Rodrigues Fruit Bat (Pteropus rodricensis) Fact Sheet: Physical Characteristics

Body measurements

General

• Members of Pteropus include the largest fruit bats but P. rodricensis is a small member of this genus
• Fruit bat have short, foxy or dog-like face with juvenile appearance, strong jaws for tough-skinned fruit and short ears.
• Bats' (Chiroptera) wings are supported by four elongated fingers; birds and the extinct pterosaurs wings are supported by arm bones and a single finger. (UCMP 2010)

Pelage

• Fur is woolly
• Golden fur on head, neck and shoulders; golden color may extend down back; dark brown elsewhere.
• Wings not furred, black
• Molt once a year.
• Most bats don't have striking colors and patterns
  • Species with more vivid fur colors roost in trees (like Rodrigues fruit bats) or open shelters

• No significant difference in weight between sexes
• Males slightly larger

• Lack complex echolocation; navigate with large eyes, acute hearing, good sense of smell
• Ears lack a tragus, the fleshy projection at the border of the ear opening, present in other bat families
• Nose pad isn't highly specialized like many microchiropteran bats
• Second digit has a claw; other living bats only have claws on first digit (Vaughn et al 2010)
• Eyes black
  • Excellent vision; visual acuity similar to that of a cat (Schwab & Pettigrew 2005)
  • In a study of three Pteropus species, photo receptor cells allow limited color vision (Müller et al 2007); can see red (Wang et al 2004)
  • Receptors in the retina are sensitive to UV light (only other mammals known to have this ability are a few rodents) (Wang et al 2004) (Zhao et al 2009)
• Teeth
  • Pteropid bats have 34 teeth (Heard 1999)
  • Teeth elongated and flat for chewing fruit
  • Incisors small
• Canines present in all bats
• Milk teeth highly specialized (tiny, quite sharp with hooked spicules) for clinging to mother in flight. (Hill and Smith 1988)
• Triangular external ears; not as complex as those of microbats
• Stomach is large and complex, small intestine long and looped
  • Provide area for absorption of fruit nutrients
• Members of Pteropodidae family considered generalized in their body form and ecological specializations. (Dumont 2003)

The Rodrigues fruit bat is a large-bodied bat with distinctive golden, wooly fur.

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved.

Altringham (1996)
Hill & Smith (1988)
McNab & Armstrong (2001)
Vaughn et al. (2010)
West & Redshaw (1987)
AZA (2000)