfully impregnated earlier this year by one male.

The bats have a six-month gestation period, Mason said.