#345-365 Upside Down or Inside Out

In my recent Rain Forest shot I made mention of the Flying Fox or Fruit Bat Colony that has set up house in the tree tops above and surrounding the previous photo's locale. Some of the reactions I got were a tad negative and I am afraid that is just bad press.

These are not Bats as depicted by Hollywood, they are mammals that dine almost exclusively on ripe fruits, in size they vary from about the size of large squirrels up to about the size of a small Daschund. They are called Flying Foxes cause they do resemble foxes in facial features.

They have been reported as the source of an insidious disease that is apparently Fruit Bat borne and has been transmitted to both horses and man which resulted in the deaths of a number of race horses and the horse trainer Vic Rail. But I have friends who hand feed them on a regular basis, and haven't even caught fleas from them so not being an authority, all I will say is that they are noisy, squabble amongst themselves a lot and are downright messy under their roosts, so I would wear a hat that you are willing to throw away if you venture into the colony, and oh yes wash your hands after leaving.