Egyptian rousette
Amazing fact
The Egyptian rousette chews fruit thoroughly, then spits out the seeds.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
No sign-up needed. You can save notes on this device.
An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The Egyptian rousette chews fruit thoroughly, then spits out the seeds.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Egyptian rousette
- Scientific name
- Rousettus aegyptiacus
- Japanese name
- エジプトルーセットオオコウモリ
- Group
- Land mammals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Chiroptera
- Family
- Pteropodidae
- Genus
- Rousettus
It is a fruit bat found across much of Africa and along the coasts of the Arabian Peninsula, and it mainly eats fruit.
It clicks its tongue and listens to the echoes, which helps it find its way even in the dark.
Its front limbs are built for flying, so it rests by hanging from cave ceilings with the sharp claws of its hind feet.
How the Egyptian rousette lives
It leaves its daytime roost around sunset to look for food. It holds fruit close to its body while eating to keep other bats from stealing it. It returns to its daytime roost before sunrise. It roosts in close contact with others to reduce the effects of temperature changes.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Size
- 12.1–19.2 cmUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Weight
- 80–170 gUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Diet
- Fruit天王寺動物園
- Range
- Africa south of the Sahara, Egypt and the coasts of the Arabian PeninsulaUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
Where the Egyptian rousette has been recorded

Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 简体中文
- 埃及果蝠
- 繁體中文
- 埃及果蝠
- 한국어
- 이집트과일박쥐
- Français
- Roussette d'Égypte
- Deutsch
- Nilflughund
- Italiano
- Rossetto egiziano
- العربية
- خفاش الفاكهة المصري
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Nyap mesir
- Русский
- Египетская летучая собака
- Türkçe
- Mısır meyve yarasası
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 天王寺動物園 — エジプトルーセットオオコウモリChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Rousettus aegyptiacusChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
Report a mistake





