ABOVE: One of a pair of Island Palm Civets feeding on ripe Ficus lepicarpa figs growing next to the Tomanggong Road at Tabin in October 2010.
Ficus lepicarpa growing next to the Tomanggong Road at Tabin, Sabah. Note that two figs are yellowish= ripe, whilst one fig is still small and green.Three species of secondary forest bat dispersed figs (which ripen green) are abundant along the Tomanggong Road at Tabin. Of these 3 species, Ficus septica and Ficus lepicarpa are steady state fig producers, ripening a few fig fruit every night. However Ficus fistulosa tends to produce figs in one big bang every 90 days. Steady state fig producers tend to attract resident dispersers such as Island and Small-toothed Palm Civets whilst bang bang fig producers tend to attract more mobile semi-nomadic fruit bats.
