Bats of the United States and Canada

Noninsectivorous Bats

24 bats of the united states and canada Noninsectivorous Bats While most species of bats in the United States and Canada are insectivorous , bats in other parts of the world feed on a variety of items in addition to insects. Many species, including the large flying foxes, feed primarily on fruit, while others feed on nectar and pollen. Several types consume leaf material and sap. Much of the fruit consumed by fruit-eating species is overly ripe and thus not a problem for fruit growers. Fruit bats perform an extremely important function as seed dispersers; many plants depend on bats to scatter their seeds. Lesser long-nosed bats (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae) are important pollinators of a variety of plants, including agaves, from which tequila is made. J. Scott Altenbach recto runninghead 25 Mexican long-tongued bats (Choeronycteris mexicana) consume fruit, nectar, pollen, and possibly insects. Day roosts often are in shallow caves or rock shelters with ample light. J. Scott Altenbach 26 bats of the united states and canada Lesser long-nosed bats (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae) forage at a hummingbird feeder in the Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona. Four species of bats in the United States include nectar in their diet. Troy L. Best Jamaican fruit-eating bats (Artibeus jamaicensis) may spend the day hanging from the leaves or bark of a palm tree. Troy L. Best recto runninghead 27 Nectar-eating bats, like bees and many other insects, are important pollinators. Many plants depend almost entirely on bats for pollination . An example of a very close association between a species of bat and a plant is the relationship between the tube-lipped nectar bat, Anoura fistulata, and a bellflower plant, Centropogon nigricans, in Ecuador. The extremely long flower of this plant is pollinated only by this bat, while the bat feeds on its nectar; the bat extends its 8.5centimeter (3.3-inch) tongue into the flower to reach the nectar. The bat’s tongue is about one and a half times the length of its body; the longest tongue in proportion to body size of any mammal. A few bats eat fish, which they capture by flying low over the surface of the water and gaffing the fish with their exceptionally sharp claws. A few species eat the flesh of other animals, including mice, birds, frogs, and even other bats. Vampire bats feed exclusively on blood. The greater bulldog bat (Noctilio leporinus) of Mexico, Central America, and South America, a fish-eating species, fishes by skimming over water and gaffing fish with its sharp claws. J. Scott Altenbach noninsectivorous bats 27 ...