Endangered
Mauritian flying fox
Pteropus niger
The Mauritian flying fox, also known as Greater Mascarene flying fox or Mauritius fruit bat, is a large megabat species endemic to Mauritius and La Réunion.
Appearance
It has small ears, thick hair on the tibiae, dorsal coloration of glossy, blackish brown mantle, tinged with rufous, that extends posteriorly into a dark brown median spinal tract, flanked by buff lateral patches.
The Mauritian flying fox can reach a wingspan of 80 cm (31 in), making it the largest endemic mammal on Mauritius. It is a medium-sized species. The adult forearm length averages 152 mm, with no difference between males and females.
Range and habitat
It occurs in the forests within the national parks of Black River Gorges, Combo and Bel Ombre. Occasionally, it can also be found in fruit plantations, that causes conflicts with the farmers. The Mauritian flying fox, also known as Greater Mascarene flying fox or Mauritius fruit bat, is a large megabat species endemic to Mauritius and La Réunion.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet
The diet of the Mauritian flying fox consist mainly of fruits.
In crisis
On Reunion, it became extinct between 1772 and 1801. A cyclone devastated the population, but it slowly recovered to an estimated 20,000 animals in 2006. Currently, the population is regarded as declining by the IUCN. Even so, in September 2006, the Government of Mauritius decided to initiate culling of animals.
This is controversial, though, as it leaves the species vulnerable to extinction. In October 2015, the Mauritian government declared that the population of P. Niger had reached a 'threatening' 100,000.
CITES lists this taxon on Appendix II. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.
Mauritian flying fox is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Mauritian flying fox, Wikidata item Q1765475. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
