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We’ve been underestimating flying foxes
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An unusual sighting of a colony of flying foxes in Singapore. They are also commonly known as fruit bats.
PHOTO: SABRINA JABBAR
DeeperDive is a beta AI feature. Refer to full articles for the facts.
Anthony Ham
The grey-headed flying fox is one of the world’s largest bats. It can weigh more than 1kg and have a wingspan of more than 1.5m. And as it migrates along Australia’s eastern coastal regions, watch out for what bat scientists call its seed rain: The animals defecate in the air without stopping to roost.
Bats don’t have the best reputation – the flying mammals have been blamed for pandemics such as Ebola and Covid-19. Flying foxes, commonly known as fruit bats, have had this problem, too.
