FRUIT BATS
THE ANATOMY OF
Bats are the only mammals that are capable of true flight.
Like all bats, fruit bats belong to the order Chiroptera. After
rodents, this order of mammals contains the most species (1,200),
and the fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family comprise about 200.
Fruit bats range in weight from less than half an ounce to 2.5 pounds.
The wingspan can be up to 5 feet. Unlike other bats, most fruit bats
don’t use echolocation to navigate. Instead, they rely on excellent
senses of sight and smell. They eat fruit, pollen, nectar, and insects.The Indian flying fox seen here is one of the biggest
bats in the world. The top-to-bottom length of its
body is about 10 inches and its impressive wingspan
can be up to 5 feet wide (1). In general, fruit bats
have a dog-like head and a good sense of smell in
order to be able to sniff out the ripest of fruits (2).
Because these bats also feed on nectar (3), they
play an important role in the pollination of plants—
around 40% of all jungle trees could not produce
fruit without the assistance of the bats. They enjoy
dining on fruit such as mangoes and avocados and
love to visit date palm trees to lick their sweet sap.Thanks to the movable claws on their thumbs (4),
fruit bats are good climbers and are able to defend
themselves against attackers. Their clawed feet
(5) can also be used like hands to peel fruit’s skin.
They crack hard shells with their sharp canines and
use their palate and tongue as a masticating juicer.1
2
3
4
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