 with a wingspan of 36 cm. Greater short-nosed fruit bats become mature after 5 – 6 months. They largely feed on guava, lychees, dates, chikoo, and bananas. These kinds of bats are considered to be nuisance for the crops. Besides, they can inflict serious diseases to humans.
Dayak Fruit Bat
The Dayak fruit bat belongs to the Dyacopterus spadiceus family and is mainly found in the Southeast Asia and Sumatra. These bats are not widespread. The average weight of dayak fruit bats is 150 grams. The size of the skull is about 36.1 mm. These types of bats primarily feed on fruits and are mostly found in the canopy of forests.
Species of Dayak Fruit Bat
- D. spadiceus
- D. brooksi
- D. rickarti
The microbats belong to the family of Microchiroptera. They mainly feed on insects. Unlike macrobats, these types of bats use echolocation to locate their prey. They do not have claw at the second toe of forelimb whereas Macrobats do have.
Most of these types of bats feed on fish, frogs, birds, lizards, and birds. The length of these flying mammals is around 4 – 16 cm.
Mexican Free-tailed Bat
The Mexican free-tailed bat belongs to the family of Tadarida brasiliensis. These types of bats are endemic to America and are widespread throughout North America. One the negative side, the population of these mammals has significantly reduced due to the habitat destruction and deforestation.
Mexican free-tailed bat measures around 9 cm (3.5 inches) by length. It weighs about 12.3 grams (0.43 oz). It has a large tail. They have big ears that help them to locate their prey efficiently. They are distributed all throughout Alabama, Utah, Nebraska, North Carolina, Arkansas, Georgia and Mississippi.
These types of bats are largely found in caves or rock crevice. They can also be found in the residential areas like buildings. These types of bats are the migratory mammals in that they travel from Utah, Southwestern Colorado towards southern California as a single unit. There are more than 1.5 million bats in the North America and they feed on more than 4,500 to 14,000 kilograms of insects. They are insectivore and they eat moths, flies, bugs, ants, dragonflies, wasps, and beetles.
Predators of Mexican free tailed bats are American Kernel, Great Horned Owl, Barn Owls, Raccoons, and Red tailed Hawks. They fly at an altitude of 3300 m. Very small quantity of these bats are found under bridges, buildings, and tunnels. The gestation period ranges from 11 – 12 weeks. The chicks are fed for about 5 – 7 weeks continuously until they reach adulthood.
Lesser horseshoe bat
The Lesser Horseshoe Bat belongs to the family of Rhinolophus hipposideros and is relatively smaller specie. These types of bats weigh around 5 – 9 grams, along with a wingspan of 192 – 254 mm. the length of the body is about 35 – 45 mm. The feet are very strong that can grip the rocks and tree branches. They use echolocation in order to detect their prey.
These mammals mostly feed on small insects, flies, moths, and spiders. The newly born chicks weigh around 1.8 g. It takes 6 – 7 weeks for chicks to become fully mature. They roost in the large old caves, buildings, and bridges. They are also found in the foothills or highlands. These kinds of bats fly at an altitude of 1160 m above the sea level.
Kitti’s hog-nosed bat
These types of bats are extensively found in caves and near-water places together with the deciduous forests. These mammals exist in Tenasserium Hills, Dawna Hills, Sai Yok District, Kanchanaburi Province.
The average size of a single roosting group consists of 100 – 500 bats. They do migrate but not regularly.
Seychelles Sheath-tailed Bat
The Seychelles sheath-tailed bat belongs to the family of Coleura seychellensis and is largely found in the Central Islands of Seychelles. However, the population has been recently found to decline rapidly. They mainly subside in Madagascar. These types of bats are considered to be an endangered species for only 100 are living today.
Habitat destruction and deforestation are the few of the main causes of their rapid extinction. These kinds of bats