Fanihi Foraging Citizen Science Project

Community engagement and collaboration, Monitoring
Fanihi Foraging Citizen Science Project
Status
Ongoing

States

Guam

Ecosystem

Forest

Subject

Bats
Citizen science
Endangered and/or Threatened species
Foraging Fanihi Project Advertisement. The background of the poster shows a fruit bat eating fruit. The bottom of the poster shows the date and time of a training event and gives the background of the event.
Image Details
Fanihi feed on different plant species. Help us collect data around the island on important plant species for our fanihi. You can do this at your favorite park or in your backyard using iNaturalist! For more information, contact our Park Ranger at 671-355-5096.

The Guam National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge) is implementing its first citizen science project: Fanihi Foraging!

Throughout the year, please join Refuge staff in finding five plant species that the fanihi (in CHamoru) or Mariana fruit bat (Pteropus mariannus mariannus) uses to feed on Guam, Rota, Tinian, and Saipan. While there are more trees the fanihi will use to forage, the five plant species we are targeting are breadfruit (lemmai and dukduk [dugdug in iNaturalist]), fig (nunu and dye fig), and burny bean. This information will be shared with researchers working on fanihi recovery. Observations should be recorded on iNaturalist. Join our project on iNaturalist by searching the projects list for "Fanihi Foraging" or by going directly to the project page.

Here at the Refuge, we plan to use this data to determine the distribution of each species on the Refuge to determine where we need to plant new trees and what species we need to plant. This project is part of our larger Native Limestone Forest Restoration and Enhancement project. 

We will be hosting our second event on December 21 at 9:00 a.m. at the administration building. The slides from our October 19 event has been posted!

Library

Citizen scientists on Guam discuss plant features to help with identification
Si Yu'os ma'ase, Guam!
A day of fun, learning, and habitat conservation with our community
Story
Get Involved
Foraging Fanihi Project Advertisement. The background of the poster shows a fruit bat eating fruit. The bottom of the poster shows the date and time of a training event and gives the background of the event.
Fanihi Foraging Project Advertisement
Fanihi feed on different plant species. Help us collect data around the island on important plant species for our fanihi. You can do this at your favorite park or in your backyard using iNaturalist! Learn more about your role in the project and practice plant identification of 5 species on October...
Image
Intro to Plant Identification and iNaturalist
Name
Intro to Plant Identification and iNaturalist

How to identify specific plants that the Marianas fruit bat uses for foraging.

Created by Chae Ragadio, University of Guam COMPASS Intern for Guam National Wildlife Refuge

PDF

Facilities

Green sea turtle at Ritidian
Guam National Wildlife Refuge
Håfa adai and welcome to the Guam National Wildlife Refuge! Part of the National Wildlife Refuge System, the Guam National Wildlife Refuge is a sanctuary for many species that are native and endemic to Guam.
National Wildlife Refuge
Yigo,GU

Programs

A bright blue sky obstructed by fluffy white clouds reflected off of a stream shot from inside a kayak
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages an unparalleled network of public lands and waters called the National Wildlife Refuge System. With more than 570 refuges spanning the country, this system protects iconic species and provides some of the best wildlife viewing opportunities on Earth.
Program
Washington,DC

Species

A black and brown tropical bat climbing through brush

The Mariana fruit bat is a medium-sized fruit bat in the family Pteropididae that weighs 0.66 to 1.15 pounds (330 to 577 grams) and has a forearm length ranging from 5.3 to 6.1 in (13.4 to 15.6 cm); males are slightly larger than females. The underside (abdomen) is colored black to brown, with...

FWS Focus
Species
Kingdom
Animalia
Taxonomic Rank
Subspecies