Indian Flying Fox

Indian Flying Fox

Greater Indian fruit bat, Greater indian fruit bat

Kingdom
Phylum
Subphylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
SPECIES
Pteropus giganteus
Population size
Unknown
Life Span
15-31.5 years
Weight
600-1600
21.2-56.4
goz
g oz 
Length
23
9
cminch
cm inch 
Wingspan
1.2-1.5
3.9-4.9
mft
m ft 

The Indian flying fox (Pteropus medius) is a species of flying fox native to the Indian subcontinent. It is one of the largest bats in the world. This species is often regarded as vermin due to its destructive tendencies towards fruit farms, but the benefits of its pollination and seed propagation often outweigh the impacts of its fruit consumption.

Appearance

The Indian flying fox is so called due to its unique, fox-like appearance: reddish-brown coat, characteristically long snout as well as large eyes. And indeed, this animal resembles a little fox with wings. An observer would mistake this bat for a fox, if not its leathery wing and the habit of sleeping in an upside down position. The animal exhibits small ears. Instead of using echolocation, this flying fox perceives its environment through well-developed senses of vision and smell, helping the animal to detect food. Like all other bats, the Indian flying fox has claws, found on the second finger of each wing and used for grasping fruits and other objects.

Video

Distribution

Geography

These bats are endemic to South Central Asia, found from Pakistan and China to the Maldive Islands. Within this territory, they live in tropical forests and swamps. They prefer to be found in close proximity to bodies of water, human residences, and agricultural land.

Indian Flying Fox habitat map

Climate zones

Indian Flying Fox habitat map
Indian Flying Fox
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Habits and Lifestyle

Indian flying foxes are highly social creatures, forming large roosts of several hundred animals. A single group usually occupies one tree. These bats live in a 'vertical', male-dominated hierarchy system, where higher-ranked individuals occupy higher spots of the tree, while lower-ranked individuals remain on lower spots. Males of a group are responsible for protecting their roost and particularly, females, from outsiders. The Indian flying foxes are nocturnal animals. When sleeping, they hang by their feet in an upside-down position, wrapping their wings around themselves. At sunset, they wake up and leave the tree to forage. They spend their nighttime hours looking for food, feeding, digesting their meal, resting as well as socializing, and moving around the tree. The bats fly with the appearance of a large swarm but forage individually, and give off contact calls infrequently. Individuals travel upwards of 93 mi (150 km) in search of food, finding it by sight. They can quickly travel up and down tree branches to forage for fruit with a swift hand-over-hand motion. In order to maintain a suitable body temperature, these bats fan themselves with their wings.

Seasonal behavior

Diet and Nutrition

Indian flying foxes maintain a frugivorous diet, supplementing it with insects as well as flowers, containing juice and nectar. Although their favorite fruits are figs, the animals also consume mango, guava, bananas, and various cultivated fruits.

Mating Habits

MATING BEHAVIOR
REPRODUCTION SEASON
July-October
PREGNANCY DURATION
140-150 days
BABY CARRYING
1-2 pups
INDEPENDENT AGE
5 months
FEMALE NAME
female
MALE NAME
male
BABY NAME
pup

This species is polygynandrous (promiscuous), with both males and females breeding with multiple mates. Males usually defend females of their roost from males, coming from the outside. These bats are seasonal breeders. The mating season takes place between July and October. The gestation period lasts for 140-150 days, yielding 1-2 babies, generally in February-May. The newborn bats are carried by their mother until 3 weeks old, after which the babies begin hanging by their feet independently, although the mother will continue to carry them to the feeding sites every night. The babies are cared for only by their mothers. At around 11 weeks old, they are able to fly. Weaning occurs within 5 months after births, and the age of reproductive maturity is 1.5 years old.

Population

Population threats

The Indian flying foxes are not currently threatened with extinction, although they still suffer from some localized factors such as the felling of their roosting trees, mainly for roads. In some parts of their range, these bats are hunted for food and medicine.

Population number

This species is common and widespread throughout its range but no overall population estimate is available. As reported by Zoos Print, populations of this species have been estimated in the following areas: Bundala (Sri Lanka) - 50,000 individuals (data from 2006); Nallur near Chennai (Tamil Nadu) - 6000 Indian flying foxes; Limkheda, Dahod District, Gujarat State - 5000 individuals, found on 3 Ficus trees; Bangladesh - a single colony of about 2500 individuals. Further, as reported by the Academia resource, there have been found 287 individuals in the town of Dhubri (Assam). Overall, Indian flying foxes are classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, but their numbers are decreasing.

Ecological niche

Feeding upon a wide variety of fruits and flowers, these animals act as important seed dispersers of these plants, thus benefiting the ecosystem of their range.

Fun Facts for Kids

  • When flying, these bats outstretch their limbs, fully expanding their wing membranes.
  • Indian flying foxes lose huge amounts of water through their wings when flying. Hence, these animals have larger water requirements, than all other mammals of their size.
  • The upside-down position, in which bats usually roost, has its advantages. For example, in order to take flight, these animals just have to loosen their feet and spread their wings.
  • Flying foxes are accomplished swimmers. They have been seen swimming through rivers with their wings, which serve them as flippers.
  • When a female gives birth, the baby usually comes feet first and hence grabs onto its mother as soon as being born.

References

1. Indian Flying Fox Wikipedia article - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_flying_fox
2. Indian Flying Fox on The IUCN Red List site - http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/18725/0

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