The bats chew the fronds of the palms to construct fairly simple tents.

The greater short-nosed fruit bat is gregarious, and typically roosts in same-sex groups of eight to nine individuals.

The sexes remain separate until the mating season, when group size increases.

[4] Males stay with females for some time after mating, but later return to same-sex groups.

By the time of weaning at 4 weeks of age, young bats weigh 25 g (0.88 oz) and have wings spanning 36 cm (14 in).

Female short-nosed fruit bats reach sexual maturity at 5–6 months of age, but males are not capable of breeding until they are a year old.

Some preferred fruits include ripe guava, banana, chikoo, dates, and lychees.

[8] These bats are important dispersers of date palm seeds, and pollinate many night blooming flowers.

They are also known to construct shelter tents by severing leaves and stems from certain creepers and mast trees like Polyalthia longifolia.