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Range and Habitat: Pakistan, India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
They roost in trees (especially banyans, figs and tamarinds) or
clumps of bamboo.
Habits and Adaptations: Flying foxes live in colonies
of several hundred to several thousand individuals. Each bat has
a specific resting place. There is a rank structure among males
based on size and strength. No male-female bonds are formed.
The bats fly to their feeding sites shortly after sundown. They
spend most of the night feeding, returning to the roost at about
4 a.m. During the day sleep is interrupted by short periods of
watchfulness. The colony is never completely still.
Flying foxes do not echo-locate, like insectivorous bats. They
fly entirely by sight. During hot weather these bats fan themselves
with their wings and spread saliva over their bodies to help keep
cool.
Diet: Almost exclusively juice from fruits, including
mangos, bananas, papayas, figs, sapotes and guaras. The pulp and
seeds are usually spit out. Blossoms and nectar are also eaten.
Breeding and Maturation: Courtship consists of the male
shrieking shrilly into the female's ear until she allows copulation.
Flying foxes are seasonal breeders, with young being born when
food is most plentiful. The time of birth varies from January,
in parts of India, to June in Sri Lanka. The single young is born
after a 140-150 day gestation. The young weigh about 75 g. at
birth. They first begin to hang by themselves at about three weeks.
They begin to fly when around 11 weeks old, and are weaned by
five months. Sexual maturity occurs at about 18 months.
Miscellaneous: According to Indian folk medicine, a wing
bone from a flying fox tied to the ankle with a tail hair from
a black cow results in painless childbirth. The importation and
possession of flying foxes in the United States is strictly controlled
due to its legal status as an injurious species. The captive longevity
record is 31 years.
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