I started this blog a year ago, but forgot about it. Mary and I had an almost identical experience tonight that reminded me to go back and finish this blog. Here you go.
We observed some interesting local wildlife on our way home from dinner the tonight. Bats. These were not your run of the mill mosquito munching bats (although we saw those too). These were big bats. It was as if someone strapped bat wings to a local stray dog and sent it sailing through the sky as a Halloween prank, except these were no prank.
A bit of research led us to believe our flying friends to be Ptoropus lylie, also known as Lyle's Flying Fox. Apparently there is a colony of them that spends a portion of the year based in Lumpini Park, just down the road from our condo. Thankfully these particular bats pose little threat to humans, preferring to feast on fruit from local trees.
We've actually seen a flying fox before, at the zoo in Singapore. The version we saw in Singapore was the Malaysian Flying Fox which is actually slightly larger than their Thai relatives.
Here's a picture we took at the Singapore Zoo a few years back of the Malaysian Flying Fox hanging out in a tree.
We've spotted these bats on almost the exact same dates two years in a row. If you're on Rama IV road or near Lumpini Park in early November, keep you eyes to the sky in the evening. You just might spot one of these fascinating creatures!
We observed some interesting local wildlife on our way home from dinner the tonight. Bats. These were not your run of the mill mosquito munching bats (although we saw those too). These were big bats. It was as if someone strapped bat wings to a local stray dog and sent it sailing through the sky as a Halloween prank, except these were no prank.
A bit of research led us to believe our flying friends to be Ptoropus lylie, also known as Lyle's Flying Fox. Apparently there is a colony of them that spends a portion of the year based in Lumpini Park, just down the road from our condo. Thankfully these particular bats pose little threat to humans, preferring to feast on fruit from local trees.
We've actually seen a flying fox before, at the zoo in Singapore. The version we saw in Singapore was the Malaysian Flying Fox which is actually slightly larger than their Thai relatives.
Here's a picture we took at the Singapore Zoo a few years back of the Malaysian Flying Fox hanging out in a tree.
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