Cute baby flying-fox (bat) has a bath: this is Tapsalteerie

Tapsalteerie, an orphan Grey-Headed Flying-Fox pup has a bath. He’s about 8 weeks old here and just learning to feed himself and explore his environment. He’s not that good at grooming yet. He was sticky all over with fruit juice, yoghurt, and poo. I don’t normally bathe them, but he needed more than a brief wipe over. He is not a pet - he was a wild orphan hand raised for release. Grey-Headed Flying-Foxes are listed as vulnerable to extinction. When the hand raised babies are 3 months old, they go into a creche, where they join other orphans and form a group. At this stage they’d be separating from this batty mums and be becoming more independent in the colony. In creche, at this age, they learn batty etiquette and how to live in a batty society. They shrug off their human mums and want to be with the other batties. When they are emotionally and physically ready, and uninjured, and around 4-5 months old, they’re put into a release cage under a colony and they can inte