Flying Fox

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Chiroptera
Suborder: Megachiroptera
Family: Pteropodidae
Genus: Pteropus

Photo Credit: Markus Nolf

The Flying Fox is a megabat and often called a fruit bat because its diet consists of eating fruit or sucking the nectar from flowers or juice from fruit. This bat does have teeth that are used to bite through fruit skins, and it has a long tongue that is inserted into flowers to reach the nectar.

Despite the appearance of these large bats and their reputation in horror movies as blood-sucking vampires, the Flying Fox is in fact frugivorous and is not dangerous to humans.

Like most bats, the Flying Fox is social and nocturnal. They roost together at a camp during the day and feed at night.

Photo Credit: Daniel Vianna

The Flying Fox is typically around 16 inches long with a wingspan of up to 5 feet. These giants can also weigh 2+ pounds each. The name Flying Fox comes from the bat's head resemblence to a fox, with small ears, pointed nose and large eyes. They live in the tropics of Asia and Australia and on islands in both the Indian and Pacific Oceans.