A sleek, fruit-eating bat from the Indian Ocean islands, including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India and parts of Indonesia. Like other flying foxes, it belongs to the megabat family — large, gentle bats with fox-like faces, big eyes, and long, leathery wings. This species has a dark, velvety coat, lighter brown or golden fur around the neck and chest, and distinctive black patches around the ears that give it its name. With a wingspan that can stretch well over a meter, it moves through tropical skies with impressive grace, gliding between fruit trees and roosting high in forest canopies.

Black-eared flying foxes are nocturnal foragers, spending the day clustered in tree roosts — often in large, noisy colonies — before spreading out across the forest at dusk. Their diet centers on ripe fruit, nectar, and flowers, making them important pollinators and seed dispersers in island ecosystems. By carrying seeds far from parent trees and visiting flowering plants at night, they help maintain forest diversity and regeneration. Unlike insect-eating bats, they rely heavily on their sharp eyesight and keen sense of smell, not echolocation, to navigate and find food.

Life in isolated island forests has shaped the black-eared flying fox into a species deeply connected to its habitat and community structure. Roosting colonies can include hundreds of individuals, where social grooming, vocal calls, and wing-stretching rituals are part of daily life. During breeding seasons, dominant males often maintain small harems or defend favored roosting branches. Females typically raise a single pup, carrying it clinging to their fur until it is strong enough to hang on its own and eventually fly. Young bats learn foraging routes and fruiting trees from their mothers — survival knowledge passed down across generations.

Distribution

Country

Population est.

Status

Year

Comments

Christmas Island

2021

India

2021

Andaman Is., Nicobar Is.

Indonesia

2021

Sumatera