Foraging Behaviour of Indian Flying Fox P.giganteus in Kerala

Prasad E. R.*, Dileep P., Aryasree M. P., Anjana K., Sunojkumar P.

Abstract


Over one year period, field study was conducted for the identification of food plants and seed dispersal of Pteropus giganteus by direct observations or indirectly by the analysis of eject found on ground.  Observation were made on seven colonies of day roost in undisturbed areas, amongst which six of them were in sacred grooves one in the protected area.  Over 22 different plant seeds were collected from the ejected materials as chewed fruits, fresh seeds or faecal materials.  The result indicates that Pteropus is playing a vital role as a seed disperser in plants like Anacardium occidentale, Areca catechu, Manilkara achras, Mangifera indica and Psidium gujava which are highly demanding plants in the market. The study concluded the mutual relationship between plants and fruit bat, flying foxes depends plants for food and roost while plants need bat as disperser and pollinator.

Keywords


P.giganteus; Kerala; field study

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References


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