Bats: Indian Flying Fox

The Indian Flying Fox is a species of fruit bat, it is also my favorite bat species. This cutie got its name from its fox like face, and reddish-brown fur, and large eyes. It also makes it look extremely cute and you might even mistake it for a baby fox if it didn't have wings. Speaking of wings, this bats wings are leathery and has inherently small ears unlike a lot of other bat species. Ofcorse they have the same claws found on other bats, found of the second tiny finger of each wing. These adorable little fluff baby's are usually found in tropical forests and swamps from Pakistan to China. Another thing I love about these creatures is they are social creatures, even creating roosts with hundreds of other bats! With this also comes with a need for a hagiarchy and the way they established it I found pretty cool. When in there roosts in the trees the higher ranking males hang from higher branches, while the less prominent males hang lower. The main role for the males on a daily basis is to showed the females and pups to protect them from predators. Like most bats they are nocturnal therefor at night they forage, socialize, and many other things at night. To keep their body temperature down, they use their leathery and large wings to fan themselves. While were on the topic of food, these already amazing animals are fruit bats, In other words they eat on fruits and insects! Due to their diverse diet they are vital for speeding seeds and pollen witch I think makes them very important. Another interesting thing and something that I don't really like is these bats are very promiscuous. Males and females breed with many partners, yet males still keep females within the roost and away from outsiders. The pups are weaned at 5 months and they can fly by 11 months, and are reproductive by 1 and a half years of age.

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