The Comoros Islands harbour a distinct forest type of tropical moist broadleaf forest, part of the ‘Comoros forests’ ecoregion (Olson et al. 2001), which formerly served as the foraging habitat for R. obliviosus. However, nearly all large patches of this forest type, except in some higher elevations, have been destroyed. In parts of the remaining forest, the understory has been replaced by banana plantations, taro, or clove trees. R. obliviosus has been widely recorded as occurring in native forest, underplanted forest, and heavily-degraded forest within agricultural zones (Clark et al. 1997, Sewall et al. 2003, Goodman et al. 2010b). These records, and the presence in its diet of fruit from cultivated, non-native trees (Sewall et al. 2003), suggest that this species has thus far been able to exploit human-dominated landscapes – including agroforestry lands and orchards, as well as agricultural landscapes retaining remnant trees and forest patches – as foraging habitat. R. obliviosus has not been observed in villages or towns (Sewall et al. 2003, Goodman et al. 2010b).

Rousettus obliviosus is a cave-roosting species that is only known to roost in caves and shallow rock shelters in areas infrequently visited by people (Sewall et al. 2003). The species appears to be selective in roost sites, as it has been found in <20% of surveyed caves (Middleton 1998, 1999; Sewall et al. 2003; Hume and Middleton 2011; Middleton, pers. comm.; BJS, pers. obs.). Roosting habitat is either large lava tubes that are difficult to access or cave localities or shallow rock overhangs associated with streams or waterfalls in remote areas with steep terrain or dense vegetation (Sewall et al. 2003). Availability of such roosting habitat appears critical for this species. The lack of suitable roosting habitat on Mayotte may explain the absence of this species there (Goodman et al. 2010b) even though the species is capable of traversing open water over distances equal to that between Mayotte and its nearest neighbour, Anjouan (Goodman et al. 2010a).

Rousettus obliviosus has been recorded only from the three islands of Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Mohéli of the Union of the Comoros, western Indian Ocean (Sewall et al. 2003, Louette et al. 2004, Goodman et al. 2010b). The species has been recorded from 30-1,750 m on Grande Comore, from 200 to 1,350 m on Anjouan, and from 10-700 m on Mohéli (Meirte 1984, Reason et al. 1994, Sewall et al. 2003, Goodman et al. 2010b). Since the highest points on these islands are 2,361 m, 1,595 m, and 790 m, respectively (Battistini and Vérin 1984), and since diverse canopy rainforest or cloud forest habitat is replaced by tree-fern, scrub, grassland, or heath habitat above 1,800 m on Mt. Karthala on Grande Comore (Louette et al. 2004), the bat species probably occurs from near sea level to about 1,800 m on Grande Comore, and across most of the elevational ranges of Anjouan and Mohéli. These records also suggest that the area of occupancy is less than the total area of the three islands (Sewall et al. 2003), which is 1,783 km² (Louette et al. 2004). Likewise, these records suggest that the extent of occurrence is less than the total area of the three islands and intervening unsuitable ocean habitat, which is 9,085 km². The species is apparently absent from Mayotte, the other large island in the Comoros Archipelago, as it has never been observed there despite extensive searching and trapping effort (Sewall et al. 2003, Louette et al. 2004, Goodman et al. 2010b).

Rousettus obliviosus receives the highest level of legal protection available in the Union of the Comoros. It is listed as an ‘integrally-protected species’ (list 1 of RFIC 2001), which prohibits the capture or detention of R. obliviosus individuals without a permit. This law also expressly prohibits the killing of members of the Family Pteropodidae (flying foxes); transport, purchase, sale, export or re-export of living or dead individuals or their body parts; all disruption during the period of reproduction and raising of young; and the destruction of roosts (RFIC 2001). The Union of the Comoros also ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1994, and in response has developed a National Biodiversity Conservation Strategy (Roby and Dossar 2000). This strategy highlights the importance of, threats to, and conservation recommendations for fruit bats of the Union of the Comoros (Sewall and Granek 2000). In practice, however, there are currently no direct conservation actions in place for R. obliviosus, and no formal terrestrial protected areas in the country.

The national Conservation Action Plan for Pteropus livingstonii (Sewall et al. 2007), another threatened pteropodid from the Comoros, includes an appendix for the conservation of Rousettus obliviosus. This appendix addresses current and potential emerging threats to R. obliviosus, and recommends five targeted conservation actions for R. obliviosus. Specifically, it recommends (1) protection of roost caves, especially the caves with the largest known colony on each island (these are now thought to be Panga Chilamouinani near Fassi on Grande Comore, Bakomdrundru near Ndrondroni on Mohéli, and Mangua Mitsano near Limbi on Anjouan); (2) discouraging, through environmental education, the hunting of all fruit bats; (3) conducting a comprehensive field search for more roost sites; (4) providing incentives to individuals owning land near roost sites to conserve caves and bats; and (5) devising a suitable population monitoring protocol and conducting regular visits to all known roost sites to track population changes (Sewall et al. 2007). Other key actions for this species include efforts to prevent further native forest habitat loss and additional studies designed to track the species’ population and inform its management (Sewall et al. 2003).