Grey-headed Flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) lives in eastern Australian forests across Southeastern Australia. Its conservation status is Vulnerable.
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Fascinating facts about the Grey-headed Flying-fox
The grey-headed flying-fox has an impressive adult wingspan that can reach a full metre. Individuals may weigh as much as one kilogram, although most fall between 600 g and 1 000 g with an average around 700 g. This size makes it the largest bat in Australia, a status confirmed by its combined head-body length of 230-290 mm and forearm length of 138-180 mm.
The grey-headed flying-fox is the only mammalian nectarivore and frugivore to occupy substantial areas of subtropical rainforests. It feeds on the pollen, nectar and fruit of around 187 different plant species, leaving its roost at dusk to travel up to 50 km in a single night. By moving such distances it pollinates and disperses the seeds of more than 100 native tree and plant species, underpinning the health of those ecosystems.
A distinctive feature of this species is the fur that covers its legs right down to the ankle, a trait not seen in any other Pteropus bat. Its pelage is dark-grey on the body with a light-grey head, sharply divided by a reddish-brown collar that encircles the neck. Like many megachiropterans it lacks a tail but retains claws on the first two digits, and it relies heavily on sight and smell, possessing relatively large eyes for a bat.
Historic surveys in the 1920s estimated populations of up to a million, and numbers have greatly declined since then. The decline reflects loss of many of the large roosting camps that were once spaced about 40 km apart.
At dusk the bats set out from their roosts and can fly as far as 50 km in a single night. They use that range to seek pollen, nectar and fruit across the landscape.
Sources
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In the fading light of day, a dark silhouette materializes against the sky, as the Grey-headed Flying-fox unfurls its leathery wings, stretching them wide to reveal an impressive span, before launching into a majestic, slow-beat flight that carries it effortlessly across the landscape. As it glides, the wind ruffles its grey-brown fur, and its large, inquisitive eyes scan the terrain below for the ripe fruit and nectar that sustain it, a true marvel of evolution that has adapted to life in the skies. With each gentle wingbeat, this remarkable creature weaves a path through the twilight, a symbol of the intricate, yet fragile, balance of its native ecosystem.
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