FASTFACTS

AREA COVERED:

Can exceed 600 miles a year.

HABITAT:

Tropical rain forests of Australia.

PREDATORS:

Carpet pythons, goannas, owls, currawongs, sea-eagles, ravens and humans.

INDIVIDUAL HERD POPULATION:

100,000 or more in a single camp.

FLYING FOX IN-DEPTH

More from NationalGeographic.com

LITTLE RED FLYING FOX - (Pteropus scapulatus)

The little red flying fox is just one of more than 60 flying fox species in the genus Pteropus, which are found in Australia and the southern Pacific islands. It is an extremely common animal, since a single flying fox camp may number 100,000 or more individuals.

Though they also eat flowers and fruit, eucalyptus blossoms are the little red flying fox’s primary source of nourishment, and the animals migrate to follow the blossoming of eucalyptus trees around Australia. Though its main habitat is tropical rain forest, it will also venture into arid inland areas if necessary. Little red flying foxes begin their flights at dusk, flying in orderly columns out of their roosts and streaming away in the search for food. When in flight, their wing membranes appear partially transparent. Their wing size enables them to use the wind to extend their range, and have been known to cover more than 60 miles in a single evening when foraging for eucalyptus. During the daytime, a flying fox will stay in one of the many large camps that have been in the same location for many years, and spend those hours sleeping, grooming and vocalizing to other flying foxes.

Though many different animals — carpet pythons, goannas, owls, currawongs, sea-eagles and ravens — eat old or weak little red flying foxes, humans are the biggest threat along the migration route. Farmers often misguidedly have shot or poisoned little red flying foxes because they viewed the creatures as crop-eating pests. Human slaughter of flying foxes does significant harm to the environment, because the creatures are a crucial part of pollination and seed dispersal for native plants in Australia, including trees that are a source of lumber and medicine for humans.