2019 | 5m | Malay, Chinese, Cantonese, English

Flying Foxes in Malaysia

Durian. Its smell has evacuated buildings and grounded planes. As many as there are who can't stand the king of fruits, just as many will pay hundreds for a few pieces of its creamy flesh. But amid his majesty’s adoring fans, one has no interest in the fruit. It only has eyes for the flowers. White blooms high in the canopy, smelling faintly of sour milk. Pollen sticks to its snout as the animal laps the nectar. It then carries that pollen from floral bunch to floral bunch. Unknowingly kickstarting the durian fruiting cycle, as it excitedly chases more of the same sweet treat.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is pollination in action! Both bat and durian are native to this region, so this relationship has likely survived centuries, but nobody's caught it on camera until now. This first-on-record footage also debunks something durian farmers have believed for a long time: that the flying fox, or keluang, is their enemy.

Funding for this scientific discovery was limited. But getting the word out wasn't optional. So, I edited this from what already existed and where something was still missing, I filmed it with my trusty handheld compact. It’s rough in places. But the message still holds — for durian farmers, and for the communities hunting them for food, sport or for a stigma that's outlived its reason. Lose the bat, and the durian empire falls with it.

in collaboration with: RIMBA (Project Pteropus)