OURPLANET_LJ_BENMACDONALD

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A Hardwicke's Woolly Bat flies into a Nepenthes pitcher plant in the pristine primary rainforest of Mulu National Park in Borneo. This bat has developed a unique symbiotic relationship with the plant. The plant provides a 'sleeping bag' for the bat, which the bat locates using its echo-location, based on the plant's provision of a unique 'sonar dish' that the bat alone can find. In return, the bat's droppings fertilise the plant. Such extremely complex relationships between plants and animals are unique to Borneo's rainforests, and take millions of years to develop. Many are now under threat.