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« Last post by Les Olson on February 26, 2026, 02:08:51 »
The Black Flying Fox (Pteropus alecto) is the largest flying fox in Australia, weighing up to 1 kg, and so one of the largest bats in the world.
They eat fruit and blossoms, so this tree attracts numerous flying foxes at night, but it is unusual to see one active in daylight. Although echolocation is thought of as characteristic of bats, flying foxes do not have it and rely on eyesight. They are quite intelligent and, as you can see, quite attractive, but are best left alone because they carry Australian Bat Lyssa Virus, which is related to rabies and can infect humans. Infection is rare, because although sero-prevalence surveys of bats suggest that about 1% are infected only four people have died of Lyssa since the virus was discovered in 1996, all after bites from infected bats.
Nikon's subject detection AF agrees that they look like dogs - it failed when set to "birds" but managed quite well set to "animals". Z50II + 28-400.