Fruit Bat

The enormous flying foxes are what they’re called. They do not, however, eat insects like other bats. Fruits are consumed by them. You guessed correctly. Fruit Bat is its name. Do you know what the Nipah Virus is? Nipah Virus was spread by this species. Read this blog to know more. 

Description

• These Bats, often known as large flying foxes, are one of the most unique species to encounter in American Samoa, particularly for tourists from locations where bats are tiny and rarely seen.
• Huge eyes, simple upright ears, a canine-like face, two upper and lower canine teeth, and a large rostrum differentiate them (the beak-like part extending from the nose).
• Although being the only mammal capable of complete flight, the fruit bat has many traits of mammals, such as a lengthy coat of fur and the capacity to produce milk.

Second Name

They are sometimes known as flying foxes.

Scientific Name

Pteropodidae

Kingdom

Animal

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Types of Fruit Bat

• There are around 170 species in the Old World Pteropodidae family, divided into 41 genera.
• Pteropus is the biggest genus, with 59 species in total, including the Indian flying fox, Rodrigues flying fox, Australia’s small red flying fox, and many more found across the Pacific Islands.
• The Egyptian Fruit Bat, the hammer-headed bat, and the Buettikofer’s epauletted fruit bat of Western Africa are all well-known species.

Appearance

This creature seems to be identical to any other variety of bat to the inexperienced eye. However, there are various distinguishing characteristics between them, such as color, height, and weight.

Color

• Males are brilliant orange in color, while females are yellowish.
• The bats’ cheeks, eyes, and ears are all rather huge.

Size & Weight

• Some Fruit Bat, for example, is only two inches long. Others, on the other hand, are longer than 16 inches.
• Some are merely an ounce or two in weight, while others are many pounds. Its total wing length can reach more than five feet.

Wingspan

• It has a wingspan of about 25cm (10 inches). 

Behavior

• The nocturnal lifestyle of bats is one of its notable features; they eat at night between dusk and morning.
• They are no exception. Only a few species eat throughout the day, defying the pattern.
• They detect the world around them through their senses of smell and vision rather than echolocation (the animals’ “sonar” system). Only a few species of fruit bats are capable of replicating a primitive kind of sonar by clicking their tongues.
• These bats are among the most friendly creatures on the planet. Except for a few solitary species, its social structure is mainly based on enormous groups of up to 200,000 people.

Diet & Food 

• Herbivores and fruit bats are considered.
• They are frugivores, which implies that fruit makes up the majority of their diet.
• Fruit Bat, as their name indicates, eat fruit, berries, leaves, and bark, as well as nectar and pollen, and typically a few bug larvae that live on leaves and fruit.
• These bats frequently harvest fruit from trees and return to a feeding roost to consume it.

Habitat

• All of these Bats species belonging to the Pteropodidae family may be found in the Eastern Hemisphere’s tropical or subtropical forests and savannas, which stretch from the Eastern Mediterranean to Australia.
• In Central and South America, there are a few other species that are unrelated to this family.
• More than half of all Fruit Bat sleep on trees, while the remainder takes up residence in caves, rocks, shrubs, and even buildings.
• They have demonstrated the ability to use the same roost spot for decades if left alone.

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Housing

• They are flying animals found in deep woods in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Australia.
• It comes in 166 different species. 

Life Expectancy

• In the wild, they can live about 20-30 years and in captivity, they can live about 10 years. 

Nipah Virus

• Nipah virus can be spread to people by animals (such as bats or pigs), contaminated foods, or direct human-to-human transmission.
• Nipah virus is spread by Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family.

Reproduction & Life Cycle

• These bats establish enormous harems with a single male and numerous females, while the rest of the men cluster in bachelor groups.
• Males will use distinctive vocalizations and wing-flapping displays to attract females.

Baby Fruit Bat

• It takes the infant around two years to attain sexual maturity.
• In captivity and the wild, these creatures have a lifetime of roughly 30 years if they make it this long.

Population

• We don’t know how many of these animals are still alive today, but considering their extensive spread over Africa and Asia, the number is likely to be fairly large.
• Nearly half of all fruit bat species are classified as least concerned on the IUCN Red List.

Distribution

• Any of more than 180 species of large-eyed fruit-eating or flower-feeding bats found from Africa to Southeast Asia and Australia, collectively known as the Old World fruit bat (family Pteropodidae).
• Some species live alone, while others live in groups.
• The bulk of them roosts in trees, although some also live in caves, rocks, and buildings.

Predators 

• Snakes, lizards, birds of prey, and carnivorous mammals, including humans, prey on these species.

Threats

• Apart from natural predators, habitat destruction (which eliminates its roosting place and food supplies), purposeful poisoning or killing by farmers (to prevent them from raiding fields), and overhunting for their meat are the three largest threats to the fruit bat’s survival.
• The rising threat of climate change adds to the destruction of habitat.

Fun Facts

• Fruit Bat pollinate fruit-producing plants across the world and consume thousands of mosquitoes at night. Although some bats use echolocation to locate insects and food, bats are not blind. Out of millions of bats in a roost, a mother bat may find her pup by smelling and hearing it.
• Other components of the plants that Fruit Bat eat include flowers, twigs, barks, leaves, and sap, among others. Each night, these massive bats may consume up to 2.5 times their body weight in food.
• They are known for flying large distances in search of food. Flying is a physically demanding and stressful exercise, and this creature requires up to 20 times their average oxygen intake when in flight.
• Making milk for newborns is a mother’s responsibility in most mammalian species. But dads of certain fruit bats may produce milk. Males of several species, such as the Bismarck masked flying fox and the Dayak fruit bat, have functioning mammary glands and may produce milk. This enables them to assist in the care and feeding of their young.
• Pregnant females of several Fruit Bat species leave their primary flock to create nursery roosts with other pregnant females. The pregnant women in these nursery groups develop their social networks and look after one another. 

Reference Link

• https://g.co/kgs/XqG43s