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Kandy Lake mega-roost bats: Indian Flying Fox (Pteropus giganteus) colony census and foraging ranges?

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H
Hannah Pteropus•930 rep

What roost fidelity and dusk synchronization cues govern the 15,000-strong Indian Flying Fox colony roosting around Kandy Lake and Peradeniya?

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5 Answers from travellers

✓Accepted Answer

Kandy Lake and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya host massive permanent daytime roosts of the Indian Flying Fox (Pteropus giganteus). Numbering over 15,000 individuals, these mega-bats hang head-down from high emergent Albizia and Ficus branches. Roosting in dense urban canopies provides communal protection from raptors. Exactly at civil twilight (dusk), synchronized vocalizations ripple through the colony, triggering mass exodus flights. Thousands of bats stream out in ribbon-like formations along the Mahaweli River valley, flying up to 40 kilometers to feed on wild fruit orchards across the hill country.

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D
Dr Bandara DWC•1890 rep

Flying foxes lack ultrasonic echolocation; they navigate pitch-dark night skies using large, highly light-sensitive eyes and acute spatial memory of ridgelines.

22
H
Hannah Pteropus•930 rep

They act as vital nocturnal seed dispersers for heavy-seeded native rainforest trees, dropping ingested seeds across fragmented forest canopies.

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D
Dr Wasantha Flora•1840 rep

Guano accumulation beneath Peradeniya roost trees provides dense organic nutrient enrichment for manicured botanical lawns.

15
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Prof Gamhewage Bio•1950 rep

Viewing the evening bat departure from the upper terrace of the Temple of the Tooth is a striking twilight spectacle for visitors.

12
S
Sarah Field Scout•1720 rep

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