The black-eared flying fox, species ''Pteropus melanotus'', is a bat of the family Pteropodidae (megabats). Also known as Blyth's flying fox, it is found on the

Andaman Islands The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago, made up of 200 islands, in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a mari ...

and

Nicobar Islands The Nicobar Islands are an archipelago, archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located southeast of t ...

(India), and in

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

(

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

). A population on Christmas Island, which is

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

, has been placed as a subspecies of this population, although it may be a distinct species. '' Pteropus natalis.''John CZ Woinarski, Samantha Flakus, David J. James, Brendan Tiernan, Gemma J. Dale and Tanya Detto (2014
"An island-wide monitoring program demonstrates decline in reporting rate for the Christmas Island flying-fox, ''Pteropus melanotus natalis''."
''Acta Chiropterologica'', 16.1 (2014): 117-127.

Distribution and habitat

The black-eared flying fox is native to various island groups in the Indo-Pacific. These include the

, the

Mentawai Islands Mentawai may refer to: * Mentawai Islands, Indonesia ** Mentawai Strait ** Mentawai people, ethnic group of Indonesia ** Mentawai language, their Austronesian language {{dab Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...

. It mostly roosts in large colonies in forests near the coast, especially in mangrove areas.

Biology

The black-eared flying fox is more diurnal than most bats, emerging from its roosts before dusk and feeding on the fruits and flowers of at least twenty-six species of forest trees at least ten of which are

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

. A single young is born annually.

Status

The black-eared flying fox faces a number of threats. Destruction of its forest habitat reduces the availability of roosting sites and the animal is hunted by man for food. The crushed bones of this species are used in traditional medicine to relieve asthma symptoms. However, it has proved adaptable to changes in diet and now feeds on a number of introduced species of plant. The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has rated this species as " Vulnerable".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black-Eared Flying Fox Pteropus Bats of South Asia Bats of Southeast Asia Bats of India Bats of Indonesia Fauna of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Vulnerable fauna of Asia Mammals described in 1863 Taxa named by Edward Blyth Taxonomy articles created by Polbot