Home ranges, directionality and the influence of moon phases on the movement ecology of Indian flying fox males in southern India.

ABSTRACT: Flying foxes of the genus Pteropus are amongst the largest fruit bats and potential long-range pollinators and seed dispersers in the paleotropics. Pteropus giganteus (currently P. medius) is the only flying fox that is distributed throughout the Indian mainland, including in urban and rural areas. Using GPS telemetry, we mapped the home ranges and examined flight patterns in P. giganteus males across moon phases in a semi-urban landscape in southern India. Home range differed between the tracked males (n=4), likely due to differences in their experience in the landscape. We found that nightly time spent outside the roost, distance commuted and the number of sites visited by tracked individuals did not differ significantly between moon phases. In 61% of total tracked nights across bats, th

SUBMITTER: Murugavel B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9922730 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature