[3] Despite its scientific name, it feeds exclusively on fruits, nectar, and flowers, like the other flying foxes of the genus Pteropus.

[4] As with nearly all other Old World fruit bats, it lacks the ability to echolocate but compensates for it with well-developed eyesight.

[5] P. livingstonii P. voeltzkowi P. dasymallus P. pumilus P. rodricensis P. vampyrus P. lylei P. medius P. aldabrensis P. rufus P. seychellensis* P. niger* P. seychellensis* P. niger* P. pselaphon The large flying fox was one of the many mammal species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in the landmark 1758 10th edition of his Systema Naturae, receiving the name Vespertilio vampyrus.

[7]: 70  Its species name "vampyrus" is derived from Slavic "wampir" meaning "blood-sucking ghost or demon: vampire".

[12] The mantle can vary from pale dirty-buff to orange-yellow, while the chest is usually dark-golden brown or dark russet.

[4] The large flying fox is a host of the Acanthocephalan intestinal parasite Moniliformis convolutus.

[17] During antagonistic behavior, individuals maintain spacing with wrists/thumbs sparring, bites, and loud vocalizations.

Female large flying fox gestations are at their highest between November and January in Peninsular Malaysia, but some births occur in other months.

[19] In Thailand, gestation may take place during the same period with young being born in March or early April.

[11] The large flying fox ranges from Malay Peninsula, to the Philippines in the east and Indonesian Archipelago of Sumatra, Java, Borneo and Timor in the south.

[12] In Malaysia, flying foxes prefer lowland habitats below 365 m.[14] In Borneo, they inhabit the coastal areas, but move to nearby islands to feed on fruit.

Based on population modeling, the loss of the estimated 22,000 large flying foxes annually is unlikely to be sustainable.

It is generally considered as the reservoir that led to the 1998 Malaysian outbreak, which was the first emergence of the disease in humans and pigs.

[23] In a study of seventeen large flying foxes, Nipah virus was only isolated from one individual, which was at the time of capture.

This suggested that the Nipah virus can recrudesce in the large flying fox, or maintain itself after periods of remission.

[24] As of 2022, the large flying fox is evaluated as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

[1] The large flying fox is on Appendix II of CITES, which restricts international trade.