The Flying Fox
Published by The habitat and behaviors of the flying fox.
The Flying Fox is the largest bat in the world, it can be found in tropical regions of Asia, Indonesia, parts of Australia and the East African Islands. The Flying Fox is more commonly known as the Fruit Bat, but it has many names given to it down through the years by different tribes. The scientific name for this type of bat is Megachiroptera, the first fossil of this Megachiroptera was dated back to 35 million years ago. There was only one obvious difference between the fossil and today’s Megachiroptera, the difference was they use to have a tail. The use of this tail was to balance its large body as it was in flight.
In today’s world the numbers of these majestic creatures are fading fast. They are being hunted in parts of Ghana and the Marianas for human consumption, in these regions their meat is considered a delicacy which led to a booming commercial trade in 1989. It is not just the humans that are to blame for the shrinking numbers in the Flying Fox. In Australia there is a wide spread parasite that are infecting the Spectacle Flying Fox, these parasites carry paralyzing toxins, these toxins paralyze parts of the bats anatomy. As body parts fail the bat is sure to die.
Description of the Flying Fox
There are many different sub species of the flying fox and their description depends on which region you find them. They all pretty much look the same with slight differences, such as the length of their ears or snouts, or the size of their eyes, to the size of their bodies and weight. You will know a flying fox when you see one because of is size compared to a regular sized bat, they are considerably bigger in every way. The largest of the flying fox family is the Vampire Flying fox, with a wing span of 7 feet it would be very difficult to miss one of these flying over head. Although they are huge they only weigh 1.5 – 2 kgs. Their faces resemble similarities of a red fox or a desert fox. Their colouring differs depending on the sub species of the bat. Some are jet black, some are light brown and black maybe red, some are just light brown all over to the Spectacle flying fox which has patches of either brown or black.
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On June 22, 2009 at 5:24 am
Interesting article with nice photos.
On June 22, 2009 at 7:09 am
Wow! Great article Stephen. I sure would hate to see this flying towards me!
On June 22, 2009 at 9:01 am
Hi Stephen! Great to see something new from you–haven’t seen anything for a bit. Nice article. I love bats–something to do with my spelunking days. I’m more familiar with the little brown cave bats or golden fruit bats that lived near my childhood home. This was very informative and nicely written.
On June 22, 2009 at 11:51 am
Hi friend nice to see you again, and you treated us with a very interesting article.
On June 22, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Very interesting and informative article. I liked it, so I stumbled it.
On June 22, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Would wonder if that Vampire Fruit Bat with the 7-feet wide wingspan is perhaps that ‘bat man’ thing that they see in southern U.S. states like Texas every few years. These have been attributed to everything from the “Thungerbird” of indian legends, ‘Mothman’ from cult folklore and even a pterodactyl.
Hmm..
On June 23, 2009 at 1:59 am
Whoa, whoa………… amazing looking animal – interesting article!
Blessings.
Sincerely,
-Liane Schmidt.
On July 7, 2009 at 10:34 am
Great article, pictures make it very interesting and easy to read
On January 31, 2011 at 12:02 am
Wow… interesting article!