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Cambodian Fruit Bat ID (1 Viewer)

davidg

Well-known member
During a recent trip to Cambodia I was very excited to find a treeful of roosting fruit bats in the middle of Pnomh Penh. Can anyone suggest an ID from the attached photos?

Thanks,
David
 

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Not possible to be certain from these pics but on distribution, the two possible are Greater Short-nosed and Sunda Short-nosed Fruit Bats (taxonomy dependent).

The shape of the muzzle which seems longish, suggests Sunda to me?

The biggest surprise to me is that they haven't been eaten!


Andy
 
Not possible to be certain from these pics but on distribution, the two possible are Greater Short-nosed and Sunda Short-nosed Fruit Bats (taxonomy dependent).

The shape of the muzzle which seems longish, suggests Sunda to me?

The biggest surprise to me is that they haven't been eaten!


Andy

Thanks Andy. The Cambodians seem to eat everything else so I'm not sure why these have been left alone. They're well known locally as it was a tuk-tuk driver that pointed them out to me. Perhaps they're just too high up.

David
 
Thanks Andy. The Cambodians seem to eat everything else so I'm not sure why these have been left alone. They're well known locally as it was a tuk-tuk driver that pointed them out to me. Perhaps they're just too high up.

David

Or protected by urban location - difficult to use guns, nets, traps, or whatever, among crowds of people and under the noses of the police
 
Just a thought but we were on a birding trip to Cambodia earlier this year and saw, from memory, very similar bats in Siem Reap which our Cambodian guide said were Lyle's Flying Fox Pteropus lylei. Apparently they do well in urban areas.

Regards

Grahame
 
Just a thought but we were on a birding trip to Cambodia earlier this year and saw, from memory, very similar bats in Siem Reap which our Cambodian guide said were Lyle's Flying Fox Pteropus lylei. Apparently they do well in urban areas.

Regards

Grahame

Thanks Grahame. These things are more difficult to identify than I'd imagined - I suspect I'll just have to record them as Flying Foxes/Fruit Bats!

David
 
Lyle's Flying Foxes Pteropus lylei. They are locally protected in temples and suchlike. Cynopterus are different, much smaller, with pale wing bones for example.
 
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