The Philippine naked-backed fruit bat, or Philippine bare-backed fruit bat (Dobsonia chapmani), is a megabat that mostly lives on Negros Island, with two small populations also found on Cebu. Its wings meet along the midline of the body, making it a very agile flier, and it roosted in dim caves and was once so abundant that its guano was mined as fertilizer. By the mid-1980s lowland forest had been replaced by sugar cane plantations and the bat vanished; the IUCN declared it extinct in 1996 because none had been sighted since 1964, but it was rediscovered in 2000. It now survives in very small numbers, eats fruit from rainforest at night, and the few remaining bats are still hunted for meat.
Facts
Classification
ThreatsBiological Resource Use 2 ThreatsClimate Change and Severe Weather 2 Relationship to People Living or Extinct Conservation Status Activity Pattern Comparison
CITES Appendix Connections
Child Taxon Of
Source Philippine naked-backed fruit bat (Wikipedia)
In Biome
Source Philippine naked-backed fruit bat (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Source Philippine naked-backed fruit bat (Wikipedia)Distribution, PhilippinesQuote, Distribution, Philippines
Two small populations were also found on Cebu Island in the Philippines.
Sources
1. Animal Diversity Web (University of Michigan Museum of Zoology): Animal Diversity Web: Dobsonia chapmani
Animal Diversity Web (University of Michigan Museum of Zoology)Conservation Status
CITES No special status
Food Habits, Primary Diet
Primary Diet herbivore herbivore frugivore frugivore
Behavior
Key Behaviors troglophilic flies nocturnal nocturnal motile motile Home Range Philippine naked-backed fruit bats are found in secondary lowland forests of Negros and Cebu in karst limestone caves.
View the Source 2. Philippine naked-backed fruit bat (Wikipedia)
Distribution, Philippines
Two small populations were also found on Cebu Island in the Philippines.
Article text, threats
After the forests were cut down to make way for sugar plantations the bat population dropped drastically, and the few remaining ones are still hunted for their meat.
Article text, threats, threats
Climate change may disrupt breeding seasons and affect the limited habitat of the species and it may also be threatened by low genetic diversity due to the population bottleneck that occurs at low population density.
Article text, human use
After the forests were cut down to make way for sugar plantations the bat population dropped drastically, and the few remaining ones are still hunted for their meat.
Child Taxon Of: Pteropodidae, Lead
The Philippine naked-backed fruit bat or Philippine bare-backed fruit bat (Dobsonia chapmani) is a megabat that mostly lives on Negros Island.
In Group: Bats (Chiroptera), Lead
The Philippine naked-backed fruit bat or Philippine bare-backed fruit bat (Dobsonia chapmani) is a megabat that mostly lives on Negros Island.
In Biome: Tropical Rainforest, Habitat, tropical rainforest
The bat lives in caves and comes out at night to eat fruits from local rainforests.
View the Source3. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF): GBIF species 2432826: species profile of Dobsonia chapmani
Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)speciesProfilesQuote, speciesProfiles
"extinct": false
4. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF): GBIF species 2432826: IUCN Red List category of Dobsonia chapmani
Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)iucnRedListCategoryQuote, iucnRedListCategory
"category": "CRITICALLY_ENDANGERED"
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