Flying Fox

Gestation / Life Span Gestation period is 6 months. Life span is believed to be up to 12 years in the wild and up to 22 years in captivity.

Habitat Flying foxes inhabit temperate and sub-tropical coastal areas in northern and eastern Australia. Warm, moist habitats including gullies in lowland rainforest, coastal stringybark forests and mangroves, often beside water are favoured.

Common Predators Carpet Python, Goanna, Sea-Eagle, Powerful Owl, Currawong and Raven. Other hazards include human activities and human technology such as powerlines.

What Is a Flying Fox?

One quarter of all mammals in the world are bats (Chiroptera), making them the second largest mammalian order in the world, after the rodent. Bats are separated into two groups: Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera. Flying Foxes (also known as fruit bats) make up the majority of Megachiroptera species. Megachiroptera feed primarily on plant material (fruit, nectar and pollen), they rely on sight and smell to hunt and roost outside in the sun. Microchiroptera are smaller, feed primarily on insects and hunt using echo location (sonar) and roost in caves and tunnels.

Four species of Flying-Fox are native to mainland Australia; the Little Red Flying-Fox, Black Flying-Fox, Grey-Headed Flying-Fox and Spectacled Flying-Fox. Two species inhabit Victoria, the Grey-Headed Flying-Foxes and the Little Red Flying-Fox. The Grey-headed Flying-Fox permanently lives at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne and regularly visits parts of southern Victoria. Little Red Flying-Foxes are semi-permanent residents at Numurkah and irregular visitors to other locations in Northern Victoria.

The Grey-Headed Flying-Fox is the largest member of its family. It can weigh up to 1 kilogram and has a wingspan of up to 1 metre. It is covered in grey fur with the exception of a collar of orange/brown fur encircling the neck.

Flying-Foxes are vocal animals. Over thirty different calls have been recorded for Grey-Headed Flying-Foxes ranging from mating calls to territorial disputes over food. As they are sometimes found in groups of as many as 1 million, these camps can be loud with bickering shrieks and calls. They also sniff each other during social interactions as they recognise each other by sight and smell. Mothers recognise their young in the same way.

Flying Foxes are protected in Australia with the Grey-Headed Flying Fox and the Spectacled Flying Fox being listed as threatened. Extinction is a potential risk due to their slow reproductive rate, the relatively long time it takes for males to become sexually mature and the high rate of infant mortality.

Where Does a Flying Fox Live?

Flying Foxes are nomadic animals; their movement and distribution are determined by the climate, and flowering and fruiting patterns of their preferred food plants.

Most Flying Foxes live around coastal areas of Australia in melaleuca and Casuarina swamps, mangroves, heaths, dry and wet eucalypt forests, woodlands and rainforests. Little red flying foxes also live inland in arid and semiarid areas.

Flying Foxes are intelligent, social animals that live in camps where they are born, raised, form relationships and learn to survive. Since the mid-1980s there has been a permanent colony of Grey-Headed Flying-Foxes inhabiting the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, with a population of up to 8,000 roosting through winter increasing to more than 28,000 in summer. As their numbers increased, so did the damage to heritage listed plantings and their general habitat. A relocation project was undertaken to disperse the Flying Foxes to an attractive alternate roosting place. Phase one of this project has seen the Flying Foxes create a camp along the Yarra River in a small area within Yarra Bend Park in Kew, and the long term goal of the project is to encourage their relocation to Horseshoe Bend Farm in Ivanhoe.

What Does a Flying Fox Eat?

Flying Foxes are nocturnal - around dusk each evening, adults and adolescents Flying Foxes leave the camp to search for food. Most feeding is done within 5-15 kilometres of the campsite, although they can travel for more than 40 kilometres. Their diet consists of nectar and pollen from the flowers of native trees (eg. eucalyptus, turpentines, paperbarks, banksias), and fruit from many rainforest plants (eg. figs and lilly-pilly). At times they feed on the fruit of cultivated trees, however this mainly occurs when there is a shortage of their preferred foods.

A Flying Fox's Family Life

Grey-Headed Flying Fox become sexually mature at 2-3 years. Mating activity takes place for a few months before conception occurs in March-April. In October-November, after a six month gestation, the female gives birth to a single young high in the tree tops of their camp. The baby is born furred and open eyed, weighing approximately 80 grams and immediately begins to suckle. As it is not able to maintain its own body temperature until 15-17 days old, the mother protects it with her wings during the daytime and at night when she searches for food the baby holds onto the mother with its mouth around the nipple and its claws in her fur. After this time the baby is left in the camp during the night only. By 12 weeks of age the young explore the local area around the camp before finally being able to fly out with the adults to feed.

Predators known to eat Flying Foxes include Carpet Pythons, Goannas, Sea-Eagles and the Powerful Owl. Currawongs and Ravens are known to attack Flying Foxes found on their own in the daytime. The most common victims are the young, sick or old. Humans and technology are responsible for the majority of Flying Fox deaths through removal of their habitat, shooting and electrocution on power lines.

Want to Know More?

www.dpi.vic.gov.au (search: flying fox)

www.abc.net.au/science/scribblygum (animals / flying fox karma sutra)