The Giant Golden-crowned Flying Fox (Acerodon jubatus) is a rare fruit bat and the largest known bat in the world. The species is endangered and is currently facing the possibility of extinction due to poachers and food hunters. They can be found only in the Philippines, where they live in caves and rainforests. This nocturnal flying mammal has a wing span of at least 1.5 m (5 ft) and weighs approximately 1.2 kg (3 lbs). [From http://en.wikipedia.org]


A colony of these bats is found at Subic rainforest (Bataan, Philippines), where this footage was filmed.

CAPTURE INFORMATION:
Subic rainforest, Bataan, Philippines, December 23, 2008, Canon 5D2 + Sigmonster (Sigma 300-800 DG) + Canon 2x TC + Sennheiser MKE 400 mini-shotgun mic, 1600 mm, Manfrotto 475B/3421 support, available light, 1920x1080 capture processed and resized to 1280x720.

SOME NOTES:
1. It appears that XR's compression algorithm is struggling with the fine details in motion (small leaves swaying in the wind), resulting into noticeable artifacts particularly in the 720p version. The uploaded *.wmv file (160 sec duration, 126 MB, 8176 kbps bit rate) doesn't exhibit these compression artifacts, and is available for download. The medium size version online exhibits less compression artifacts.
2. A combination of tough lighting in the tree canopy, dark subject vs bright background, and a 2x TC on the Sigmonster resulted into tons of visible CA/fringing, which I've yet to learn to eliminate in video processing.
3. WARNING - some scenes contain displays of animal genitalia and defecation process.


ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This video is copyrighted and cannot be used without written permission. © 2008 Romy Ocon, www.pbase.com/liquidstone.