fruit bat

noun

|Updated on: 11 Jun 2018

Definition of fruit bat

: any of a family (Pteropodidae of the suborder Megachiroptera) of often large tropical and subtropical Old World bats that feed on ripe fruit, pollen, and nectar and that usually use visual navigation rather than echolocation — called also flying fox

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Recent Examples of fruit bat from the Web

Through investigation, researchers found that these pots were contaminated by fruit bats, who spread the virus through saliva and other bodily fluids.

— daniel fernandez, Smithsonian, "How Globalization Changed the Way We Fight Disease," 4 June 2018
The Nipah virus naturally resides in fruit bats across South and Southeast Asia, and can spread to humans through contact with the animals’ bodily fluids.

— emily baumgaertner, New York Times, "Nipah Virus, Dangerous and Little Known, Spreads in India," 4 June 2018
Nipah virus is generally carried by bats (particularly large fruit bats), Stephen Luby, M.D., an infectious disease and geographic medicine professor at Stanford University, tells SELF.

— korin miller, SELF, "What to Know About the Rare and Deadly Nipah Virus," 29 May 2018
Eating fruits or fruit products (such as raw date palm juice) contaminated with urine or saliva from infected fruit bats is also believed to have caused human infections.

— susan scutti, CNN, "What you need to know about lethal Nipah virus," 23 May 2018
The virus is typically transmitted to humans after direct contact with bodily fluids of infected bats (commonly fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family), pigs or other infected people.

— fiza pirani, ajc, "What is Nipah virus? Deadly brain-damaging virus spreads in India," 26 May 2018
Researchers believe the most likely natural hosts are fruit bats, though the exact reservoir of Ebola viruses is still unknown.

— susan scutti, CNN, "Ebola 101: Answers to your questions about causes, symptoms, transmission and treatments," 25 May 2018
The virus is spread to humans who have direct contact with animals that are infected, like fruit bats or pigs.

— alexandra sifferlin, Time, "What You Should Know About the Nipah Virus Outbreak," 22 May 2018
Rare virus kills 10 in India: A rare virus spread by fruit bats, which can cause flulike symptoms and brain damage, has killed 10 people in southern India, health officials said, with at least nine more being treated.

— Washington Post, "World Digest: May 22, 2018," 22 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fruit bat.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.