Looks like a small fox wrapped in a dark cape and hanging from a tree. It’s a medium-sized bat, roughly around the weight of a can of soda, with long, narrow wings that can stretch close to a metre across. Its body and wings are chocolate to black, but its head and shoulders are covered in pale blond or silvery fur, as if it’s wearing a light hooded jacket. The face is one of its most charming features: big dark eyes, a pointed muzzle, and neat, rounded ears give it an almost dog-like look. When you see one hanging quietly in a tree, it’s easy to forget you’re looking at a bat and not some strange little tree-fox.

One of the most unusual things about the Samoa flying fox is that it isn’t strictly a night animal. Unlike most bats that stay hidden until it’s fully dark, this species often flies in the early morning and late afternoon, when the light is still good. That makes it one of the easiest bats to spot without special equipment. It glides over forested slopes, coastlines, and village gardens, searching for ripe fruit, soft leaves, flowers, and sweet nectar. As it flies from tree to tree, it carries pollen on its fur and drops seeds in its droppings, quietly planting new trees and helping forests recover after storms and cyclones. Because of this, people sometimes call flying foxes “sky gardeners,” and the Samoa flying fox is a perfect example of why that name fits.

Its social life is also quite different from that of many other flying foxes. Instead of gathering in huge, noisy camps of thousands of bats, Samoa flying foxes usually roost alone or in small family groups, often just a male, a female, and their young. They tend to stick with one partner, and males defend a fairly large home area in the forest where their family rests and feeds.

Distribution

Country

Population est.

Status

Year

Comments

American Samoa

2019

Fiji

2019

Samoa

2019