The Egyptian Fruit Bat is a fruit-eating megabat, but not in the same genus as the Pteropus Flying Fox group.
Despite its name, it is native not only to Egypt but to several pockets of sub-Saharan Africa (east, west and far south), to the Near and Middle East
(mainly coastal regions) and to Pakistan.
With a wingspan of some 2 feet, it is large for a bat but smaller than the Pteropus Flying Foxes.
They are also referred to as flying foxes because of their pointed ears and dog-like muzzle.
They perform the same function as the large fruitbats in dispersal of fruit seeds, especially dates, but unlike the
Pteropus genus, the Rousettus genus
use echo location like microbats, even though they have good eyesight. They are the only bats to use tongue clicks audible to humans for echo location;
other bats use their larynx making a sound too high-pitched for human ears.
Like other bats, they are nocturnal and spend days roosting in large colonies of hundreds or thousands.