Flying Fox
Pteropus Vampyrus Jack Cornwell |
ID#14
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Endangered Status: N/A
Habitat: Trees The fruit bat is also called the Flying Fox because it has a fox-like face. They have big eyes, long noses, and large, pointed ears. It has two large wings that are used to fly. The Flying Fox has one of the largest wingspans of all kind of bats and can grow up to a wingspan of 6 ½ feet. The height of an adult Flying Fox can be up to 16 inches long as an adult. It can weigh up to 3 ½ pounds. They are brown and ginger. They have fur over all of their body. Their wings have the same bones as the human hand. They are proportioned differently and connected with leathery skin allowing them to fly. Fruit bats live in colonies of hundreds in forests, the coast, and in swamps. They are located in Africa, Asia, and on the coast of Australia. They roost or sleep in trees. These trees are found in hot climates. Fruit bats are nocturnal. They are herbivores as they eats fruit, flower nectar, and pollen. They get their food by flying up into the branches and snatching the food with their teeth. They have teeth like humans. Their teeth are sharp in the front to bite off pieces of fruit and flat in the back to chew. The fruit bat feeds at night because they are vulnerable to their predators during the day. They have long tongues to slurp up nectar from flowers. They eat the pollen that sticks to them while feeding on the nectar. Their dark coloring helps them to hide from their predators at night. Unlike other bats, the flying fox’s large eyes are sensitive to light and color helping them to see fruit at dusk. In addition, they use both their sense of smell and echolocation to find their food. Echolocation is a way to “see” with your ears. The fruit bat uses sound to see where objects are by noticing how the sound bounces back from an object. It can determine the shape and location of an object. Fruit bats are able to reproduce when they are two years old. During mating season which occurs once a year, males make a camp in a tree. The male bats do not let other male bats into their camp. Once the camp is made, the male stays there for a few weeks. A female looking for a mate finds her way into the tree. Bats are most often polygynous. Male bats ma mate with up to ten females. The gestation period for the pups is between 140 and 192 days. Bats breed once a year and on average have only one offspring, though occasionally they may have two. The babies or pups are about 133 grams which is 20 to 30% of their mother’s body weight. They are weaned at 2 to 3 months. There are many fascinating facts about the fruit bat. For example, the fruit bat can hang upside down for long periods of time because its body weight locks its toes in place. Interestingly, a dead bat will continue to hang upside down because of this. Additionally, the fruit bat is essential in pollination of many tropical flowers. Fortunately, after declining numbers most species of fruit bats have rebounded from being endangered and are no longer at risk for extinction. There are a lot of myths about bats that are not true. Bats are not blind. Bats have eyes and can see quite well. Most bats do not have rabies. Most bats do not suck blood. Bats do not come from mice. In fact, DNA analysis shows that they are closer to us as primates. |