Pteropus hypomelanus

Movements, Home range and Social organization. The Island Flying Fox can fly 30 - 50 km / night to forage and will skim within troughs of waves to reduce wind resistance when flying long distances. In Papua New Guinea, it commutes from its day roost on small offshore islands to other small islands to forage but rarely to the mainland unless strong winds make flying seaward difficult. It is gregarious and roosts colonially (up to 5000 individuals) in tall trees with low levels of disturbance but forms smaller colonies throughout much ofits distribution. Colonies are of mixed sexes, including females with dependent young. At day roosts, they rest and wing-flap, and occasionally engage in territorial interactions. In the Philippines, the Island Flying Fox roosts with other flying fox species; in Indonesia and Malaysia, most are single-species colonies. In Milne Bay islands, it sometimes roosts with the Spectacled Flying Fox (P. conspicillatus).

Sumber: Pteropodidae

Status and Conservation. CITES Appendix II. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Rate of decline throughout the distribution of the Island Flying Fox due to overhunting and ongoing habitat degradation from human activity and climate change is so far less than 30 %. Continued rise in global sea level will result in loss of essential roosting habitat and might result in reclassification as Vulnerable. It is much more rare than in the past due to overhunting and habitat loss. Individuals are normally sold locally, making detection ofillegal killing difficult. Hunters use various methods from guns to nets and fishhooks hanging from lines. There are some resident populations in human-dominant landscapes (orchards and coastal resorts) that has led to conflict and persecution, sometimes resulting in hunting of bats or attempts to expel a colony from the site. Hunting of flying foxes in the Philippines is illegal, except by a few indigenous groups, but hunting is unregulated and therefore continues even today; fruit bat buyers prefer larger species but often buy the relatively small Island Flying Fox.

Sumber: Pteropodidae