Long-haired Rousette

activity

Activity patterns. When flying in total darkness, Long-haired Fruit Bats use clicks (produced by their tongue) similar to echolocation clicks of Egyptian Rousettes (Rousettus aegyptiacus). Echolocation function of these sounds in the Long-haired Fruit Bat is not yet confirmed.

Pteropodidae

biology_ecology

Habitat. Primarily montane tropical moist forests and mosaic of East African evergreen bushland and secondary Acacia (Fabaceae) wooded grassland at elevations of 500 - 4000 m (more commonly 1500 - 2500 m). The Long-haired Fruit Bat is found sporadically in drier lowland (Guineo-Congolese) rainforest, wetter and drier miombo woodland, East African evergreen and semi-evergreen bushland and thicket, and deciduous bushland and thicket of Acacia — Combretum (Combretaceae).

Pteropodidae

biology_ecology

Movements, Home range and Social organization. [. ong-haired Fruit Bats roost in dark, damp caves and mine adits, where they can be exposed to low, even subzero, temperatures at night. To protect themselves, they roost in tight clusters of up to several hundred individuals.

Pteropodidae

breeding

Breeding. Female lL. ong-haired Fruit Bats have one young per pregnancy. An adult female recorded from Malawi was lactating in late December. Pregnant females were found in Ethiopia in the beginning of May and middle ofJanuary. Pregnancies and males with scrotaltestes were reported in July in Pare Mountains, Tanzania. This might indicate an extended reproductive chronology, which might be bimodal.

Pteropodidae