Flying foxes are large bats that live in the tropical regions of Africa, Australia, and Asia. They do not migrate but, instead, stay in this habitat year round. They also stay active year round. They fly from place to place, looking for roosts and food. They feed on the pollen and nectar of the buds and blossoms of fruit trees. They also feed on the juice of fruits.

When flying foxes need a place to rest, they roost together in the branches of large trees.

Flying foxes and other bats are the only mammals that can fly. Their wings are actually extra-long arms and fingers covered with skin that stretches to the sides of their bodies and legs. In fact, scientists classify all bats into the order Chiroptera, which comes from Greek words meaning “hand” and “wing.”

Bats that fly slowly have short, wide wings that help them make sharp turns. Bats that fly quickly have long, narrow wings.

To fly, bats stretch out their arms and fingers and pull the skin of their wings tight. They flap their wings to move through the air. They move their arms and fingers to adjust the shape of their wings to make dips, dives, and turns.

Flying foxes make many types of sounds. They are often very noisy—squawking and chattering while they roost.

Other bats make noises, too. They make warning calls and greeting calls to other bats. Some calls sound like honks or chirps, while others sound like hisses.

Most bats also make very high-pitched noises. These noises are so high in pitch (the highness or lowness of a sound) that humans are unable to hear them. In the 1930's, scientists were able to detect these bat noises for the first time by using special recording instruments.

Flying foxes have large eyes, and they can see better than most other bats. They are more active during the day than are most bats. Flying foxes use their eyesight to help them move about their habitat.

Most other bats, such as the long-eared bat, fly at night and need another way to “see” their surroundings. Instead of relying upon their eyesight, they use sounds to help them figure out where they are and where they are going. They send out their high-pitched sounds and listen to the way the sounds bounce back to them. The echoes tell the bats how near they are to other objects. This is called echolocation (EHK oh loh KAY shuhn).

Flying foxes belong to the family known as fruit bats. They sometimes eat nectar and pollen but, usually, flying foxes eat juice that they squeeze out of fruit. When a flying fox smells ripe fruit, it swoops down and bites into it. It then chews the fruit to a pulp and presses the pulp up against the roof of its mouth, squeezing out the juice. It swallows the juice, but spits out the fruit's pulp, skin, and seeds.

Flying foxes eat mainly such fruits as wild figs, which are not grown in orchards. But they also eat such fruits as mangoes, bananas, and papayas, and they will sometimes do a great deal of damage to orchards in which these fruits are being grown. As a result, flying foxes are considered by farmers to be pests. Compared with fruit diseases and insect pests, however, flying foxes cause very little damage to orchards.

Flying foxes have special relationships with many kinds of plants. They help spread the seeds of these plants, allowing them to grow in new areas. Flying foxes often carry the fruit they find to another place to eat. While eating this fruit, they may drop seeds on the ground. Further, the seeds they do swallow are not digested and are eliminated with their waste. The seeds end up on the ground and some of them grow into new plants.

Flying foxes also help to pollinate plants. Some flying foxes eat nectar from flowers. They then carry the pollen that gets stuck to their face from one flower to another flower. This pollinates the flowers—a process that must occur if the flower is to produce fruits and seeds.

Like many other kinds of bats, flying foxes live together in groups called colonies. They often travel together from their roost to feeding areas. When they have eaten all the fruit in one place, they fly to other areas where there is more ripe fruit.

When flying foxes are resting, they hang upside down from the high branches of trees. Often, hundreds of bats hang next to each other on a single tree. When it is cold and raining, they fold their wings around their bodies like shawls. When it gets hot, their wings can be used like fans.

Sometimes, so many bats huddle together that they have to fight for space. Over time, the movements made as they struggle strip most of the leaves from their roosting tree.

Flying foxes and other bats spend a lot of their time upside down. But, they turn themselves right-side up, as well. For instance, many types of female bats are right-side up when they give birth, and bats almost always turn right-side up to get rid of waste.

Of course, when a bat flies it is right-side up and facing forward. And most bats land at their roost right-side up as well. Flying foxes are clumsy when they land, however. They look as if they are crashing into their perch. Other bats can land smoothly on their feet. They land right-side up and swing themselves upside down. Some bats are so acrobatic that they can flip themselves upside down in the air before they land on their perch.

Flying foxes and most other bats have one baby at a time. When it is time to give birth, the mother bats often leave their roost to go to a nursery roost.

Many types of mother bats turn themselves right-side up and hang from their thumb claws during birth. The mother catches her baby in her tail membrane, then turns upside down again and holds the newborn under her wing to nurse. Unlike many other types of bats, flying foxes often give birth while upside down and catch the young in their wings.

Infant flying foxes hang on to their mothers all the time—even when their mothers fly. After the first few weeks, though, the young are too heavy for that. Young flying foxes then hang by their claws from a branch when their mothers search for fruit.

Some other types of bats, especially those that hunt for food instead of feeding on fruit, never carry their young. They always leave their young to hang within a cave, crevice, or other hiding place.