Straw-coloured Fruit Bat (Eidolon helvum) lives in tropical forests across Sub-Saharan Africa. It feeds on fruits and nectar. Its conservation status is Near Threatened.
Fascinating facts about the Straw-coloured Fruit Bat
- Each year from October to the end of December, up to ten million straw-coloured fruit bats gather in Zambia's Kasanka National Park, roosting together on just two hectares of Mushitu forest. This concentration of individuals occurs daily during the migration, creating the planet's largest mammal migration. The phenomenon was only discovered in 1980, highlighting how recently such massive movements were recognised by scientists.
- Straw-coloured fruit bat colonies regularly contain at least one hundred thousand individuals, and on some occasions the numbers swell to almost one million. During their annual movement, these massive groups can combine to as many as ten million bats occupying a two-hectare forest patch in Kasanka National Park. Such gatherings illustrate the species' highly social nature and its capacity to form some of the world's largest bat aggregations.
- The straw-coloured fruit bat is the main agent of seed dispersal for the increasingly rare African teak tree, Milicia excelsa, carrying its seeds across forested landscapes. By feeding on the tree's fruits and later excreting the seeds, the bats help regenerate this economically significant species throughout their range. Their role as primary dispersers underpins the tree's continued presence in the ecosystems where both species coexist.
- Mating for straw-coloured fruit bats takes place between April and June, but the females do not become pregnant right away. Instead, the embryos remain dormant until October, when all females implant at the same time, a delay that lines up with one of the two dry periods in their range. This synchronised start of gestation ensures that births, which occur in February and March, happen when food resources are becoming more abundant.
- Across West and Central Africa the species is hunted for bushmeat, and in 2011 an estimated 128,400 individuals were traded each year in four southern Ghanaian cities.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.
At a glance
RangeSub-Saharan Africa
HabitatTropical forests
DietFruits and nectar
About the Straw-coloured Fruit Bat
As dusk falls over the savannah, a darkening tide of wings sweeps across the horizon, as the straw-coloured fruit bat stirs to life, its tawny fur glowing like embers in the fading light. With a soft whoosh of leathery wings, these nocturnal nomads take to the skies, their gentle hum filling the air as they embark on a nightly quest for succulent fruits and nectar, their very existence a testament to the ancient, unbroken bond between Africa's forests and its most charismatic creatures. In their majestic, slow-beating flight, we find a poignant reminder of the beauty and fragility of life on the continent's delicate edge.
Hear the Straw-coloured Fruit Bat, and 4,400+ more
Real recorded sounds, 11 nature games and a free Daily 5, 1v1 quiz duels, conservation wins and a safe Kids mode. Free on Feravox.
