Data from: Flight is the key to postprandial blood glucose balance in the fruit bats Eonycteris spelaea and Cynopterus sphinx

1. Excessive sugar consumption could lead to high blood glucose levels
that are harmful to mammalian health and life. 2. Despite consuming large
amounts of sugar-rich food, fruit bats have a longer lifespan, raising the
question of how these bats overcome potential hyperglycemia. 3. We
investigated the change of blood glucose level in nectar-feeding bats
(Eonycteris spelaea) and fruit-eating bats (Cynopterus sphinx) via
adjusting their sugar intake and time of flight. 4. We found that the
maximum blood glucose level of C. sphinx was higher than 24 mmol L-1 that
is considered to be pathological in other mammals. After C. sphinx bats
spent approximately 75 percent of their time to fly, their blood glucose
levels dropped markedly, and the blood glucose of E. spelaea fell to the
fast levels after they spent 70 percent time of fly. Thus, the level of
blood glucose elevated with the quantity of sugar intake but declined with
the time of flight. 5. Our results indicate that high-intensive flight is
a key regulator for blood glucose homeostasis during foraging.
High-intensive flight may confer benefits to the fruit bats in foraging
success and behavioural interactions and increases the efficiency of
pollen and seed disposal mediated by bats.