Flying foxes are large bats with a wingspan that can exceed one meter. Food sources include pollen, nectar, and fruit from a wide variety of trees. Only one species of flying fox occurs within the Royal Botanic Gardens – the grey-headed flying fox (Pteropus poliocephalus). They are a protected and endangered species.
The Botanic Gardens Trust wishes to create interpretive signage that gives the visiting public a greater understanding of these flying foxes – that they are an Australian native species and they play an important role in plant pollination and seed dispersal, while also explaining some of the negative impacts of the huge numbers which have taken up residence in the Botanic Gardens 200-year-old Palm Grove.
