A Visual Journal of the City of Bandung and Its Vicinities. A photo a day with insightful and informative commentaries from the capital city of West Java and one of the most fascinating cities in Indonesia.®
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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.
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..
ReplyDeleteive never been that close to a bat!
ReplyDeleteDuring Longan(Mata Kuching)fruits season I can see Bats flying perhap this are the favourite fruits.But our bats here is smaller.
ReplyDeleteThey're weird
ReplyDeleteWhew, I'd freak out if I saw one of those come flying by. Yikes Eki!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat photo...hard for me to look at tho...bats creep me out!
ReplyDeleteWe thankfully only have small bats here. I respect their contributions to nature...but eeewww!lol:)
These are amazing, the bats here only get to be about the size of the palm of your hand
ReplyDeleteThe way you took your picture makes them look gigantic !
ReplyDeleteI 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.
Wonderful. As the donG says, I've never seen one this close.
ReplyDeletethey are big, larger than i thought bats would be. just to show i have never seen one in person.
ReplyDeletenice photo of an exotic bat. good thing it is a fruit eater.
ReplyDeletelet me share my white water rafting adventure to you here
Aren't they amazing?!?! I've seen hundreds of them at the Seychelles.
ReplyDeleteI have to be truthful..Bats scare me..But some people here have bat houses, because they are so great at catching insects..
ReplyDeleteCool shot -their wings look so flexible!
ReplyDeleteit's freak me out
ReplyDelete