Little Red Flying Fox - Public Perception

Public Perception

This species of flying fox hangs in a different way to other mainland species. The larger species tend to hang an arm length apart; however, the little reds tend to clump together so that the bats may hang in groups of 20 or more animals on an individual branch. This is shown on a small scale in the image on this page. For this reason the animals are associated with significant canopy and branch damage in camps where they reside. They also tend to appear in very large numbers (20,000 or more) and the 'foot print' of a camp can expand rapidly for the several weeks or months they remain at a site. Their large numbers and the damage they cause to a camp site mean they are not very popular animals.

Negative public perception of the species has intensified with the discovery of three recently emerged zoonotic viruses that are potentially fatal to humans: Hendra virus, Australian bat lyssavirus and Menangle virus.