Photo credit: Jeff Goodman/ARKIVE
Livingstone’s Flying Fox, Pteropus livingstonii, is one of the largest and most threatened bats in the world and is classified as ‘ENDANGERED’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™. Around 1000 individuals remain in the forests clinging onto the precipitous mountain slopes of the western Indian Ocean islands of Anjouan and Mohéli in the Union of the Comoros. Flying Foxes have a vital role in the dynamics of forest ecosystems as they pollinate flowers and disperse seeds.
The Comoros have lost most of their forests and still suffer among the world’s highest deforestation rates. The surviving Livingstone’s Flying Foxes are highly susceptible to further forest loss, destruction of their habitual roosts and the impacts of natural disasters such as cyclones.
A project recently started to establish the first forest protected areas on these islands to conserve Livingstone’s Flying Fox and other wildlife. A captive breeding programme in a number of UK zoos provides a back-up population of this species should the worst happen in the wild.
Geographic Range of Livingstone’s Flying Fox
Credit: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
To learn more about the Livingstone’s Flying Fox, click here. Or visit the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species by clicking their logo below.
