Fruit Bats

Where it lives: The fruit bat lives in tropical rainforests in Australia, Asia, Africa, and islands.

What it looks like: The fruit bat has a face that looks like a fox. Some people call fruit bats "flying foxes." Their bright colors have made some people descibing them as ripe fruit. If you combinded a bat's head and body it is 20cm long. A bat's wingspand can measure up to 90cm.

Habitat: Fruit bats live in caves on the forest floor. The bottom of the cave is covered with bat droppings. For that reason, the bottom of the cage is very sticky.

What it eats: A fruit bat's favorite foods are mangoes, bananas, figs, avocados, nuts, and flower nectar. They also eat fruit from the cecropia tree. The cecropia trees fruit looks like long, skinny fingers. They are light green.

Special features: Bats are the only mamals that can fly. Fruit bats do not use echo location to find food. Instead, they use their large eyes. Scientists have found out that one group of 400 bats can spread 150,000,00 seeds all around the rainforest in one year.

A fruit bat has many enimies. Some of them are: Raccons, snakes, and owls. The average life for a fruit bat is 10 years. Baby fruit bats are called "pups."

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