Bat of the Day
Bat Common Name: Greater spear-nosed bat
Bat Scientific Name: Phyllostomus hastatus
Suborder: Yangochiroptera (Microbat)
Family: Phyllostomidae
Subfamily: Phyllostominae
Genus: Phyllostomus
Diet: Omnivore
Description: Body length of 100-130 mm, with a wingspan of 455 mm, weighing only around 81 g! Quite light compared to their size!
Location: South and Central America
Fun Facts: They eat everything!! They eat vertebrates, fruits, nectar, and insects!! Super cool!! They also have a very sensitive sense of smell! They enjoy roosting in caves, tree hollows, termite mounds, and thatched roofs! They have colonies of 10-100!! There's often a dominant male with and average of 17 lady bats.
Pallid Bat (Antrozous pallidus), EAT A TASTY CENTIPEDE!!!, family Vespertilionidae, Arizona, USA
photograph by J Scott Altenbach
Dusky Roundleaf Bat Hipposideros ater
A bat found from India and Sri Lanka to the Philippines, New Guinea and Northern Australia. In the Philippines this species is found in rainforests and rests in caves in both forests and agricultural areas. In Australia it sleeps in the daytime in caves, mines and sometimes tree holes, preferably in dark, warm and moist places.
Bat of the Day
Bat Common Name: California myotis
Bat Scientific Name: Myotis Californicus
Suborder: Yangochiroptera (Microbat)
Family: Vespertilionidae
Subfamily: Myotinae
Genus: Myotis
Diet: Insects
Description: Weighing 3-5 g with a body length of 2-3.7 inches
Location: Western North America, southern Alaska south to Guatemala
Fun Facts: They enjoy oak and ponderosa pine woodlands! They roost under bark, and within dead and/or dying trees! They form maternity colonies in cliffs, buildings, and even bridges! Their roosting spots change often! They're one of North America’s smallest bats!!
Common Bent-wing Bat Miniopterus schreibersii
An insectivorous bat found across southern Europe to the Caucasus. It forms colonies that can range anywhere from a few dozen or several million bats. Most of these colonies are formed in large caves or mines but they can also be found in other areas such as tunnels or ruins or other man made sites. In these roosting sites they establish its colony in a "bell-shaped" hollow, which traps body heat and raises the temperature of the roost higher than the surrounding portions of the cave.
Bat of the Day
Bat Common Name: White-winged vampire bat
Bat Scientific Name: Diasmus youngi
Suborder: Yangochiroptera (Microbat)
Family: Phyllostomidae
Subfamily: Desmodontinae
Genus: Diaemus
Diet: Blood
Description: Forearm length of 51-54 mm, with their ears being 18 mm long! Body length of 84 mm, and weighing around 31.7-48.1 g
Location: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad, Tobago, and Venezuela
Fun Facts: They are the only bats in the world that have 22 teeth!! They're not concerned or endangered!! They're social bats and should be kept in colonies and their colonies actually and dominance hierarchies! They also have the compound in their saliva that prevents blood clots! They normally feed on birds but will also feed on livestock! They were discovered in 1893 by Fredericus Anna Jentink!!
