Meet the Pacific flying fox (Pteropus tonganus), a keystone species here in the Pacific islands! 🦇 What does a bat have to do with the coastal ocean, you might ask? Bats are among the most effective, and often the only, dispersers of many large-seeded plant species. They are critical to maintaining plant diversity in and across the islands, which in turn impacts coastal habitats above and below the water. We're sharing this Pacific flying fox in celebration of #BatWeek, an annual awareness camp

Spoooooky! The Large Flying Fox, #Pteropus vampyrus is one of the largest #bat species in the world, a cute furry flyer endangered across its southeast Asian environment as it is consumed as bushmeat, killed because it eats fruit in orchards, and is rapidly losing habitat thanks to deforestation. With a near 5’ wingspan and weighing 2 lbs, they grace the skies at dusk with their presence. They lack echolocation, but eating fruit doesn’t require super sonar, simply great eyesight, which it has in

Grey-headed Flying-foxes (Pteropus poliocephalus), also known as fruit bats, have been coming to Melbourne for more than 100 years, and a colony of around 30,000 call Yarra Bend Park, on Wurundjeri Country, home. 💚 Did you know, bats play a vital role in pollinating and dispersing seed for many native forests across the east coast of Australia? Like many native mammals, these bats are a threatened species, and the recent State of the Environment report has called for more to be done to protect