Large Flying Fox: Guardians of the Night Skies

What will you think of when talking about bats? Did you know there is a type of bat called fox instead of bats? What we will be talking about today is the large flying fox.

Overview 

The large flying fox, known as Pteropus vampyrus, is a Southeast Asian species of megabat. It has a life span of about 15 to 30 years, with a weight of 0.6 to 1 Kg and 27 to 32cm in length but 1.5 to 2m of wingspan. The large flying fox can reach a top speed of 19 mph when flying. The difference between large flying foxes and other bats is that despite not having echolocation, it makes up for it with highly excellent eyesight.

Appearance

Large flying fox has short and upright hair on the upper back but longer and wolly hair on other parts of the body. Different sexes and age classes come with different colour and texture of the coat. Compared to females, males often have slightly stiffer and thicker coats. The majority of immature flying foxes are drab grey-brown in colour. Males have a lighter mantle as they age from their dark colour when they are young. The ventral regions have a chocolate, grey, or silver tint and are brown or blackish. While the breast is typically dark russet or dark golden brown, the mantle can range in colour from pale dirty-buff to orange-yellow. 

Habits and Lifestyle

Large flying foxes are gregarious animals that are grouped in thousands. They are nocturnal and may circle over the fruit tree before landing on the tips of branches and fall into a head-down position from which they feed. Large flying foxes are territorial, by showing their territoriality, they would fling their wings and roar. The flying fox roosts upside down with its wings folded, and the bat uses its wings to cool itself when it becomes too hot. Besides, large flying foxes are migrating animals, and when there is a food shortage or fewer predators, large colonies may split into smaller groups and disperse far for food. Recently, due to the loss of rainforests, the population of flying foxes in urban areas has incline. 

Diet and Nutrition

Believe it or not, a large flying fox with an aggressive lifestyle and scary appearance, is a herbivorous animal. They feed on flowers, nectar and fruits, meanwhile, flowers and nectar are their favour. Fruits such as mangoes, bananas, rambutan and langsat are their daily food. Since large flying foxes consume fruits daily, they are crucial pollinators and seed dispersers of woodland trees.

Mating Habits

Large flying foxes are polygynous. A male large flying fox may mate with ten female large flying foxes. The breeding season varies locally and they have a slow reproductive cycle. Each year, a single female gives birth to a single pup. Their gestation period lasts around 140 to 190 days. The pup will follow mother fox after giving birth and they weaned after 2 or 3 months. At the age of 2, both males and females are reproductively mature.

Population

Due to the loss of habitat and hunting reasons, the population of large flying foxes is decreasing. Sometimes, farmers consider them as pests, as they will feed on their orchards.

References

Large Flying Fox, Animalia, viewed 11/11/2023, <Large Flying Fox - Facts, Diet, Habitat & Pictures on Animalia.bio>

Anna Salleh, 2021, Flying fox increasing in urban areas means more potential conflict with humans, ABC Science News, viewed 11/11/2023, <Flying foxes increasing in urban areas means more potential conflict with humans - ABC News>