Pumpkin The Straw Coloured Fruit Bat Pup
There’s a new pumpkin in the patch 🎃
Born on October 4, this little pup is almost one month old and has been appropriately named ‘Pumpkin’ in honour of their autumn-time entrance to our bat colony 🎃
The Wildlife Care Team won’t be able to identify the sex until they are much older, as Keepers keep an eye on the pup and the rest of the colony from a distance. Due to this, the team also can’t confirm the pup's parents, however, the little one is spending their time under its mother’s wing. In a few weeks, we’ll be able to see the baby becoming more active and practicing flapping its wings which builds the muscles needed for flight.
Straw-coloured fruit bats are listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN and the Toronto Zoo participates in the AZA’s African fruit bat Species Survival Plan® with the goal to have a self-sustaining group and increase the population at the Zoo. This is why you may have noticed on your most recent visits, the female and castrated male bats previously viewed in our former ‘Caves and Burrows’ habitat (now transitioned to a Multi-Faith Space) were moved to a larger aviary above the Ibis habitat in the African Rainforest Pavilion, where the intact males have lived for several years. This location provides a more natural light cycle, access to additional flight space, and is more visible to the public.
Pumpkin and the rest of the bat colony are viewable in the African Rainforest Habitat and also @zoolife.tv at zoolife.tv/torontozoo. Dawn and dusk are the best time to catch the 🦇’s active, starting around 4:00 pm this time of year.