Grey-headed flying fox

This fruit bat has wings about one metre wide, as wide as a child with arms outstretched. It is the largest bat in Australia, with a grey head, a golden-orange collar and a face like a fox. As it feeds, pollen sticks to its fur and helps eucalypts set seed, while seeds it drops can grow into figs and other forest trees where it has flown.

It is a mammal and a bat, from a very large group. About one in four mammals is a bat. Its distant cousins include the carnivores and the hoofed mammals and whales shown beside it on the tree. Unlike insect-eating bats, it does not find food using echoes. It uses its very large eyes and strong sense of smell instead.

By day it rests in large camps in tall trees, often near water, where thousands rest together. It feeds mainly on nectar, pollen, flowers and soft fruit from trees such as eucalypts, paperbarks, figs and banksias.