It’s fruiting and flowering season for many trees here in Niger,
…and during our last visit to the Zinder club, Anette and I encountered this Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) as it flew across the pool and dipped down for a drink.
Anette noticed it had a baby hanging around its belly, and went after it after it settled in a neem tree [Azadirachta indica].
The little Egyptian fruit bat noticed Anette as she clicked away,
…but did not mind her presence.
A little while later, she was back at the pool side, hanging down from the shade roof.
Sunbathing in all honour but neither Anette nor I could resist such a golden photo opportunity!
Michel Aymerich of www.geres-asso.org helped me identify this species. From the face, I initially thought it was a flying fox but could not find one that looked like it.
According to wikipedia however, the Egyptian fruit bat is often mistaken for a flying fox, because of it’s doglike face. It is however a bat of the Old World order and can be found in most parts of Africa, except for the driest parts of the Sahara desert. The fruit bats feed on all sorts of fruit (both ripe and unripe) as well as flower nectar. According to wikipedia, they act as pollinators or seed dispersers for many species of tree and plant, such as the Baobab tree [Adansonia digitata].
This little speciesmen was very cute. At first we couldn’t see her baby, but then she opened up her wing wrappings to clean her baby’s back.
You can see the baby’s head, ear and back if you look closely.
The grooming went on for a long time!
Aren’t they cute?
I never thought I would call a bat cute, but despite the clawed wings and very long tongue, I thought she was very sweet!
After a while, the baby stretched one of its wings,
…shielding it completely from the outside world!
I flipped some picture to make it easier to relate to the bat world.
I may not have wanted to pat her,
…but this little bat mother certainly fascinated me and made my day! I hope you enjoyed too!
20 users commented in " Meet the Egyptian Fruit Bat Lady "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackWow! Great pictures, and it is a very cute bat. How fortunate you were to see the baby too.
What an amazing series of photos, Esther! I’m so glad you take cameras when you go swimming.
Esther, thank you and Anette for these amazing pictures! I agree, the bats are very cute. I just wish mama bat would have let us get a better look at her baby (but not surprised that she did not).
Great pictures!
I never thought I’d say this about a bat, but she’s a cutie. She also has very loving and kind eyes. Great photos
What a long tongue! And she wasn’t at all frightened of you and your camera. Great shots.
And yes, I agree – she is sweet looking.
I have never seen a bat so close as your photos! And those flowers in the trees are so abundant!
Is this species of bat not nocturnal?
Wow, amazing photos of this fruit bat. It does have a cute face, if you can get over the wings and the teeth.
i love how the wing really looks to be an extension of the bat’s hands–sort of. i congratulate the photographer!!
These are fantastic close-ups of the mother fruit bat with her baby. I am amazed that the mother bat let Anette take so many pictures! I can honestly say that she is the cutest bat I have ever seen, and it’s so sweet to see her grooming her baby!
Such an amazing creature and how fortunate to get these exquisite photos. Bats are very cool, pollinators and insectivores.
Vilka häftiga bilder!
Hi there – just left a post on your older blog – I missed the comment button on this one!
Rather splendid animal – we have large number of fruit bats in Melbourne – makes home grown fruit rather hard!
Thanks for visiting my photopblog – you may find the more “wordy” version of it at the the link above of interest as well.
Stewart M
Ooouuuaaaahh!!!!
It’s really cute and very sweet, and just think it raises its young with only what nature provides not all the things we seem to need for our babies and it even get’s to go to work with mom
An awesome series of photos – i am so jealous that you got such a good look at her. What a sweetie! I’m fascinated by the detail you can see in the wings and in the face.
I would have thought flying fox, too, so I’m glad your friend could ID correctly.
Wow, we have lots of fruit bats during the season, however i havent seen how they look because they are all gone at daytime. We just hear them shrieking and in the morning see the leftover peels on the ground. I can’t agree that it’s cute, as i look at it as scary.hahaha. But yours are light colored, while ours are darker.
What a neat critter!
wonderful series of pictures!!!!
these are Gambian epauletted fruit bats (Epomophorus gambianus), a widely distributed species in the savannas of West Africa
Leave A Reply