Defiance is a baby Grey-Headed Flying-Fox who was found on the ground in a suburban apartment driveway.
He's 7 weeks old and a defiant little character.
He bigwingsed me (that's spreading his wings in a threat display I call big wings), and screamed at me. I adore the feisty little ones who are defiant even in the face of such a size disparity. I'm so big and he's so little, and he still felt necessary to make a threat. I find it necessary for their dignity not to laugh at the display, but sometimes a LOL escapes me. I was duly impressed with Defiance's display and didn't laugh this time.
It's good news in that he appears quite uninjured. He turned into a sooky baby (sooky is Aussie for emotionally needy) and relaxed in care, till after 24 hours he was definitely Mr Cool and very relaxed. He loves head massages and goes to sleep even if he is hungry and due for a feed.
I don't know why he was so far out of the colony alone. He's very big to have hitched a ride on mum, and even if he's an early flyer this is too far out of the colony for him to have flown by himself. Babies don't usually fly till 10-12 weeks, and although some carers have reported actual flight at 7 weeks, they're not that good at flying and don't have the stamina to fly over a kilometre.
Mum doesn't carry babies with her after 4 weeks - by this time they have belly fur (and doesn't little Defiance have a great coat of belly fur!) so they can keep themselves warm overnight in the colony, while mum goes and rustles herself up enough nutrition to make milk to feed her baby.
By the time the babies are 4 weeks they probably weigh a quarter of mum's bodyweight. It's very energy intensive flying around without an extra quarter of weight.
Defiance probably weighed a third of his mum's weight.
They can fly short distances with their big babies - she may have been moving him to another colony and doing it incrementally over short distances.
He can't be a dropped twin - he's far too large for her to have fed him and another twin to get him to this age.
He's in very good condition and a handsome healthy batty.
He has gone to his new carer now to be a buddy for Hufflepuff.
Негізгі бет Rescuing a baby flying-fox found on the ground: this is Defiance
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