Scientific Name: (Pteropus conspicillatus) Range: Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea. Such beautiful little creatures, but I thought it was dangerous to be handling them? taxonomy. ). This species is completely herbivorous, eating many different fruits and vegetables including the pothos plant. While the chances are very low of being bitten by an infected bat, it is not worth the risk. ( Log Out /  Fun facts: The Spectacled Flying Fox lives in rainforests, mangroves and swamps. Hi Wayne, They roost together in groups often made up of tens of thousands of bats, called camps. Today, there are more than 16,000 bats in the wild thanks to ongoing conservation efforts of which Lubee is a part of. Spectacled flying foxes are gregarious social animals which live in huge colonies high in the canopies of the rainforest. They feed on a wide variety of fruits and flowers, both wild and cultivated. . Four species of Flying-foxes are native to mainland Australia: the Little Red Flying-fox, the Black Flying-fox, the Grey-headed Flying-fox and the Spectacled Flying-fox. The head and body length is 22–25 cm, forearm 16–18 cm, weight 400–1000 g. A large spectacled flying fox has pale yellow or straw-colored fur around its eyes. Flying-foxes are mammals and are members of the Pteropididae or fruit bat family. Fun facts: The Grey-headed Flying Fox lives in social groups, traveling between camps which are spread at regular intervals along the Southeastern coast of Australia. Flying foxes weigh up to about a kilogram (2.2lbs) and have a wingspan of up to 1.2 metres (47″). Another theory for the name is the nearly-checkered pattern of the snake's belly scales which resemble kernels of variegated corn. The maximum size is believed to approach 1.5 kg (3.3 lb), 55 cm (22 in) long, and the wingspan may be almost 1.8 m (5.9 ft). I have never subscribed to a blog until now. They have the greatest tolerance to changes in temperature of any mammal, able to withstand temperatures from freezing to 104°F with almost no changes in metabolic rate. These two types of bats appear to have evolved separately, making them distinct groups of mammals. Thanks for sharing…. Spectacled flying foxes have distinctive straw-coloured fur around the eyes which gives them their name. Flying foxes cause an estimated $20 in damage to fruit crops annually in Australia; the proportion of this damage inflicted by P. conspicillatus is not known. Spectacled Flying Fox size varies between sexes. Fun facts: The Egyptian Fruit Bat is very common throughout its range and one of the only megabats to roost in caves. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Australia has some of the world's largest fruit bats. The large flying fox has the longest forearm length and reported wingspan of any species, but some species exceed it in weight. In addition, P. conspicillatus and other species of flying foxes have caused power outages by "roosting" on electrical wires. Discover (and save!) Let me know if you are unhappy with the way I credited you (and thanks also for looking after our flying friends). ( Log Out /  The four flying-fox species found in Australia (Grey-headed Flying Fox, Black Flying-fox, Little Red Flying-fox and the Spectacled Flying-fox) are all protected under various state environmental legislation as native animals. Fun facts: The Short-nosed Fruit Bats (9 species) are quite common throughout their range of Southeast Asia. Thanks Wayne 🙂. I need to write more about bats–I love them too and I am worried about them. Grey- Headed Flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) Status: Nationally listed as Vulnerable to extinction but listed as Least Concerned in the state of Queensland. Their main diet is nectar and fruits and they play a vital role in the dispersal of rainforest seeds. Also flying foxes.. These bats are common in backyard gardens too - especially when the pawpaws(papaya) have ripened! (This image was taken at Tolga Bat Hospital by Steve Amesbury to promote the noble cause of bat conservation: see DontShootBats.com), Don’t shoot bats! physical characteristics It is often black but can also vary to brown in colour, particularly on the face. Flying-foxes have the largest body size of all bats. There are two types of bats—the flying-foxes, which are all fruit and nectar feeders and their microbat relatives, the insectivorous bats. Minden Pictures is recognized worldwide as the foremost provider of wildlife and nature stock photography for use by publishing and advertising professionals. The black flying fox has short, black hair with a contrasting reddish-brown mantle, and a mean forearm length of 164 mm (6.46 in) and a mean weight of 710 g (1.57 lb). Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. IUCN Red List status: Least Concern. Fun facts: Indian Flying Fox roost in large colonies of hundreds to thousands of individuals on large trees in rural and urban areas, close to agricultural fields, ponds and by the side of roads. The Lesser Short-nosed Fruit Bat is an uncommon species in that it constructs roost tents out of the flower clusters and leaves of palms, bananas and other large leaf plants. Thank you! Spectacled Flying-foxes will skim over the surface of water to drink and are sometimes eaten by crocodiles. Bats range from perhaps the world’s smallest mammal, the Kitti’s hog-nosed bat of Thailand and Burma— also known as the bumblebee bat due to its diminutive size—to the giant golden-crowned flying fox, a massive bat native to the Philippines with a wingspan of 5 feet 7 inches (which is, um, quite a bit longer than I am). There are four species of flying fox native to mainland Australia: the Little Red flying fox, the Black flying fox, the Spectacled flying fox and the Grey-headed flying fox. While other bat species in the US have experienced significant population declines due to White-Nose Syndrome, the Big Brown Bat is relatively resistant to its effects. Steve. Fun facts: The Solomon Islands Skink is the largest species of skink and has a fully prehensile tail which is used as a fifth limb for climbing. There are four mainland species of flying fox: Black, Grey headed, Spectacled and Little Red. Mar 2, 2018 - This Pin was discovered by Monika. Many of these can be seen throughout the Wet Tropics, particularly at dusk when they leave their camps in the trees to forage for food during the night. Spectacled Flying Fox bat is the rarest one, ... and is the largest one in Australia and one of the largest bats in the world with weight up to one kilo and a wingspan of more than a metre. 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