Fruit bats have a sweet tooth. They do not feed on other animals or insects. Their diet includes mainly fruits, flowers, nectar, and berries. Just like many children, fruit bats don't like to eat the skins of fruits. They will crush the fruit in their mouths eating the fruit and juice, and then spit out the skin of the fruit. A fruit bat is very important to plants like the banana tree, mango tree, fig and date trees, and even some types of cactus. The fruit bat is responsible for pollinating and spreading seeds of these plants.
The female fruit bat does not give birth to her young hanging upside down. She roosts right side up and catches her "pup" with her wings (which act like very long webbed fingers) so it does not fall. The pups nurse on milk just like all mammals; only the fruit bat's teats are located underneath her arms. The fruit bat does not use echolocation to navigate through forests or find food. Instead, they have very good senses of smell and sight. A fruit bat has a very long life span for such a small animal. It can live between 10 and 30 years depending on species. All species of fruit bats are excellent flyers but they are quite clumsy when they land. It is not uncommon for them to crash land into a tree or other fruit bats that have already landed.
The largest fruit bat, the giant flying fox, lives in Indonesia and its wingspan can measures six feet.
The hammer-headed fruit bat lives in Africa and is thought to be the noisiest species of bat. Males get together in groups to call females and the noises they make have been compared to a pond full of croaking frogs. The straw colored fruit bat of Africa lives and migrates in huge colonies that may number over one million.
Not all bats carry rabies. The fruit bat may be a rabies carrier but it is rare to contract rabies from a fruit bat, or any type of bat. The fruit bat, like other bats, is considered by some people to be very dirty when in fact it is very clean. Fruit bats are constantly grooming themselves to keep sticky fruit juices and nectar off their fur. Fruit bats are not an aggressive animal. In fact, they are quite shy and like most wild animals try to avoid humans.