A 7 year old female flying fox (Pteropus lylei) is recovering satisfactorily after being treated for an injury to her right limb by the animal veterinary team. The experts discovered the pregnancy during an x-ray as a result of the injury, from which the animal had lost the muscles in its thumb.

Due to the birth,  veterinarians have been especially prudent in the care and change of bandage to cause as little stress as possible to the flying fox during the lactation of the baby, which was born just a few days ago.

The musculature and skin of the forelimbs of this species is very  thin in order to reduce their weight as much as possible, as well as to keep the maximum wing area in order to fly properly. Therefore, any injury to their  wings can cause problems that affect their ability to fly and, therefore, extreme care and attention must be given to their health.

Our veterinary team believes that the injury may have been caused by getting caught on one of the trees in the facility while flying. Firstly, the vets cleaned the affected area with serum and betadine. Next, they applied tissue regenerating and epithelialising ointments to help repair the subcutaneous tissue of the thumb muscles and the epithelial tissue covering it.

As a last step of the treatment, the affected area is bandaged with sterile gauze. The dressing is changed periodically to keep the area clean and to check the regenerative progress of the thumb. During these check-ups, the flying fox has been observed to evolve slowly but favourably. The animal is kept close, but separated from the group to avoid stress during its recovery. The evolution of the little baby is good and the mother is very attentive to its care despite its injury.

The conservation status of this species is considered vulnerable according to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), and it has registered a 30% decline in its population in the wild in recent years.