Four Cute Bats to Help You Celebrate Halloween and Bat Week

Today is both Halloween and the last day of Bat Week, which makes it the perfect day to admire beautiful bats like these four from Bats: An Illustrated Guide to All Species!

1. Hairy-legged vampire bat

This vampire bat is present in a wide variety of forested habitats from northern Mexico south through Central and South America to southeast Brazil. It has gray fur and pronounced skin folds around the nose and beneath the large black eyes. The flat, wide nose is sensitive to temperature, allowing the bat to find the best spot to bite its prey: where there is a rich blood supply close to the skin’s surface. This widespread, but rather scarce species, hunts in forest and more open habitats. It roosts in groups of about ten in caves, derelict buildings, and tree holes. Roosting groups show a consistent social hierarchy. They usually take blood from large birds roosting in trees. The bat settles on the same branch’s underside and feeds from the bird’s foot for about half an hour.
 

2. Lyle's Flying Fox

This is a declining species with a scattered distribution in southeast Asia, from south Vietnam through Cambodia to Thailand. It is also present in Yunnan, China. A large bat, it has bright reddish-golden fur with a blackish face and ears. It occurs in damp wooded areas and may visit orchards for food, as well as forage in the forest. It is hunted for bushmeat in Thailand and Cambodia, and, like other flying foxes, is widely persecuted as a crop pest, although colonies within the grounds of Buddhist monasteries in Thailand enjoy strict protection. Only twelve colonies are known in Thailand, the largest of which holds 3,000 individuals. Just three colonies are known in Vietnam. It appears to have undergone dramatic though poorly documented decline.
 

3. Painted bat

This small, attractive bat occurs across much of southeast Asia, from Myanmar and south China south through to Malaysia and western Indonesia. It is also known from parts of India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh. It is a striking and colorful species, particularly in flight; the arms, fingers, and adjacent parts of the membranes are bright orange-red, standing out against the blackish central parts of the wing membranes. The function of its unusual coloration is unknown. The body and tail membranes are also orange, becoming white on the belly.

This is a species of dry forest and also visits plantations. It emerges after dark to undertake hunting flights that last an hour or two. It takes prey from on and around foliage near the ground, such as grasses and bushes, using a slow, fluttering flight. This bat has been observed roosting in male–female pairs (the female often accompanied by her single offspring) within folds of dying banana leaves. Other day roosts include old birds’ nests. This species is affected by loss of dry forest and changes to plantation management, but remains fairly common.

4. Common vampire bat

This species occurs from north Mexico through Central and South America to north Argentina and Chile. With long legs and elongated thumbs, it can run and jump easily on the ground when approaching prey—and make a quick, vertical take-off. It has large, sharp incisors and canines. It roosts mainly in small groups in hollow trees and caves in a wide variety of tropical and subtropical habitats. It depends on large mammals, particularly cattle or livestock, to obtain blood—the saliva contains anticoagulants, so the blood flows freely. At the roosts, territorial males defend groups of females. The females have close social ties, maintaining friendships with mutual grooming and reciprocal sharing of blood meals through regurgitation. This bat is overpopulated, has become a costly pest, and unfortunately requires control in ranching areas. Direct threats to humans, however, are minuscule.

Read more in Bats, which is available from Smithsonian Books. Visit Smithsonian Books’ website to learn more about its publications and a full list of titles. 

Excerpt from Bats: An Illustrated Guide to All Species by Marianne Taylor with photographs by Merlin Tuttle © 2018 Quarto Publishing plc; All photographs © MerlinTuttle.org