#chiropteraspost

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Caption: A crib full of 2‒3 week old baby grey-headed flying-foxes in care of Wildcare Australia at The Bat Hospital. November 2008.

Image by user Wcawikinfo.

Licensed under: Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0). As defined at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

The grey-headed flying fox (pteropus poliocephalus) is the largest bat in Australia - their wingspan may reach up to 1 meter (around 3ft 3in).

They feed on nectar and pollen, as well as a variety of fruit, and play an important role in the propogation of these fruit species by distributing their seeds.

They are classified as Vulnerable under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

Bonus fact: the grey-headed flying fox seems to be very faithful to the location in which they build their camp, some fox camps having been used for over a century!

Wildcare Australia is a not-for-profit organisation devoted to the care, rescue and rebilitation the wildlife of Australia.

Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Greyheadedflyingfoxbabies2008canungra.jpg