About Bandung

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Indonesian Endangered Animal: "Kalong" - The Flying Fox Bat



These are "kalong" (Javanese brown giant fruit bat), another collection of animals at Bandung Zoo.

"Kalong" (Pteropus Vamvyrus) is classified into the suborder of megabats (megachiroptera) or the giant bats. Because of what they eat and their behavior, megachiroptera is also called fruit bats or flying foxes. An adult "kalong" can reach about 60 centimeters in length (about 23.5 inches) and weigh about 1.5 kilograms (about 3.3 lbs) with wing span of about 1.5 meters (5 feet).

"Kalong" are fruit eaters (frugivores) and like most fruit bats they have big eyes and excellent sense of smell, which help them navigate in the dark - the time when they go out to eat - and find their food. For your information, most fruit-eating bats don't generally use echolocation.

"Kalong" is one of Indonesia's endangered animals and is protected by the law.

15 comments:

  1. I was just reading about fruit bats today and came across a video of an orphaned fruit bat being fed. I am going to do a post on bats...People have so many misconceptions about them..

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  2. ive never been that close to a bat!

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  3. During Longan(Mata Kuching)fruits season I can see Bats flying perhap this are the favourite fruits.But our bats here is smaller.

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  4. Whew, I'd freak out if I saw one of those come flying by. Yikes Eki!!!

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  5. Great photo...hard for me to look at tho...bats creep me out!
    We thankfully only have small bats here. I respect their contributions to nature...but eeewww!lol:)

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  6. These are amazing, the bats here only get to be about the size of the palm of your hand

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  7. The way you took your picture makes them look gigantic !
    I wonder how you succeed not to have one bar in the foreground. That's what happens to me when I take pictures at the zoo of animals in cage. Well done.
    I prefer in pictures than above my head.

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  8. Wonderful. As the donG says, I've never seen one this close.

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  9. they are big, larger than i thought bats would be. just to show i have never seen one in person.

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  10. nice photo of an exotic bat. good thing it is a fruit eater.

    let me share my white water rafting adventure to you here

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  11. Aren't they amazing?!?! I've seen hundreds of them at the Seychelles.

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  12. I have to be truthful..Bats scare me..But some people here have bat houses, because they are so great at catching insects..

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  13. Cool shot -their wings look so flexible!

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