# Spectacled Flying-fox

*Pteropus conspicillatus*

They act as 'forest gardeners', capable of dispersing seeds over dozens of kilometers in a single night, maintaining genetic diversity in fragmented rainforests.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Chordata › Mammalia › Chiroptera › Pteropodidae › Pteropus
- **IUCN Red List status:** Endangered
- **Population trend:** decreasing
- **Biome:** forest
- **Habitat:** Tropical rainforests, wet sclerophyll forests, and mangrove swamps.
- **Diet:** Frugivorous and nectarivorous, feeding on rainforest fruits (especially figs) and blossoms of Eucalyptus and Melaleuca species.
- **Range:** Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia
- **Size:** Wingspan of 1 to 1.2 meters, weighing 500 to 1000 grams.
- **Lifespan:** 12-15 years in the wild
- **Active:** nocturnal
- **Threats:** Habitat loss from land clearing, extreme heatwave events caused by climate change, disturbance at roosting camps, and entanglement in fruit netting.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless unless handled. Never touch a flying-fox, even if injured, due to the risk of Australian Bat Lyssavirus (ABLV). Keep a safe distance of at least 5 meters. If bitten or scratched, wash the wound immediately with soap and water for 5 minutes and seek urgent medical attention for rabies post-exposure prophylaxis.

## About

The spectacled flying fox ( Pteropus conspicillatus ), also known as the spectacled fruit bat , is a megabat that lives in Australia's north-eastern regions of Queensland. It is also found in New Guinea and on the offshore islands including Woodlark Island, Alcester Island, Kiriwina, and Halmahera.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/94d4a62b-2e72-4485-b709-bd532b8b2429
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/40911
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pteropus conspicillatus
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/53359643/medium.jpg (Joseph Morlan, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.