Grey-headed
Flying Foxes: The image accompanying this item does not show exotic fruit
hanging from a tree in the tropics. In fact it shows Grey-headed Flying foxes
(Pteropus poliocephalus) resting on a tree in the Royal Botanic
Gardens, Sydney.
Grey-headed Flying foxes are distributed along the eastern Australian coast
from Rockhampton (Queensland) in the north to western Victoria in the south.
Flying foxes are large, intelligent bats with excellent night vision and an
acute sense of smell. Their fox-like muzzles give them their common name. They
use their night vision and sense of smell to locate food sources and navigate.
Their nightly feeding range may extend up to 40 kilometres from their day camp
(roost) site.
They eat the blossoms and fruits of over 80 plant species. Flying foxes are
important pollinators and seed dispersers of native plants.
The threats to their survival are related to habitat clearing, fragmentation
of feeding sites and destruction of roost sites.
Flying foxes damage the roost trees by stripping leaves and young shoots.
Damaged trees may take a considerable time to recover. This is a problem in
the Royal Botanic Gardens. In the Gardens the population varies between 1000
and 3500 and they are having a detrimental effect on many heritage nominated
trees. Management of this population is problem because they are protected
fauna.
Flying foxes are also a problem in orchards. As forest
areas have been cleared, flying foxes have been forced to take up an exotic
fruit diet.