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BATS
AND THE NEEM TREE |
This is such a fabulous tree. If I could have a single tree in my garden,
it would be a Neem Tree. I don’t know where to begin the story.
BEGIN WITH THE BATS, PLEASE.
Fruit bats including
the Straw-coloured Flying Fox and the Gambian Epauletted Fruit Bat are
known to pollinate Neem Tree flowers. (1)
Straw-coloured fruit bat;; Eidolon helvum
Photograph: David Liebman, Lubee Bat Conservancy
Animals who like the sweet fruit are also enlisted to help people free the
Neem Tree seed of its pulp. People who want to use the seeds leave fallen
fruit under the trees. Fruit bats, other mammals and birds will feed on the
fruit pulp and leave some of the cleaned seeds behind.(3) That assists the
human seed-collectors.
When animals, such as fruit bats, carry the fruit away from the parent tree
and leave the seed on the ground, that helps to ensure that more wild Neem
Trees will grow, protection for a valuable genetic heritage.
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Gambian
Epauletted Bat Epomophorus gambianus Neem Tree Fruit |
DOES THE NEEM TREE HAVE A LONG HISTORY OF BEING FABULOUS?
Yes, it has
been known to be fabulous for a long, long time. The Neem Tree grew first
in India. It is mentioned many times for its healing properties in Indian
medical writings, the Ayurveda.(3) Those writings date back to 2500 years
before the present. (5)
THE NEEM TREE MUST BE WELL KNOWN TO INDIAN FAMILIES.
Yes, from birth until death.
Neem leaves are scattered on the floor before a wedding and the air is fanned with Neem Tree branches.(6)
A newborn baby is fanned with a branch of the Neem Tree.(6)
Neem Tree oil is used to heal childhood injuries and illnesses.
The day begins for many Indian people with a purifying drink of water in which Neem Tree leaves have been left overnight.(2)
Neem Tree oil is used in lamps and to start cooking fires.
Dried beans and rice are stored with Neem Tree leaves or mixed with Neem Tree oil to prevent insects from eating them.(2)
Indian people clean food from their teeth with a Neem Tree twig which helps to prevent cavities and gum disease.(2)
Neem Tree leaves, bark, roots and seeds are used in various preparations to treat every imaginable human illness and injury.(6)
When life ends, the body is covered with Neem Tree branches. Wood from the Neem Tree feeds the flames of the funeral pyre.(6)
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The
Neem Tree Part of village life from birth until death |
DOES THE NEEM TREE GROW ONLY IN INDIA?
No. It grows very easily from seeds and also from root suckers. It grows well in parts of the world where the soil is poor, dry and salty. The Neem Tree roots do not like wet earth. The Neem Tree is not discouraged by weed companions.(3)
IT WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE A NEEM TREE CLOSE TO YOUR HOUSE.
Yes. Besides
the fact you would have a village pharmacy outside your door, you would also
have an excellent evergreen shade tree. You would not have to worry about
it dying in a drought. You would never have to buy a toothbrush. Just step
outside and break off a twig. AND if you lived in the tropics, you would have
fruit bat visitors.
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A
Neem Tree twig toothbrush in action |
IS THE NEEM TREE GETTING ATTENTION WORLDWIDE?
Yes, indeed,
most emphatically. One scientist of reknown, Noel D. Vietmeyer, National Research
Council, said: “I’ve never come across a plant with the potential
the Neem has.”(8)
WHY DID THE SCIENTIST SAY THAT?
In 1959 Heinrich Schumutterer, a German entomologist, saw that when there was a plague of leaf-eating locusts in Sudan, the Neem Tree’s leaves weren’t eaten. Other trees were stripped of their leaves.(4)
Research done after that showed that every part of the Neem Tree, especially the seeds, contain azadirachtin which protects plants and stored plant products from being eaten by insects.(2)
The big plus for the use of azadirachtin on plants is that it is not a poison that we have to eat when we eat the plant food. It is also not a poison that birds, spiders, ladybugs and bats have to eat when they eat the insects that have eaten the azadirachtin.(2)
HOW DOES AZADIRACHTIN WORK IF IT DOESN’T POISON THE INSECT PLANT EATERS?
The plant-eating creatures live, but they can no longer lay fertile eggs or have healthy offspring. Or they may no longer be able to eat properly to keep themselves alive, so they die without mating and having more plant-eating offspring.
You can see that azadirachtin is not fast acting. It is not good for an unexpected plague of locusts. Its effects are long term, but at the same time insects are less likely to develop a resistance to it. Insects have developed a resistance many of the pesticides we have used so far.(9)
People who can get Neem Tree seeds can make their own ecology-friendly pesticide. They dry the seeds, grind the kernels, and sprinkle that meal mixed with sawdust on their plants. Or they can mix oil from the seeds in with their stored beans. They can also put Neem Tree leaves in with their stored beans and grains. Doing these things with Neem Tree seeds and leaves will protect a rural family’s crops and stored food. (3)
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Protecting
young maize plants with Neem Seed meal |
ARE THERE OTHER USES FOR THE COMPOUNDS FROM THE NEEM TREE?
Yes. Early experiments
have shown that compounds in the Neem Tree can kill human cancer cells, can
provide effective birth control for men and women, can kill a number of common
fungi and have good results in treating diabetes and heart conditions.(2)
WHAT IS EVERYONE WAITING FOR? WHY DON’T WE GET THE MAGIC NEEM TREE PRODUCTS INTO USE?
There are neem-based pesticides already in use.(9) The medicines for humans have to have expensive lengthy tests before they can be put on the market, but there are many neem-based shampoos, soaps available.
IS THAT THE END OF THIS NEEM TREE STORY?
Almost. The
wood of the Neem Tree is also outstanding. Termites don’t eat it. Houses
and furniture and fences built from Neem Tree wood last a long time.(3)
A bookcase made from Neem Tree wood will protect your books from paper-eating
creatures.
Neem Tree branches make good poles. Poles are very important for people in rural parts of the world, especially poles that are not eaten by termites.(3)
The wood of
the Neem Tree is an excellent fuel as firewood and charcoal (3), both of which
are also very important in rural communities in the developing world.
I CAN’T IMAGINE CUTTING A NEEM TREE DOWN TO BUILD A FENCE OR A FIRE!
People need
houses and fences and fires. Luckily the Neem Tree grows readily from seed
and grows well in poor conditions.
SURELY THAT IS THE END OF THE NEEM TREE STORY.
This is the
last thing I will say about the Neem Tree but it is certainly not the last
thing that could be said.
Many people
see the most important contribution the Neem Tree can make is in controlling
insects that eat man’s food and controlling them in a way that is not
poisonous to insects, bats, birds, or us.
One of the insect larvae that destroys corn harvests is the European Corn Borer. Azadirachtin from the Neem Tree has been very effective in tests on European Corn Borer larvae.(3)
When this Neem
Tree product is used in corn fields in the southern states of North America,
the corn will be receiving double protection from bats.
It will be protected by the fruit bats who pollinate the Neem Tree flowers
and disperse the seeds. It will also be protected by insect-eating bats such
as the Mexican Free-tailed Bat that are known to catch European Corn Borer
moths on the wing.
Those insect-eating bats are eating the moths that lay the eggs that hatch
into the larvae that eat the farmer's corn.
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Mexican
Free-tailed Bat Tadarida brasilensis Mexicana Insect-eating Plant Protector |
GREAT
LOOKING BAT! IS THIS THE END?
Just one last thing, off the subject, but so interesting.
The model for the Mexican Free-tailed Bat above is a bat named Pongo. In 2003 Pongo lived and hunted for moths and other insects somewhere in North America. But one day he ended up in the hold of a trans-Atlantic cargo ship and, finally, on a dock in England. As you can imagine, the tiny bat was very weak and near death from starvation and lack of water.
Pongo's life was saved by the dockworker who reported finding him and the restorative care of a Bat Group member in southeastern England. With the cooperation of veterinarians and government agencies in both Britain and the U.S. and American Airlines, Pongo was sent back to the United States on a flight bound for the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Texas.
He was met at the airport by U.S. batworkers and taken to Bat World Sanctuary in Mineral Wells, Texas. Because of a wrist injury Pongo did not pass the flight test for release and his active plant-protection days are over. He is living out his days well-fed and in comfortable accommodations with other members of his species. (7)
THIS IS THE END (for now)
References:
(1) Fujita,
M.S. 1991. Flying Fox (Chiroptera:Pteropodidae) Pollination, Seed Dispersal,
and Economic Importance: A Tabular Summary of Current Knowledge, Resource
Publication No. 2, Bat Conservation International
(2)Narula, Acharan S., Neem: Tree
of 1,000 Uses, Alpha Omega Labs;http://www.altcancer.com/neem1000.htm
(3)Neem Foundation; spearheading the
neem revolution; Click on on "All About Neem" and "FAQs";
http://www.neemfoundation.org/
(4)Rao, Usha, Neem in Agriculture & Healthcare - An Overview;http://www.neemresource.com/NeeminAg&Hlth.pdf
(5)Sylvester, Joseph, Neem "The Village Pharmacy";http://netowne.com/alt-healing/ayurveda/index.htm
(6)Lilot, Loetitia S., The Neem Tree,
The Village Pharmacy, Ethnobotanical Leaflets; http://www.siu.edu/~ebl/leaflets/neem.htm
(7)Bat World News, Volume 8, Summer Issue
(8)TheraNeem Organix South, Inc. Discover the Power of Neem - Information
(additionalreferences);http://www.organixsouth.com/articles_infoneem.html
(9)Pest Resistance to Pesticides;
http://ipm.ncsu.edu/safety/factsheets/resistan.pdf
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THE PLANT Neem Tree
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THE BATS* Straw-coloured fruit bat (Eidolon helvum)
Fujita, M.S. 1991. Flying Fox (Chiroptera:Pteropodidae) Pollination, Seed Dispersal, and Economic Importance: A Tabular Summary of Current Knowledge, Resource Publication No. 2, Bat Conservation International |
Written and illustrated by ML Alley-Crosby who thanks Dr. Merlin D. Tuttle of Bat Conservation International, Austin, Texas, for permission to use his photograph of the Gambian Epauletted Fruit Bat as source material, and Amanda Lollar of Bat World Sanctuary, Mineral Wells, Texas, for permission to use her photograph of Pongo,a Mexican Free-tailed Bat, as source material. http://www.batworld.org
Thank you also to the Lubee Bat Conservancy for permission to use David Liebmann's photograph of the straw-coloured fruit bat.
July 2008
March 2006
2004
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