MADAGASCAN FLYING FOX

Characteristics

With a wingspan of up to 5 feet (1.5 meters), Madagascan flying foxes are the largest bat species in Madagascar. “Flying foxes” is used to describe Old World fruit bats of the family Pteropodidae, a unique family of bats that consume fruit, pollen, and nectar and have a rounded head and pointed snout reminiscent of a fox. They are nocturnal, flying long distances—up to 30 miles (50 km)—in search of food at night, and then roosting in large, noisy colony groups during the day. Unlike insect-eating bats, flying foxes use sight and smell, rather than echolocation, to find their food.

Foods and Feeding

Madagascan flying foxes are primarily frugivores, eating the pulp and juice of ripe fruits and swallowing smaller fruits whole. They also consume flowers, nectar, and some leaves. They have been shown to feed on 40 different native plant species across their island home. Because of their long-ranging foraging habits, these bats play a very important role as seed dispersers in the ecosystem. When they squeeze the juice out of fruits with their mouth, many seeds are swallowed too. These are then dispersed to other areas after passing through the bat’s gut. While foraging the bats also pollinate certain trees throughout their range.

Behavior

Madagascan flying foxes actively forage for food throughout the night. During the day, they roost in trees in colonies of several hundred individuals, hanging upside down by their strong feet in the well-known bat position. They use their leathery wings as fans, flapping them to keep cool. They prefer to roost together, even though they seem to squabble frequently, and their noisy chatter can be heard a long way off. Vocalizations include squawks, chatters, whinnies, and honks. They also use scent marking to communicate, particularly males marking out a territory during breeding season.

Madagascan flying foxes are territorial only during the breeding season, when dominant males establish territories on the roost tree and guard them against other males. Females roost within these male territories. Outside the breeding season, territories are not maintained, although a few dominant males will establish feeding territories on preferable feeding trees.

Habitat Use

These bats are an important species for the general health of Madagascar’s forest. They travel long distances each night in search of food, making them valuable seed dispersers and pollinators, which is especially important in restoring fragmented forest ecosystems.

Reproduction and Life Cycle

Madagascan flying foxes are either polygynous (one male mates with multiple females) or polygynandrous (both males and females have multiple partners). Breeding season is from April to May, and females give birth to a single pup (rarely twins) after a gestation of 100 to 150 days. Mothers care for and nurse their young for four to five months. Even after attaining independence, the young bats usually stick around and stay in the groups where they were born.

Conservation and Threats

The Madagascan flying fox is currently listed by IUCN as Vulnerable, and the population numbers are declining. Unfortunately, the biggest threat to Madagascan flying foxes is hunting for bushmeat. Under Madagascar law, hunting this species is legal from May to August. They are targeted at their roosting sites and at the trees where they feed, and the harvesting in many areas is believed to be unsustainable. Like many Madagascar species, these bats are also susceptible to habitat loss, as their forest homes are converted to agricultural land. However, these gregarious and charismatic bats are the subject of several conservation efforts to keep them slurping juice and dispersing seeds for a long time to come.