Malayan Flying Fox

Malayan flying foxes, commonly referred to as large flying foxes, are not foxes at all! Instead, these small mammals are bats belonging to the family Pteropodidae, also known as the mega bats or fruit bats. These bats are typically herbivorous and feed on fruit, nectar or pollen. As such, they do not use echolocation and have much smaller ears. Their snouts are usually more pointed, and they have larger eyes since they rely on their vision to orient themselves.

Malayan flying foxes are among one of the largest bat species in the world. These flying foxes are mostly black in color, with golden blonde patches on the back of their head, stretching down to their chest. They weigh 1.25-1.9 pounds and are around 13 inches tall. Their impressive wingspan reaches 5 feet.

Flying foxes are all native to the Old World, meaning Africa, Europe, and Asia. As their name suggests, Malayan flying foxes inhabit Malaysia, along with China and the rest of southeast Asia. They live in moist forests, mangroves, coconut forests, and mixed-fruit orchards. They are reliant on the presence of trees as this is where they often choose to roost during the day as they hang upside down.

Malayan flying foxes primarily feed on fruit that is readily available in their habitats. Many of those fruits include figs, mangoes, bananas, rambutans, and langsat. They also eat flowers, especially for their nectar. This makes them pollinators. Because of their differing diets, the “mega bats” do not echolocate like many of our local “micro bat” species. Instead, flying foxes use a keen sense of smell and their large eyes to locate food at night.

Large flying foxes, like most bats, are incredibly social. They roost in tall trees above the forest canopy, often in mixed species groups that get up to the thousands. In cold weather, flying foxes will wrap themselves up with their wings, and during hot weather they will cool down by flapping their wings. Large flying foxes are highly territorial and communicate through spreading their wings and several vocalizations.

Large flying foxes are polygynous, meaning they have different breeding partners every year. Mothers give birth to one pup at a time. Synchronous birthing occurs within localized populations, meaning all the pregnant females give birth within the same time frame. Pups are born with their eyes opened and fully furred. For the first 2-3 weeks, mothers will carry their pups on their back while flying. When they start to weigh too much to be carried, they get left behind at the colony with the other pups while the mother forages.

• The latin name vampyrus is derived from the Slavic word "wampir" which means "blood sucking ghost or demon", as this species was originally (incorrectly!) considered a blood-sucking bat.
• Unlike micro bats, macro bats like flying foxes have incredible color vision!
• Bats are one of only three animals capable of true flight, the other two being birds and insects