fruit bat

noun

Updated on: 17 Apr 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

Meanwhile volcanoes explode, waves crash, fruit bats nuzzle.

— zach baron, GQ, "The Astronaut Who Stars in the Craziest Show on Cable," 11 Apr. 2018
Opened to the public in 1991 and upgraded with illuminated walkways and fans, the caves are home to waterfalls, elusive long-nose fruit bats, and drawings left behind by the Amerindian Arawaks.

— melanie reffes, USA TODAY, "Best Caribbean islands for nature lovers," 9 Apr. 2018
Winifred Frick, chief scientist at the nonprofit Bat Conservation International, points to additional findings from Australia, where intense heat and resulting droughts have caused mass die-offs among fruit bats.

— inga vesper, Scientific American, "Bats Are Migrating Earlier, and It Could Wreak Havoc on Farming," 2 Apr. 2018
The tour begins with the butterflies, migrates to fruit bats and from there to see exotic birds and their trainers.

— bradley j. fikes, sandiegouniontribune.com, "From humble pupae to brilliant butterflies comes Butterfly Jungle," 9 Mar. 2018
The hunters were looking for roosting bats, mainly fruit bats and flying foxes—for them, a lucrative prize that can be shipped to villages in the north as part of the bushmeat trade.

— jim morrison, Smithsonian, "Can Virus Hunters Stop The Next Pandemic Before it Happens?," 25 Jan. 2018
Among the animals on display here: Rhinoceros hornbills, with horn-like structures on their beaks; and Malayan flying fox fruit bats, among the largest bats in the world, with a wingspan of up to 5 feet.

— susan glaser, cleveland.com, "Bird-watching in Pittsburgh: National Aviary highlights unusual, intelligent feathered friends (photos)," 20 Dec. 2017
The disease, which causes encephalitis and respiratory illness, is found in swine, dogs and fruit bats.

— mark johnson, jsonline.com, "The hunt for a future killer," 15 Dec. 2017
In fact, a recent study of bat ear bones suggests that fruit bats never had the ability to echolocate, which would be a vote in favor of the flight-first theory.

— jason bittel, Smithsonian, "This Echolocating Dormouse Could Reveal the Origins of One of Nature’s Coolest Superpowers," 23 Mar. 2017

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.