Salim Ali's Fruit Bat

About this species

Size

Body about 10cm; forearm 6.6cm

Diet

Fresh fruit: Elaeocarpus oblongus and figs (Ficus glomerata, F. macrocarpa, F. beddomei)

Habitat

High Wavy Mountains, Western Ghats; first specimen at about 750m

Range

Endemic to the Western Ghats of southern India

Salim Ali's fruit bat is a rare, medium-sized fruit bat and the only species in its genus. It has no external tail, oval ears with rounded tips, a blackish-brown head, light brown wings and light grey-brown underparts, with a hairless brown wing membrane. The body is about 10 cm long and the forearm 6.6 cm (Wikipedia, general species account).

It was first collected in 1948 by the planter-naturalist Angus Hutton in the High Wavy Mountains in the Western Ghats of Theni district, Tamil Nadu, at about 750 m. Bats have been seen eating fresh fruit of Elaeocarpus oblongus and of the figs Ficus glomerata, F. macrocarpa and F. beddomei. In 2002 the Indian government added it and Wroughton's free-tailed bat to Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, the highest level of protection (Wikipedia, general species account).

Description: Wildlife of India guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)