Editing Megabat (section)

===In culture===
[[File:Red infill flying fox - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|A flying fox depicted in [[indigenous Australian art]]]]
Megabats, particularly flying foxes, are featured in indigenous cultures and traditions. Folk stories from Australia and Papua New Guinea feature them.<ref name="Campbell 2013">{{cite book| last1= Campbell-McLeod| first1=P.|chapter=Nallawilli-Sit Down (and Listen): The Dreamtime Stories – An Oral Tradition| editor-last=MacDonald| editor-first=M. R.| year= 2013| title=Traditional Storytelling Today: An International Sourcebook| pages=158–159| publisher=Routledge| isbn=978-1135917142}}</ref><ref name="Slone 2001">{{cite book| editor-last=Slone| editor-first= T. H.| year= 2001| title= One Thousand One Papua New Guinean Nights: Tales from 1972–1985| volume=1| publisher= Masalai Press| isbn=978-0971412712}}</ref>
They were also included in Indigenous Australian cave art, as evinced by several surviving examples.<ref name="Parish 2012">{{cite book| last1=Parish| first1= S.| last2= Richards| first2= G.| last3= Hall| first3= L.| year=2012| title= A natural history of Australian Bats: working the night shift| publisher= Csiro Publishing| isbn=978-0643103764}}</ref>

Indigenous societies in Oceania used parts of flying foxes for functional and ceremonial weapons. In the Solomon Islands, people created barbs out of their bones for use in spears.<ref name="BM 1910"/> In New Caledonia, [[Ceremonial weapon|ceremonial axes]] made of [[jade]] were decorated with braids of flying fox fur.<ref name="Machray 1899">{{cite journal| last=Machray| first=Robert| year=1899| title=Strange Kinds of Money| journal=The Harmsworth Monthly Pictorial Magazine| volume=1|pages=639–641| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HvIRAAAAYAAJ&q=flying+fox+fur+cord&pg=PA640}}</ref> Flying fox wings were depicted on the war shields of the [[Asmat people]] of Indonesia; they believed that the wings offered protection to their warriors.<ref name="Werness 2003">{{cite book| last1=Werness| last2= H. B.| year=2003| title= Continuum Encyclopedia of Native Art: Worldview, Symbolism, and Culture in Africa, Oceania, and North America| publisher= A&C Black| page=31|isbn=978-0826414656}}</ref>

There are modern and historical references to flying fox byproducts used as [[currency]]. In New Caledonia, braided flying fox fur was once used as currency.<ref name="BM 1910">{{cite book| last1= British Museum. Dept. of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography| last2= Joyce| first2= T. A.| last3=Dalton| first3= O. M.| title=Handbook to the Ethnographical Collections| publisher=Printed by order of the Trustees| page=125| url=https://archive.org/stream/handbooktoethnog00brit/handbooktoethnog00brit#page/125/mode/1up| year= 1910}}</ref>
On the island of [[Makira]], which is part of the Solomon Islands, indigenous peoples still hunt flying foxes for their teeth as well as for bushmeat.
The [[Canine tooth|canine teeth]] are strung together on necklaces that are used as currency.<ref name="Choi 2017">{{cite web| last=Choi| first=Charles| date=16 October 2017| title=In Makira, Flying Fox Teeth Are Currency…And That Could Save the Species| website=Discover| publisher=Kalmbach Media| url=http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2017/10/16/flying-fox-currency/#.WxLrZyAh1PY| access-date=2 June 2018| archive-date=12 June 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612223317/http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2017/10/16/flying-fox-currency/#.WxLrZyAh1PY| url-status=dead}}</ref> Teeth of the [[insular flying fox]] (''Pteropus tonganus'') are particularly prized, as they are usually large enough to drill holes in. The [[Makira flying fox]] (''Pteropus cognatus'') is also hunted, despite its smaller teeth. Deterring people from using flying fox teeth as currency may be detrimental to the species, with Lavery and Fasi noting, "Species that provide an important cultural resource can be highly treasured." Emphasizing [[sustainable hunting]] of flying foxes to preserve cultural currency may be more effective than encouraging the abandonment of cultural currency. Even if flying foxes were no longer hunted for their teeth, they would still be killed for bushmeat; therefore, retaining their cultural value may encourage sustainable hunting practices.<ref name="Lavery 2017">{{cite journal|doi=10.1017/S0030605317001004|title=Buying through your teeth: Traditional currency and conservation of flying foxes Pteropus spp. In Solomon Islands|journal=Oryx|volume=53|issue=3|pages=1–8|year=2017|last1=Lavery|first1=Tyrone H|last2=Fasi|first2=John|s2cid=90302071|doi-access=free}}</ref> Lavery stated, "It's a positive, not a negative, that their teeth are so culturally valuable. The practice of hunting bats shouldn't necessarily be stopped, it needs to be managed sustainably."<ref name="Choi 2017"/>