EgyptianFruitBat

Description: Length of body: 110 -130 mm Length of forearm: 65 - 103 mm Length of tail: 14 mm Wingspan: 30-45 cm Weight: 81-171 grams

Distribution: Turkey and Cyprus to Pakistan, Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, most of Africa south of the Sahara.

Habitat: Forest. They roost in ancient tombs and temples, rock crevices, garden trees and date plantations but are most common in caves.

Food: Egyptian fruit bats feed on a wide variety of fruit juices, flower nectar and pollen.

Reproduction and Development: The mating season, which is governed by the food supply, is usually between December and March. Females produce 1 young after a gestation period of 15 weeks. The mother carries the young until they can fly. They begin to feed on fruit juices at the age of three months. The lifespan is about 20 years.

Adaptations: In addition to vision, Egyptian fruit bats are the only fruit bats that have developed and rely upon echolocation for flight navigation. Using their tongue, these bats emit a rhythmic click through the corners of their mouth. Each click lasts up to 6 milliseconds and may vary in frequency from 5 to 70 kilocycles. The tongue clicking is only used in darkness. They dislike daylight and captive animals will seek the shelter of the darkest corner in their enclosure. Their dentition is adapted for a soft diet (incisors small, back teeth low, elongated and widely spaced, molars smooth). Crushes food against palate. They make a habit of swallowing only the juice and some soft pulp and spit out most of the pulp and seeds. Active mostly in the evening and night, but sometimes fly during the day. They are gregarious.


Zoo Diet: Carnivore mix, gelatin diet made especially for the fruit bats, figs, bananas, grapes, apples, oranges, shrimp meal and limestone.

References: Dr. Philip, Whitfield, The Simon & Schuster Encyclopedia of Animals, Marshall Editions Development Ltd., 1998. Walker, E.P.; Mammals of the World, Johns Hopkins Press