Autecology of Pteropus giganteus from Myanmar

The information on the feeding habits of Pteropus giganteus was recorded from faeces, food remnants and rejector pellets beneath feeding and day roosts. The bats were observed to feed on the 30 species of food plants. Of which Ficus racemosa and Ficus virens led to a steady production of fruits throughout the year. They may be important for the maintenance of stable population of the bats. The bats flew to forage until 11km at different places in different seasons. The parturition period of P.giganteus coincided with the period of less rain and maximum food production. The bats roosted on 20 roost trees belonging to five species. The colony size increased from 2332 to 5428 during the study period.The emergence time of the bats and the sunset times were highly correlated (p<0.01). Therefore, P.giganteus plays a key ecological and commercial roles as the seed disperser and pollinator and hence they were critical importance for the long-term conservation.