The Fox, The Fruit and The Forest II

Flying foxes are the original grey nomad. In Winter, most of Melbourne’s colony fly hundreds of kilometers east to Gippsland and then north to Queensland, seeking flowers and nectar and the sun. They scatter seeds and pollinate the forest as they go, like giant fox-headed bees. Pollen sticks to their fuzzy red ruffs and gets scattered from flower to flower. Many trees in the Myrtaceae family (which includes eucalypts and melaleucas) flower and produce nectar at night rather than during the day (like most plants), and it’s thought that they co-evolved with our nocturnal foxy friends.

However, along the annual migration journey are many perils: fire, deforestation, prejudice. And when the going gets touch, the temptation of forbidden orchard fruits may prove too much for a hungry fox.