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Flying Foxes recently added to the Zoological Society's Gardens, Regent's Park, 1861. Creator: Unknown. Flying Foxes recently added to the Zoological Society's Gardens, Regent's Park, 1861. 'The large frugivorous bat of India (Pteropus Edwardsii), or "flying fox" - as it is somewhat incorrectly called...has been but seldom brought alive to this country. At the present time, however, the collection of the Zoological Society of London contains three fine living examples of this animal, the survivors of a considerable number of individuals which were brought from Calcutta last autumn, and exhibited for some time in a room in Piccadilly...In its native country - the peninsula of India - this large bat is very abundant, and uniformly lives in society. Numerous individuals select a large tree for their resort, and, suspending themselves with the claws of their posterior extremities to the naked branches, often in companies of several hundreds, afford to the stranger a very singular spectacle. They pass the greater portion of the day in sleep, hanging motionless...Soon after sunset they gradually quit their hold and pursue their nocturnal flights in quest of food...The only persons who habitually use this bat as an article of food are said to be the Portuguese in Western India'. From "Illustrated London News", 1861. (KEYSTONE/HERITAGE IMAGES/THE PRINT COLLECTOR)