Flying Foxes or Fruit Bats

Flying Fox Facts

• Most bats eat insects, but eight feed only on flowers and fruit, and are known as fruit-bats or flying-foxes
• Bats are mammals which give birth to live young and produce milk to feed them
• The preferred food of flying-foxes is the blossom of eucalyptus and some other native trees, and various bush fruits, like Moreton Bay Fig. The bats are beneficial to the trees because they act as pollinators and dispersers of their seeds. The great distances they can fly means they carry pollen and seeds far from the parent tree.
• Flying foxes are a nocturnal species, spending the day sleeping in large colonies and the night feeding.
• Flying foxes roost in trees by day, sometimes in extremely large numbers called "camps." They hang from branches by one or both feet, wrap themselves in their wings, and sleep the day away. These camps can be located in swamps, mangroves, rainforests and tall mixed forests often near water.
• Habitat destruction is one of the biggest threats to the survival of many types of fruit bats. The other major threat is culling by fruit farmers. Barbed wire fences, paralysis ticks are other sources of death. Electricity wires in suburban areas can cause some deaths.