Little red flying-fox skull

Educational value

• The little red flying fox ('Pteropus scapulatus') is a common flying fox found widely in coastal and subcoastal rainforests and sclerophyll forests of northern and eastern Australia. It also travels to dry inland areas in search of food. This flying fox feeds on the pollen and nectar of eucalypt blossoms, as well as other native flowers and fruit, and occasionally orchard fruit. It is nocturnal and extremely noisy, and often roosts on tree branches in huge numbers of up to 100,000 individuals.
• The little red flying fox is a medium-sized fruit bat with short reddish-brown fur on its body and a grey head. It has pale brown wings that are translucent during flight, and it has jointed thumbs for climbing. Its head and body length may be up to 20 cm, and it weighs 300-600 g. Like all flying foxes, this species has a fox-like head (hence the name), large eyes and sharp teeth and claws. It is a placental mammal, birthing its young in late April to early May.
• The teeth of flying foxes are sharp and include prominent canines in both upper and lower jaws, as seen in the little red flying fox skull shown here. These canines are larger in the males. Flying foxes also have two pairs of incisors in their jaws, premolars, and molars that are modified for fruit eating. Like most placental mammals flying foxes have two sets of teeth, the first 'milk' teeth being subsequently replaced by a second set later in life.
• The placental mammals are a very diverse group of nearly 4,000 species ranging from bats, whale, and elephants to dogs, cats and cattle and of course humans. The placental group is made up of herbivores (plant eaters), carnivores (meat eaters) and omnivores (plant and meat eaters), and the variety of skull and dentition arrangements reflect this diversity of food types. Generally, placentals have a dentition comprising incisors, canines, premolars and molars.
• The mammal skull is a complex fusion of around 34 bones in three main parts: the braincase, which encloses the brain, the rostrum including the snout and upper jaw, and the lower jaw or mandible. The mammal skull is distinguishable by the presence of three bones in the middle ear used for hearing (not visible in the image). It also has a unique jaw joint in which the single lower jaw bone connects with a small skull bone (the squamosal), resulting in a distinctive jaw movement.
• There are three types of existing mammals: the placentals, the marsupials and the primitive monotremes. Placental mammals give birth to live young after extended nourishment from a placenta in the mother's womb, marsupials are characterised by the presence of a pouch for rearing the young, and monotremes are egg-layers. There are many shared characteristics between these three groups and some important distinctions, especially in the skull and dentition arrangements.

Year level

4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12

Topics Alphabets (Writing systems) Culture Bats Jaws