We were recently lucky enough to travel overseas to do some roost counts of Egyptian Fruit Bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus)
We don’t have any fruit eating bats in the UK, all of our species are insectivores and classed as microbats, whereas Egyptian Fruit Bats are classed as a megabat. Our largest bat is the Noctule (Nyctalus noctula) weighing in at around 30 -40g with a wingspan of 30-40cm. The Egyptian Fruit Bat on the other hand weigh between 80-170g with a wingspan ranging from 60-70cm. They are frugivores and one of the most social species of bats. Egyptian fruit bats use tongue clicks to echolocate unlike microbats that use laryngeal echolocation and they are act as a great pollinator and seed disperser for many species of trees and plants.