TAILIEUCHUNG - First ecological data of flying foxes of the genus pteropus in Vietnam
This paper provides initial results from our study with emphases on their roosting behavior, common food compositions and colony size variations. Flying fox is the common name of all fruit bat species of the genus Pteropus. | TAP CHI SINH foxes HOCof2015, 37(3):Pteropus 312-316 First ecological data of flying the genus DOI: FIRST ECOLOGICAL DATA OF FLYING FOXES OF THE GENUS Pteropus (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) IN VIETNAM Vu Dinh Thong1*, Nguyen Thanh Tung2, Nguyen Tran Thanh Tinh2 1 Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, VAST, *vietnambat@ 2 Can Tho University ABSTRACT: Flying fox is the common name of all fruit bat species of the genus Pteropus. Prior to this study, Vietnamese flying foxes were poorly studied and their ecology was almost unknown. To fill this gap, we conducted monthly surveys between January and September 2014 in Soc Trang province with emphasis on variations of colony size, diet and roosting behavior of flying foxes. The surveys included observational counting, field identification of flying foxes and identification of food samples and their roosting trees. Results from the surveys indicated that the colony comprises two species, the larger of which is Pteropus lylei and the smaller one is provisionally identified as Pteropus cf. hypomelanus. Although there are nearly one thousand trees in the study site, flying foxes roost under the canopies of very few. The colony size varies weekly, monthly and seasonally with a total number of individuals ranging between 453 in April and 1,753 in February. This paper also provides a risk assessment and recommendations for urgent conservation of these threatened mammals. Keywords: Pteropus, conservation, ecology, mammalia, monitoring. INTRODUCTION Flying foxes (Pteropus spp.) comprises 65 species worldwide (Simons 2005) [9]. Of which, three species, viz. P. hypomelanus, P. lylei and P. vampyrus, are known from Vietnam [5, 9, 12]. They were widely recorded in the South Central and Mekong Delta regions of the country [12]. Unfortunately, they were critically threatened by habitat loss and illegal hunting [10, 12]. Therefore, these species are survived within only five narrow sites of
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