Cynopterus sphinx
Silhouette: Baheerathan Murugavel · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The greater short-nosed fruit bat (Cynopterus sphinx), or short-nosed Indian fruit bat, is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae found in South and Southeast Asia. These bats have a relatively long snout. Their upper parts are brown to grey-brown with paler under parts. The fur is very fine and silky. The ears and wing bones of C. sphinx are edged in white. Lower cheek teeth rounded without accessory cusps. The wingspan of the adult is about 48 cm (19 in). Juveniles are lighter than adults. Average forearm length is 70.2 mm (2.76 in), with a range of 64–79 mm (2.5–3.1 in).
The greater short-nosed fruit bat is found from Pakistan to Vietnam. It is common in tropical forests and areas where fruit crops are cultivated. They can also be found in grasslands and mangrove forests. They typically nest high in palm trees. The bats chew the fronds of the palms to construct fairly simple tents. These bats are also known to construct tents by closely interweaving the leaves and twigs of creeping vines which cover buildings, but such nests are constructed only when palms are not available.
The greater short-nosed fruit bat is... Wikipedia →
Recording0:16
Hong Kong SAR China · 2023
© Lawrence Hylton · iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cat Tien National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden | 🇭🇰 Hong Kong SAR China | |
| 2 | Berlin Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 4 | Aquarium Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Short-nosed Fruit Bat sighting in Cat Tien National Park on a given day, based on 15 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 20th most-seen of the 28 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April, July–August and December
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Short-nosed Fruit Bat in Cat Tien National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January, March and September–November, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Greater Short-nosed Fruit Bat sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Cat Tien National Park, in our data
Cat Tien National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Greater Short-nosed Fruit Bat sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Chiroptera
The closest relatives of the Greater Short-nosed Fruit Bat that you can see in Cat Tien National Park (order Chiroptera, Bats) are Grand Leaf-nosed Bat (about 30%), Woolly Horseshoe Bat (about 20%) and Greater False Vampire (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Greater Short-nosed Fruit Bat is recorded against all the mammals logged in Cat Tien National Park (15 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
