You don’t have to be scared of me; I won’t suck your blood. I’m a bat who eats the nectar and pollen of flowers that only open at night. While I’m eating from a flower, some of its pollen sticks to my fur. Then when I go to eat from other flowers of the same species, they get pollinated and eventually fruits will grow from the flowers. I’m one of the most important pollinators of durian as well as 30 other species of plants, including bananas and figs. Without me, you’d miss out on a lot of tasty fruit! It may sound like we have plenty of food to choose from but each species of plant flowers at different times of the year and for a limited time only. I only get to enjoy the different varieties of nectar when they come into season, which can make finding food tricky.

You can usually find me in caves in forested areas or near farmlands that are close to the plants whose flowers I love so much. After a long night of looking for food, I come home to roost with thousands of other bats in the same cave. We don’t mind the noise though, even when we’re sleeping. You can come to visit us in places like Batu Caves in Selangor, Gomantong Caves in Sabah, Deer Cave in Gunung Mulu National Park, and Niah Caves in Sarawak.