SPECTACLED FLYING FOX PREDATORS SKIN

It’s thought that at least 61% of their fossil record is missing, and this makes them hard to understand, from an ancient, taxonomic perspective. While there are enormous populations of these amazing animals dotted about over the tropic and subtropic regions of the planet, very little is known about where they came from. Only their thumb is left free, which has a large claw, which is used for climbing and grooming. These delicate bones provide the frame for the flexible membrane.

SPECTACLED FLYING FOX PREDATORS SKIN

Their wings are actually skin stretched between ‘fingers’ It’s also where the family name Pteropodidae comes from. Put them together and you get Pteropus: winged feet. The suffixes “-pod”, “-poda”, “-pus” or “-ped” refer to feet or limbs, as in arthropod (jointed leg), bipedal (of two legs), and millipede (one thousand legs). It’s a good word to learn because it’s used a lot in biology -even in plants it can also mean petal, as in the little sunflower B. The affix “-ptera” or “-ptero” refers to wings which is why, if you’re into prehistoric animals, you’ve probably seen it in pterosaur (winged lizard) or archeopteryx (old wing). In the case of flying foxes, they’re the latter. Scientific names are usually either Latin or Ancient Greek. They are also, unfortunately, hunted to dangerous lows, with some species facing extinction. These are the largest bats in the world, and they’re surrounded by myths, legends and mysteries. While they may look quite scary at first, they don’t drink blood, like vampire bats. They are also referred to as ‘fruit bats’ (although not all fruit bags are flying foxes), due to their diet of fruit, but they will also eat flowers, nectar and occassionally insects as well. The majority of flying fox species are nocturnal and forage at night.

The name refers primarily to bats in the Pteropus and Acerodon genera, but with numerous other big bats being referred to as ‘flying foxes’, it’s better to group them under their family name: Pteropodidae.

The flying foxes are enormous bats, with the largest wingspan of any bat. They habitat tropical forests and caves in South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Africa and Australia. Tan/ginger collar and body, black wings and faceįrom Critically Endangered to Least Concern Primarily Southeast Asia, Sub-saharan Africa, Oceania The bad news is that they’re actually a family of megabats measuring over 1.5m (5 feet)! They have heads that resemble a fox, with small ears and large eyes. In fact, there are 199 species, and a fox ain’t one. The good news is that flying foxes aren’t foxes at all. If you’ve ever heard of a flying fox and thought it sounds like a scary and improbable creature, we’ve got some good news and some bad news for you.

Spectacled flying fox predators