SPECTACLED FLYING -FOX

Spectacled Flying-fox (Pteropus conspicillatus)

As daylight softens over north-eastern Queensland, a low murmur rises from the rainforest canopy. Leaves tremble, then tens of thousands of dark shapes lift into the warm air. Among them, the Spectacled Flying-fox sails out—fur brushed with gold around its eyes like a pair of delicate spectacles, leathery wings catching the evening breeze. There is the sweet, faint scent of rainforest figs and paperbark blossom, and the soft percussion of wingbeats as they set off to feed and pollinate the night.

How to recognise one

• Distinctive face: pale yellow to golden fur encircling the eyes gives the “spectacles” that name the species.
• Mantle: a pale, sometimes golden collar at the neck and shoulders contrasts with a dark brown to black body.
• Size: wingspan up to about 1.2 metres; typically 600–1,000 grams in weight.
• Voice and presence: busy, social camps by day; loud chattering, squeaks and wing-rustle, especially at dawn and dusk.

Where they live

• Australia: mostly the Wet Tropics of Queensland—from around Townsville north to Cape York—with large urban and rainforest camps near places like Cairns, Innisfail and the Daintree.
• Beyond Australia: also found in New Guinea and nearby islands.
• Habitat: lowland and coastal rainforests, gallery forests along creeks, mangroves and occasionally urban parks with tall shade trees.

Night life and diet

• Nocturnal foragers travelling 20–30 km a night to feed.
• Diet: native fruits and rainforest figs (Ficus spp.), nectar and pollen from trees such as paperbarks (Melaleuca), eucalypts and banksias when available.
• Feeding style: they lap nectar and dust their fur with pollen, or carry fruit away to feed, spitting out seeds beneath roost trees—planting future forests as they go.

Family life

• Breeding: mating typically in autumn; most births occur from October to December, aligning young with the wet-season flush of food.
• Care: mothers carry their single pup for the first weeks—warm fur against fur—before leaving it at the camp while foraging at night.
• Growth: pups begin flying at around three months and are weaned by about five to six months.

Why they matter

• Long-distance pollinators: by moving pollen between widely separated trees, Spectacled Flying-foxes keep forest gene pools healthy.
• Seed dispersers: they spread the seeds of canopy trees, especially figs, helping rainforest edges recover after storms, cyclones and fire.
• Ecosystem connectors: their nightly flights stitch together fragments of habitat across the landscape.

Status and threats

• Australia: listed as Endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (2019).
• Key pressures:
  • Extreme heat events leading to mass mortality.
  • Loss and fragmentation of rainforest and coastal feeding habitat.
  • Entanglement infine-mesh or loose fruit netting, and on barbed wire near food trees.
  • Conflict at orchards and disturbance at traditional roosts.
• Subtle but important: as climates warm, heat stress events are becoming more frequent, making shade, water and intact habitat increasingly vital.

How you can help

• Plant for wildlife: choose native figs, lilly pillies (Syzygium), paperbarks and eucalypts suited to your region.
• Use wildlife-safe netting: if you can push a finger through the mesh, it is unsafe. Choose taut, small-aperture netting.  
• Use wildlife friendly fencing, and remove unnecessary barbed wire near fruiting trees.
• Protect roost trees: keep mature trees and support corridors that link feeding areas to camps.
• During heatwaves: avoid disturbing camps; support local wildlife groups that provide shade and misting where permitted.
• If you find an injured or heat-stressed bat: do not handle it. For your safety and the animal’s welfare, contact a vaccinated wildlife carer or local wildlife rescue service.

Safe and respectful viewing

• Observe from a distance with binoculars; camps are sensitive places where mothers nurse young.
• Visit at dusk near known fly-out points and listen for the rising chatter and soft wingbeats. The scent of blossom and crushed leaves often hangs in the air.

Fast facts

• Common name: Spectacled Flying-fox
• Scientific name: Pteropus conspicillatus
• Australian status: Endangered (EPBC Act)
• Wingspan: up to ~1.2 m
• Diet: rainforest fruits, nectar and pollen
• Range (Australia): Wet Tropics of Queensland and adjacent coasts
• Role: major pollinator and seed disperser for rainforest trees

Picture a warm, still night over a mangrove-lined creek. The moon lifts, and a wave of flying-foxes glides overhead—gold-flecked faces, dark wings whispering. In their wake, flowers are pollinated and seeds are carried to new ground. By simply living their lives, these bats keep rainforests breathing, and give tomorrow’s trees a place to grow. Protect them, and we protect the quiet, essential work of the night.