Fruit bat hanging on a Chiku tree, in Kerala

From the archive record

Fruit bat hanging upside down on a Sapota tree or Chiku tree in Kerala. Megabats constitute the suborder Megachiroptera, family Pteropodidae of the order Chiroptera (bats). They are also called fruit bats, old world fruit bats, or, especially the genera Acerodon and Pteropus, flying foxes. Megabats, however contrary to their name, are not always large; the smallest species is 6 cm (2.4 in) long and thus smaller than some microbats. The largest attain a wingspan of 1.7 m (5.6 ft), weighing in at up to 1.6 kg. Most fruit bats have large eyes, allowing them to orient themselves visually in twilight and inside caves and forests. Their sense of smell is excellent. In contrast to the microbats, the fruit bats do not use echolocation (with one exception, the Egyptian fruit bat Rousettus egyptiac