Got Fruits? You Might Also Have Fruitbats! --If You Live In The Tropics, That Is!
The Flying Foxes, Foxbats, or Fruit Bats, of Asia and the Asian Pacific are the largest flying mammals (They really fly... not glide. Flying Squirrels and the Japanese Momonga --a type of flying squirrel-- glide, but don't flap wings to fly). These bats make up a single suborder, the Megachiroptera, within the bat order Chiroptera and family Pteropodidae.
Unlike most bats, the fruitbats are active during the day--and sleep at night. Since fruitbats are active during the day and twilight, they have good seeing ability with their large eyes and a good sense of smell. With only a few exceptions, fruitbats generally do not use echolocation.
Although most fruitbats tend to be comparatively large--some reaching a wing-span of up to 5ft (150cm) and weighing more than 2 pounds (about 1kg)--some of the "megabats" are small--only 2.4 inches (6cm) long.
As one of their names implies, these bats are not carnivores--they'd rather lick nectar from flowers or eat juicy tropical fruit. These bats are herbivorous.
The drawing in this module is from a 1922 biological text and, originally titled, Pteropus celaeno Herm., was recaptioned, Pteropus vampyrus Herm.
But although these bats are used in movies to represent big, creepy Vampire bats, again, these bats are docile and are herbivores--they don't eat blood or meat. (The Latin name of the pictured fruit bat is just that--just a name--has nothing to do with the pictured bats' habits.)
Contents at a Glance
- Fox Bat, Flying Fox, Fruit Bat--Eating Fruit, what else?
- Fruitbats' Important Role In The Environment
- Going Batty? You Can Wear A Bat, or Decorate With Bats--Either Way, It Works!
Fox Bat, Flying Fox, Fruit Bat--Eating Fruit, what else?
Flying Fox Bat Eating Fruit
A flying fox bat eating fruit inside the fragile forest environment at the Singapore Zoo. These bats are the largest in the world, with wingspans up to two meters.
Fruitbats' Important Role In The Environment
The bats that eat nectar (the Nectarivores) pollinate the visited plants (such as pineapples) in a plant-bat relationship of "mutualism" called chiropterophily.
Going Batty? You Can Wear A Bat, or Decorate With Bats--Either Way, It Works!
Fruit Bats in Fiji... Nope, They Aren't Vampire Bats--But They Always Star In Movies Playing That Part!
Giant Flying Vampire Bats
Fruit bats of Mana Island, Fiji, Flying around in the late day
Well... I Don't Think Bruce Wayne Was Thinking of a Fruitbat When He Came Up With His Costume!
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
You Can't Get a Pet Batter Than This!
Good Reading for the Bat Room!
Another of Those Pets That Won't Win Most Pet Shows!
Incredible Edibles! (But not Incredible Editables--that's a Different Website!)
You can even see them being munched on in the media--movies and TV...
Yup. You can eat 'em.
They taste like chicken, but a little "gamey"...
On the 16th season of CBS-TV's "reality" show, "Survivor" ("Survivor Micronesia: Fans vs Favorites"), the competitors just merged "tribes" and for their celebration feast on a beautiful Palauan beach, they had fruitbat for their main course--such a delicacy! One of the contestants said that the bats tasted like "juicy rabbit"!
On the sequel movie to "Crocodile Dundee", there's a scene where some of the locals are feasting on fruitbat--they said it "needed garlic".
Then, in the movie "Kuppendorf's Tribe", starring Richard Dreyfuss and Lily Tomlin as competing anthropologists, Lily journeys to the boonies of Papua New Guinea and finds a village market where some folks are enjoying barbequed fruit bat.
Since the bats normally eat nothing but fruits and the nectar and pollen of the many tropical plants, they are generally safe to eat and their meat is sweet (and yes, sort of like chicken or duck--I've tasted them, and that's my impression.
However, perhaps one should think again before eating one. The bats were a great delicacy featured at Guam fiestas and feasts. You could even find them packaged in shrinkwrap alongside the other meats such as chicken, rabbit, duck, pork, beef at the local food markets. Then, some scientists doing research on a type neural disease that was more common on Guam than any other place in the world discovered a relationship to the fact that most of the sufferers of this disease ate tortillas made with the flour of Cycad palms. This might have been the end of the story.
But then, the researchers found that these same folks also ate fruitbats... and then they connected with the fact that the bats also eat the fruits of the cycad palms. When the researchers analyzed the bat's meat, they found high concentrations of cyanide and other toxins in its meat. Since this discovery, folks on Guam do not eat the tortillas made from cycad-fruit flour or fruitbats--even if these have been a long-standing cultural custom for centuries.
Flying Fox, Fox Bat, Fruit Bat, Whatever... with a Baby!
Fruit Bat Childcare
This is a rare glimpse into the family life of the fruit bat. Look carefully, and you will see a mother taking care of her young. This Fruit Bat also known as a Flying Fox native to Okinawa, Japan.
Yup. They are Mammals! Not Birds! --But You'll Find Them Flying With Birds!
Flying fox bats & white ibis bird
Filmed in Sydney, flying fox bats & white ibis bird.
Don't Stay in a Cave! Hang Around and Drop a Note!
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Classic
Another five stars lens! Thanks for submitting your great lens to my group Nature and Environment! Posted January 05, 2008 |
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Janusz
Great Lens! bit fruity... bat I gave it a 5 :D Posted December 11, 2007 |
