WITH A wingspan of up to 1.6m, flying foxes are one of the largest bats in the world and aesthetically, they are among the animal kingdom’s most unique-looking creatures.

There are two species in Malaysia: the large flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus) and the island flying fox (Pteropus hypomelanus).

Covered in orange, red and brown fur, this dog-faced mammal when not in flight, spends much of its time hanging upside down from tree branches.

However, preventing it’s disappearance from the Malaysian peninsula isn’t just a matter of aesthetics. The bats are critically important pollinators and along with other fruit bats, are responsible for maintaining about 50% of the trees in our tropical forests.

Azlan Azad, a lecturer on conservation biology at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, notes that bats are one of the best seed dispersers in our forests.

He explains how bats provide an essential genetic link between patches of fragmented native vegetation: “Bats feed on nectar and pollen in flowers, and when they do this, the pollen grains get stuck to their fur. So when the bats travel, this pollen may be transported over very long distances, including across cleared land areas.”

Once the bats have landed at a new feeding site, this pollen becomes available for the fertilisation of ovules from flowers on a different plant. Studies have in fact shown that leaving forest patches around production forest increases the rate of reforestation.

“Compared to other pollinators like birds, bees, butterflies and other small mammals, bats travel the furthest. Durian, petai, jack fruit, and rambutan are just some of the trees that benefit from this. Unfortunately some orchard owners don’t see things that way.”

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