Photo courtesy batsanctuary.org

13th January 2010; Samal Island - Philippine fruit bats that roost on Samal Island were officially accorded the Guinness World Record of largest colony of any fruit bat species. On any given day approximately 1.8 million Geoffroy's rousette fruit bats (rousettus amplexicaudatus) inhabit the Monfort Bat Cave on Samal Island.

The Monfort Bat Cave & Conservation Foundation aims to protect the Samal Island fruit bats through research programs that lead to better education and conservation of habitat. Education programs will foster a greater understanding of the role of fruit bats and dispel the myth that fruit bats compete with humans for food when the reverse is actually true. Samal Island and the nearby provinces of Davao would not enjoy such an abundance of durian and other tropical fruits if it were not for centuries of natural seed and fertilizer dispersal undertaken free of charge by the fru

Photo courtesy Philippine Dragon Boat Federation

At the IDBF World Dragon Boat Racing Championships in Prague, at the end of August, 2009, Team Philippines broke their own World record and firmly established the Philippines as the premier dragon boat racing nation in the 200-meter distance category.

Team Philippines set the previous World record in Sydney, Australia, in 2007. In Prague they shaved almost two seconds off their Sydney dragon boat racing World record and set the new bar at 40.03 seconds, for the 200 meter Premier Mixed category, beating Team China by just one tenth of a