The Flying Fox: The Weight of Love (Mammal)

As the huge colony of flying foxes — a type of fruit bat — lifted from the mangroves of Pulau Kalong (Bat Island), Indonesia, they filled the sky above us. Thousands of them, wingspans up to five feet, pouring into the sunset toward Flores Island where the fruit trees are plentiful. It was awe-inspiring! I felt like I was watching some sort of bat signal as I was wowed by that all too familiar shape in the sky.

It was early March, and most of the females above us were already carrying extra weight — heavy with a single pup, just days or weeks from giving birth.

They had separated from the males early in pregnancy to set up a maternal camp, a nurturing female community where they care for their precious pup, each other, and share responsibility for teaching the pups survival skills and socialization.

When the big moment comes once a year, mama hangs from a tree by both her feet and thumbs and opens her wings into a cradle — a birth basket — to catch her newborn. Other females in the colony have been observed acting as midwives, wrapping their wings around the laboring mother, helping first-timers find the right position, and guiding the newborn toward the nipple. The weight of new life is shared from the very first moment.

Pups arrive at around a quarter of their mother's body weight — like a human having a 35-pound baby! — eyes open, already furred, with oversized feet and backward-curving milk teeth designed to latch immediately onto their mother's fur and hold. He finds her nipple, tucked in her wing pit, secure even in flight, and does not let go.

For the first three to five weeks of his life, that pup goes everywhere his mother goes. Every night, when she flies out to forage fruit on neighboring islands, her pup rides against her chest. She grooms him constantly — licking, cleaning, attending — reinforcing their bond and keeping him healthy.

That weight grows. By the time she finally stops carrying him, he is close to half her body weight. She carries him by choice, and does not put him down until she simply cannot manage it anymore.

When that day comes, mama leaves him in a communal nursery — nestled among thousands of other pups huddled together for warmth — and flies out alone. At dawn, when she returns, she finds her pup among all those thousands using the unique vocalization and scent she learned from him at birth.