*2.1.3. The fulvous fruit bat Rousettus leschenaultii (Desmarest, 1820)*

The genus *Rousettus* Gray, 1821, includes medium-sized fruit bats that are distributed from sub-Saharan Africa, Arabia and Madagascar to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia [13]. Of the 10 species belonging to this genus, two are reported from the Indian subcontinent which include the fulvous fruit bat *R. leschenaultii* (Desmarest, 1820) and *R. l. leschenaultii* (Desmarest, 1820) and the Egyptian fruit bat *R. aegyptiacus* (E. Geoffroy, 1810) and *R. a. arabicus* (Anderson and de Winton, 1902), [13, 28]. Both are seasonally migratory and colonize Himalayan valleys in summer in the fruit growing districts up to 1200 mm (4000 ft.) elevation [2]. *Rousettus leschenaultii* is included in Appendix II in IUCN SSC Action Plan (1992)-Not Threatened, Lower Risk-IUCN 2003 and is Least Concerned-C.A.M.P. 2003 [16, 22].

It is a highly gregarious species and colonies vaulted roves, natural rock caves and open wells. These roosts were in the more wooded regions in the Himalayan foothill zone and adjacent plains. Being partly migratory, the fulvous fruit bat is mainly a summer visitor to Pakistan with the exception of known Lahore and Malir colonies. It has been recorded near Muzaffarabad in the Jhelum valley of Azad Kashmir, Malakand, the Vale of Peshawar, Sialkot, Lahore, and Karachi [2, 8, 29]. The population of this bat does not seem large enough to have a much effect on the fruit industry in such regions of Peshawar and Mardan. Mirza discovered a colony numbering several 1000 in a rock cave at 1060 m elevation in the Malakand. This was only a summer colony [29] which corroborates their seasonally migratory movements.

A total of 22 specimens of *R. leschenaulti* were captured from Malakand division. Of these 22, seven were captured from Tura Gata (N34° 26.818′ E71° 48.973′), five from Cupni (N34° 27.691′ E71° 48.220′), seven from Brah (N34° 29.915′ E71° 46.822′), and 4 from Daim (N34° 36.647′ E71° 47.704′).
