Flying Fox Colony On Phi Phi

[MissChris]

I heard that there is a colony of flying foxes on Phi Phi. That's fruit bats - because they eat nectar & fruit. Not vampire ones, or insect eating ones (they tend to be small with only a face a mother could love).

There are a few possibilities, but I thought some local knowledge would be useful.

Yeah, I know 'google is your friend' but thought this topic might narrow it down a bit.

Thanks

[KarenBravo]

I doubt that there would be a colony of fruit bats on Phi Phi island. Where would there be an ample food supply for them?

Probably getting confused with the colonies of edible nest producing swiftlets.

[Guest]

Isn't there wild bananas etc on Phi Phi?

I used to have those around my home in North East Phuket. First bats I could hear when they flap their wings. Haven't seen or heard for some time now.

I guess it was the babies which also used to make creepy screaming noises. Maybe their mothers would loved that too.

[MissChris]

Thanks both of you.

If they come back oilinki, could you take photos please?

The person who heard & found them is a bat carer. Doubt she would mistake the sound of a colony having a 'domestic' for birds. Apparently she wouldn't go scuba diving till she dragged her partner all over the place at night trying to find them. Most of them would have been out & about of course

Dunno about yours, but our flying foxes prefer nectar from flowers. Fruit comes a very big second unless food is scarce. Not that you can convince farmers here in Oz.

[Old Croc]

I heard that there is a colony of flying foxes on Phi Phi. That's fruit bats - because they eat nectar & fruit. Not vampire ones, or insect eating ones (they tend to be small with only a face a mother could love).

My understanding is that flying foxes (fruit bats) are the largest of all bats.

[petercallen]

Thanks both of you.

If they come back oilinki, could you take photos please?

The person who heard & found them is a bat carer. Doubt she would mistake the sound of a colony having a 'domestic' for birds. Apparently she wouldn't go scuba diving till she dragged her partner all over the place at night trying to find them. Most of them would have been out & about of course

Dunno about yours, but our flying foxes prefer nectar from flowers. Fruit comes a very big second unless food is scarce. Not that you can convince farmers here in Oz.

Flying foxes/ fruit bats vary from the small types 6CM in length to to large species 40 CM in length

All the ones i have seen while traveling around Australia are the large type and eat fruit

[Guest]

My mistake (lost in translation). The ones I had here was the large ones.

[KarenBravo]

I heard that there is a colony of flying foxes on Phi Phi. That's fruit bats - because they eat nectar & fruit. Not vampire ones, or insect eating ones (they tend to be small with only a face a mother could love).

My understanding is that flying foxes (fruit bats) are the largest of all bats.

I read that sentence as the insect eating ones are the small ones.

[markg]

Monkey beach in Phi Phi - as the name suggests, supports a large colony of monkeys. Dunno if it supports bats but if there's food for monkeys, there is presumably food for bats too.

[petercallen]

Monkey beach in Phi Phi - as the name suggests, supports a large colony of monkeys. Dunno if it supports bats but if there's food for monkeys, there is presumably food for bats too.

Monkeys scrounge for food and are quite happy to live around humans

[petercallen]

I heard that there is a colony of flying foxes on Phi Phi. That's fruit bats - because they eat nectar & fruit. Not vampire ones, or insect eating ones (they tend to be small with only a face a mother could love).

My understanding is that flying foxes (fruit bats) are the largest of all bats.

I read that sentence as the insect eating ones are the small ones.

The small type 6CM or 2.4 inches in length live of nectar mainly

[steelepulse]

I see them quite often coming from Koh Lone and flying towards Rawai. These are the big ones and I usually see them around dusk.

[MissChris]

I see them quite often coming from Koh Lone and flying towards Rawai. These are the big ones and I usually see them around dusk.

Take photos! Pleeease

We have a tubenosed nectar bat in Australia which is quite small. Very beautiful colours but a face like Shrek. The rest of the flying foxes are 600 to 800g but with a very big wingspan. The Bangladeshi flying foxes are huge in comparison. I'm sure there must be overlap in their ranges throughout SE Asia. It's thousands of miles in Australia with some flying to Papua New Guinea.

Not a lot of money for research. They don't have good press. You never know, there may be some undiscovered ones. Pteropus steelepulse sounds good

[Old Croc]

I heard that there is a colony of flying foxes on Phi Phi. That's fruit bats - because they eat nectar & fruit. Not vampire ones, or insect eating ones (they tend to be small with only a face a mother could love).

My understanding is that flying foxes (fruit bats) are the largest of all bats.

I read that sentence as the insect eating ones are the small ones.

You could be right, one of those sentences which could be read either way.

[Guest]

Today I saw literally thousands of these bats (or similar bats). Those were migrating from diretion of Koh Yao Noy towards to east flying over northern part of Ao Por.

The line was kilometers long and I only saw part of it. Really amazing thing to see. I wonder where the bats were heading to as if the bats leave Phuket Island, there is only Similans and nothing else.

[fiddlehead]

The bats I generally see in Phuket are small.

I've seen medium sized ones (about 10-12 inches wingspan) near Khao Sok National Park.

I've seen those huge (2'+ wingspan) that I was told were fruit bats in Bangkok near the river (actually on the west side but not far from center city)

[grumpyoldman]

I don't know anything about "flying foxes" but pretty much every evening I have bats come swooping into my patio. They're cool. Sometimes they get so close to me I can feel the air from their wings and hear them smacking on the mozzies.

The other evening I stood up for a drink refill, and one dam_n near hit me in the face! But they are such quick flyers, it avoided Grumpy's melon-head.

[F1fanatic]

As others have pointed out, there are fruit bats on Phuket too.

The first time I saw one on Phuket was in a garden centre - the owner pointed out one on a tree (at not much above eye-level)! V odd.

A couple of years later a colony arrived v near my house, and I watched them every evening for a few days. They didn't stay long, either 'cos someone lit a fire right by the tree in which they were roosting or, 'cos they don't stay long anyway? They've only been back once since (and only stayed a couple of days ).

Almost certainly fruit bats (I don't know of any other bat so large?) and wonderful to watch.

[KarenBravo]

Fruit bat - Flying fox, same same but no different.

[cloudhopper]

We have seen huge clouds of bats spiraling up and then flying North at sunset from many of the islands in Phangnga bay especially Koh Panak and Koh Roi.

[MissChris]

Thanks everyone for your replies. It'll make a lot of my batty friends happy to know that bats - big flying foxes as well as little insect eaters - seem to be doing well in Thailand. And people seem to like them.

Queensland, one of the biggest states for bats in Australia, is about to reintroduce shooting them next month Even the ones listed as Threatened Species (vulnerable to extinction). We have four species of flying foxes including 'Spectacled Flying Foxes' - Pteropus conspicillatus. Very cute.