Question: How many of you like durians?
Question: What do you think pollinates the durian flowers?
If no one guesses right away. "I'll give you some clues: the durian flower looks like a pom-pom, it's white and it blooms at night" Eventually someone will guess bats.

Question: "How often does the durian tree flower?"
Eventually they will realise once or twice a year. (We get durians year-round in Singapore because we import them from different places)
Question: "So what do these bats feed on when the durian is not in bloom?" If these bats relied only on durian flowers, they would starve to death.
naked fact #2: Mangrove trees like the Perepat (Sonneratia) have similar pom-pom-like flowers. Bats also feed on the nectar and pollen produced by these trees.

naked fact #3: Without mangroves we may have fewer or even no durians!
Where to do this story? Preferably where the visitors can see a Perepat (Sonneratia) tree. As it is a long story, don't do it where it's hot, or mosquito-infested.
To ID a durian tree: the long narrow leaves are dull green on the upperside and bronzy on the underside. The branches are somewhat angular and usually sparsely leafed.

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