Sooty mustached bat facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sooty mustached bat |
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|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Pteronotus
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| Species: |
quadridens
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| Subspecies | |
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P. q. quadridens |
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| Synonyms | |
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Lobostoma quadridens Gundlach, 1840 |
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The sooty mustached bat (scientific name: Pteronotus quadridens) is a small type of bat. It belongs to a family of bats called Mormoopidae. You can find these bats living in several Caribbean islands. These islands include Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico.
Contents
About the Sooty Mustached Bat
The sooty mustached bat is the smallest bat in its group, the Pteronotus genus. Their color can change from grayish-brown to yellowish-brown. Some bats even become orange-brown. These color changes can show how old a bat is. They can also happen if the air in their home (roost) has a lot of ammonia. Their whole body is covered in fur, except for their wings and tail membrane. Their lower jaw is about 8 to 9 millimeters long. Their forearm, which is part of their wing, is less than 41 millimeters long.
Reproduction and Life Cycle
Sooty mustached bats usually have one baby at a time. It is very rare for them to have twins. They start mating around January. Most female bats become pregnant in May. When a female bat is pregnant, her body weight increases by about 38%. The largest baby bat recorded weighed 1.8 grams. This was about 30% of the mother's body weight.
During the time when bats are having babies, male or female bats might leave the caves. However, more females are usually found in the caves during this period. This suggests that male and female bats might live separately when the mothers are raising their young.
Bat Life and Environment
Where Sooty Mustached Bats Live
Pteronotus quadridens bats live only in caves. They are very common bats in places like Cuba and Puerto Rico. Scientists believe that all the bat fossils found are from a long time ago, during the late Pleistocene or Holocene eras. It is also thought that the ancestors of these bats came from Central America.
What Sooty Mustached Bats Eat
The sooty mustached bat is an insectivorous bat. This means it eats only insects. They mostly eat flying insects. These bats start looking for food about 10 minutes before the sun sets. They continue to hunt for food all night long. They do almost all of their hunting while flying.
How Sooty Mustached Bats Use Echolocation
Sooty mustached bats use echolocation to find things. They make special sounds to do this. First, they make a sound that stays at a steady high pitch, around 81 to 84 kilohertz. After that, they make a sound that changes pitch, going lower. When these bats fly in small, tight spaces, their sounds are shorter. The sounds also have a wider range of pitches compared to when they are flying in open areas.
Who Hunts Sooty Mustached Bats
Sooty mustached bats can be hunted by birds that fly during the day. This is because the bats are the first to leave their caves just after sunset. Birds like the American kestrel, red-tailed hawk, and Falco columbarius (also known as a merlin) are some of the animals that hunt these bats.
See also
In Spanish: Pteronotus quadridens para niños
