© Phil Clayton

Wild diet: Many feed on fruit, also take other plant material; leaves, shoots, buds, flowers & nectar. Lycium, Solanum, Ficus, Rhus, Phoenix, Balanites, Tamarindus & Diospyros are fed on regularly. Will feed on plants which are toxic to other animals, syringe (Melia azderach), the pepper tree (Schinus molle), bugweed (Solanum auriculatum) & Acokanthera spectabilis.

Feeding strategy: Have a short, wide gut, lacking caeca, food transit time is very rapid. Faeces are voided between 6 & 18 minutes after ingestion of fruit, transit time for leaves is much slower & may explain why leaves are chosen as the days final meal.