WINNIPEG - February 20, 2008 - Two pairs of Flying Foxes went on display last week at the Assiniboine Park Zoo – the first time the Zoo has displayed this remarkable species. Officially known as Indian Fruit Bats from India and Pakistan, they acquired the name “Flying Fox” due to a face that closely resembles a fox.

This is the largest of the world’s 1000 species of bats. With an impressive body length up to 40 cm, a wingspread stretching to an amazing 1.7 metres, and a weight up to 1.6 kg, they are far more impressive than the small leaf-nosed and vampire bats used in horror movies.

Their favorite pastime is eating juicy fruit like melon, pears and bananas, and the rest of the day is spent communicating with each other and sleeping, with leathery wings wrapped around their furry body, and hanging upside down in a darkened corner like Dracula. They can live over 32 years.

In its native swamps and forests, this species congregates in social colonies numbering up to 1000 individuals, which often roost in the same trees during the day, and disperse many kilometres to feed on fruit juices at night. These bats are traditionally hunted for their meat and fat (used for local medicines) and due to their depredations in fruit orchards. They play important roles in tropical-forest ecosystems as pollinators and seed dispersers, and as prey for a host of predators.