Straw-coloured fruit bats

The neck hair is often deep yellow to orange in colour. Photo: Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

In the Dja Reserve at Prague Zoo, straw-coloured fruit bats share a mixed-species exhibit with Gambian pouched rats. Their quarters are located near the African classroom.

The straw-coloured fruit bat is the most abundant African fruit bat species. It can live in colonies of up to a million individuals and migrate distances of up to 2,000 kilometres. It inhabits most of Africa south of the Sahara and the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula. The main threat to the straw-coloured fruit bat is being hunted for meat. Due to declining numbers, the species is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List.