Why is everyone scared of me? I hear them squealing underneath my treetop home: "Yikes, it's a bat!" "Watch out, he'll build a nest in your hair!" "Be careful he'll suck your blood!" I don't know why they are frightened of me.

I am not scary. I don't even make a nest, so I won't roost in your hair. I won't send you batty and I am certainly not a vampire! I am an innocent little fruit bat, called a Grey-headed flying fox.

Did you know that I am the only mammal which can fly? Perhaps you thought that possums and squirrels can fly, but they only glide! I have a membrane, like leather, which stretches from my shoulder to my 'hand' and then to my ankle. Some people call me a flying fox, but I am not really a fox at all. I have a bit of reddish fur and my face looks similar to a fox.

Have you heard people say: "He's as blind as a bat?" Well, it's not true that I am blind. I see quite well. In fact, I can even see colors.

Bats like me are very chatty. People hear some of the squeaky noises made by me. However, most of the noises I make are supersonic sounds—beyond the range of the human ear. I have thirty different calls to "talk" to my family and friends. We fight about food, chat to find a mate, or call out to our babies.

Did you know I am nocturnal? This means that I only feed in the night. I roost upside-down in the day folding my wings close against my body like a black magician's cape. At dusk, I fly off searching for my dinner using my excellent sense of smell.

I am a total vegetarian, so I feed on seeds, fruit, the nectar and pollen of flowers, and sometimes tasty leaves. I serve useful functions in forests. When I feed from a flower, pollen grains stick to my fur. I carry the grains to the next flower and pollinate it, causing seeds to develop inside the flower. When I eat fruit, of course I swallow the seeds. Then I may carry the seeds many miles away in my stomach. When I drop the seeds, they can grow into a new flowering tree for everyone to share and enjoy—including me!

I may look a bit creepy and have a reputation as a bloodsucker, but I actually do some good. I spread pollen, helping flowers, plants, and trees to reproduce. I also aid in spreading small seeds. So I form part of the complicated web of life. You see, I am quite a helpful little creature. I am not a vampire at all!

MORE FACTS

• The word for bat comes from the Old Norse word Ledhrblaka meaning "leather flapper". Over time blaka became bat. The Greek word for the order of bats is chiropta, which means "hand wing" because the wing of a bat is made from the bones that usually form the hand in other mammals.
  
  
• Flying foxes are found in forests and wetlands of Australia, Asia, and the islands in the Indian Ocean. Sometimes, they even find homes in trees in the city!
  
  
• It is important to have many different species in nature as they all interconnected and form part of the web of life. This is called biodiversity in nature. If one species dies out the others are affected too.
  
  
• Even though fruit bats are not blood suckers, it is not a good idea to handle one. They have sharp claws and, like any wild animal, they may have a virus.
  

References:

Bailey, Jill. Factfile of Mammals: 200 Mammals From Around the World.
London: Andromeda Oxford Ltd, 1996.

Macdonald, David, ed. The New Encyclopedia of Mammal. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Myers, Philip. Mammals, An Explore your World Handbook. London: Discovery Books, 2000.


Internet:
http://:www.sydneybats.org.au
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Pteropus_poliocephalus.html
http://www.batconservation.org/content/kidspage/kidspage.htm
http://www.rbgsyd.gov.au/sydney_gardens_domain/gardens_feature/wildlife/flying_foxes

Photos courtesy of L. O'Brien 2005

Margaret Etherton is a teacher, tutor and freelance writer. She has taught a range of subjects, such as reading, writing, mathematics and computers to people of all ages--- from small kids to seniors! Margaret lives close to the beach in Sydney with her husband, two of her four children and her cat, Mushka.

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