Featured Species: Tent-making Bat (Uroderma bilobatum)

Tent-making Bats (Uroderma bilobatum)

This Tent-making Bat (Uroderma bilobatum) is found in the lowland forests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico to southeastern Brazil. This medium-sized bat has gray coat with a pale white stripe running down the middle of the back. Its face is characterized by four white stripes and a fleshy noseleaf. It feeds mainly on fruits, but can supplement its diet with insects, parts of flowers, pollen and nectar.

Tent-making Bats (Uroderma bilobatum)

Its common name comes from its behavior of building tents on large leaves of such plants as bananas or palms. They bite through the veins of the leaf so that it bends to form an inverted V-shaped shelter. This "tent" offers shelter from the sun, wind and rain, where they hang upside down.

Tent-making Bats (Uroderma bilobatum) may roost in groups of 2 to 10 individuals, although colonies of up to 60 have been known.

Tent-making Bats (Uroderma bilobatum) - female with young

Female tent-making bats may reproduce twice in one year. In Panama, pregnant females have been observed in February and in June. Each litter consists of only one pup, which is born after a gestation period of 4–5 months. The nursing females form maternity colonies of 20–40 individuals in one tent roost. Roosting in groups may have thermoregulation benefits for the pups and lactating mothers. They do not carry their young with them on their nightly foraging flights; however, it appears that they may first move their pups to more protected roosts before beginning to forage. The pups become independent after one month.

Tent-making Bats (Uroderma bilobatum)

There's a coevolution of a group of flies that have become parasitic on these mammals. Bat flies live in the fur and on the wing membranes of bats, feeding periodically on blood.

Tent-making Bats (Uroderma bilobatum)