fruit bat

Large fruit-eating bat, member of family Pteropodidae, the sole family of suborder Megachiroptera of order Chiroptera, the bats. Fruit bats are found in the tropics of Africa, Asia, and Australasia. There are about 150 species. The group includes the largest of all bats, the flying foxes of genus Pteropus, with a body length of 40 cm/16 in and wing span of 150 cm/20 in. Fruit bats feed on fruit, pollen, and nectar; many species are important as pollinators.

Obstacles are avoided by means of vision rather than echolocation (except for the dog-faced bats Rousettus). Gestation, which is synchronized throughout a population, lasts 5–6 months in Pteropus, and the newly born young are suckled for a further 5 months. Pteropus species make long mass migrations, following plant fruiting seasons. In some areas of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Pteropus are hunted for human food. Cynopterus marginatus is the destructive Indian fruit bat.