MILK-COMPOSITION IN THE GREY-HEADED FLYING-FOX, PTEROPUS-POLIOCEPHALUS (PTEROPODIDAE, CHIROPTERA)

Milk samples from 11 captive flying-foxes were collected at various ti mes during lactation from 5 to 139 days post partum and analysed for p rotein, carbohydrate, total solids and ash. In addition, samples from 14 free-living animals, collected on a single occasion, were analysed. No significant changes in milk composition were observed during lacta tion in the captive bats except for a small increase in protein and a small decrease in carbohydrate concentration late in lactation. The mi lk from captive bats contained less protein and total solids than that from free-living animals (mean values: protein, 2.59 and 3.64%, repec tively; total solids, 11.1 and 12.7%, repectively) but there was no si gnificant difference with repect to the carbohydrate (6.13 and 6.44%, respectively). The fat content, estimated from the total solids by dif ference, was low (1.9 and 2.2%, respectively) in both captive and free -living animals. The results are compared with previously published va lues for milk composition in Chiroptera and are discussed in the conte xt of nursing behaviour and diet in captive and free-living flying-fox es.