Salim Ali¿s Fruit Bat

India is known for its diversity of wildlife and it harbors over 100 species of bats, both small and large. The largest is the Indian flying fox and the rarest is the Salim Ali¿s fruit bat. In 1948, naturalist Angus Hutton collected this species from the High Wavy Mountains of Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu state. But, it was misidentified as the common short-nosed fruit bat. In 1972, taxonomist Kitti Thonglongya reexamined the specimen and declared it as a new species. It was named after the renowned ornithologist, Salim Ali. This endangered species has a restricted distribution and it entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 1993 as one of the three rarest bats in the world. The author is one among a few biologists who have actually seen, studied, captured and released the Salim Ali¿s fruit bat into the wild. This book provides rare field data on the population status, ecology, behavior and conservation of fruit bats in Tamil Nadu state of India, including the highly endangered Salim Ali¿s fruit bat.