It’s not an easy undertaking to examine 128 straw-colored fruit bats, but the dedicated Animal Care and veterinary teams at Franklin Park Zoo recently accomplished this and are happy to report that everything went smoothly.

In order to examine all 128 bats, the veterinary team conducted three rounds of exams, which took most of the day. Each straw-colored fruit bat had a visual exam to verify sex, check body condition and obtain weights. Bats were also checked for individual ID chips, and those without were given one. The colony consists of 60 males and 68 females. These are large fruit bats with an average adult weight of a little over a ½ pound and a 2 ½ foot wingspan. The bats all had good body condition and weight.

The straw-colored fruit bats are free-flying throughout the expansive indoor Tropical Forest Pavilion. During the day, they can often be seen roosting together high up on the roof above the pygmy hippo habitat. They are very active at dusk and during the evening.

Due to scheduled floor work in the behind-the-scenes space where they are fed, it was necessary to catch all of the bats and temporarily relocate them while the work is underway. This was also an opportunity to conduct all of the exams at once. The straw-colored fruit bats are not well-adapted to changing feeding locations, and as their metabolisms are very fast, it’s important that they eat a lot regularly to maintain good health. The bats have been doing well in their behind-the-scenes space, and are expected to return to the open area of the Tropical Forest Pavilion in May.

Straw-colored fruits bats, which are the second largest bat in Africa, can be found throughout equatorial and sub-Saharan Africa. Measuring 5 to 8 inches long, these animals reside in a variety of forest types, including tropical rainforests, evergreen forests, coastal forests, mangroves, and even dry savannas. During the day, they congregate in tall trees, caves or rocky outcroppings. Straw-colored fruit bats eat a wide variety of sweet, juicy fruits, as well as buds, nectar, pollen and flowers. When they eat, they usually suck the juice out of the fruit and then spit out the pulp. They can eat up to twice their body weight a day in fruit. This species plays an important role in healthy ecosystems by acting as pollinators - they travel between flowers, and also provide seed-dispersal for fruiting plants and trees. 

During roosting, bats spend a lot of time grooming themselves, hanging with one foot and using the other to groom their entire body. They show roost-site fidelity, which means they return to the same roost sites over time. At night, the bats will alternate between feeding and resting from sunset to sunrise.