What is a Sword Nosed Bat?
The bat is not the most attractive animal, and the sword nosed bat is even more unattractive. This bat is not considered a high risk to be around unlike other bats. This bat can’t be found in North America, as it’s only found in South America. So, if you are living in North America, you won’t have to worry about any chance encounters with this species.
The Description of a Sword Nosed Bat
The sword nosed bat is also known as the lonchorhina aurita. This bat’s body only equals to about 6 centimeters, and the tail itself is about 5 centimeters long. This bat is so small, that it only weighs about 13 grams.
It is considered to be a medium sized bat although it is rather small, and it has long, brownish fur. The nose is another story, and is very long which is how it inherited its name. The nose measures to 2 centimeters, and is referred to as a pointed noseleaf. If you look closely at it, it is fleshy leaf-like appendage at the tip of its nose, which closely rivals its large pointed ears. This feature of the nose is believed by scientists to play the role of mandating the echolocation call.
The Life of the Sword Nosed Bat
The life of the sword nosed bat isn’t really all that exciting, and it tends to do most of activity during the evening. Bats have always been known to come out at night, and have not been seen during the day. For this creature, many are thankful because they aren’t very attractive to look at. They are slow, but agile, so they fly very slowly with a hovering action. This bat is not very likely to get close to humans as they tend to hover around tree tops.
The diet of the sword nosed bat isn’t very demanding either. They typically have a simple diet of fruit and insects. These bats are not attracted by anything large, and are not accustomed to eating foods that we would eat on a regular basis. Their large ears act as radars for them, giving them the benefit of very keen and sensitive hearing. Every miniscule sound is something that they can tune into, allowing them to get close to their prey within vegetation. These bats also tend to travel in rather large numbers, where they can range from the hundreds to the thousands in one specified area. They tend to reside in caves in other countries but it is only known in Guyana by one specimen that was found over a dry creek bed in the in the Iwokrama Forest. These bats are usually found in the lowland rainforest climate, and are not known to be as common as other bats. They may be becoming endangered due to the lack of forestation, but that has not been verified at this time. This particular species is also unlike other bats in the respect that they do not hibernate, but they aestivate. Aestivation means that they will lay dormant during the summer months rather than the winter months. Due to the nature of these bats, this seems to be most effective for them so that they can survive the grueling temperatures, because they readily acclimate to cooler temperatures.
It is not known at this point if the sword nose is known for anything in particular, and there are not a lot of details. While we do know that they are the most diverse species of bats, it is unclear if they serve any other purpose any other than that they can rid the area they reside in of insects.
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