Sundevall's roundleaf bat facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sundevall's roundleaf bat |
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Hipposideros
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| Species: |
caffer
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| Sundevall's roundleaf bat range | |
Sundevall's roundleaf bat (Hipposideros caffer), also called Sundevall's leaf-nosed bat, is a fascinating type of bat that belongs to the Hipposideridae family.
These bats look very similar to another bat called the Noack's roundleaf bat. For a while, scientists even thought they were the same species! While new research shows they are different, they might be part of a larger group of very similar bats that are hard to tell apart.
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What Does the Sundevall's Roundleaf Bat Look Like?
Sundevall's roundleaf bat is a medium-sized bat. Its body, from head to tail, is about 8 to 9 centimeters (around 3 to 3.5 inches) long. Its wings can spread out from 20 to 29 centimeters (about 8 to 11.5 inches) wide. Adult bats usually weigh about 8 to 10 grams, which is roughly the weight of a few paper clips.
These bats have long fur that can be either gray or a bright golden-orange color. Their wings are brown. The fur on their belly is usually lighter than on their back.
They have big, round ears with a special flap called an antitragus. They also have a unique, horseshoe-shaped nose-leaf on their face. This nose-leaf has a small bump on each side and an extra bumpy ridge of skin behind it.
Both male and female bats have an extra pair of small, non-working teats near their back legs. In females, these can be quite long, but they are never used for feeding pups. Scientists think these "false teats" might simply give baby bats something extra to hold onto while they cling to their mothers.
Where Do Sundevall's Roundleaf Bats Live?
Sundevall's roundleaf bat is quite common. You can find them in almost every African country south of the Sahara Desert. They also live in Morocco, Yemen, and parts of Saudi Arabia.
Scientists recognize four different types, or subspecies, of this bat. However, it's not always clear exactly where each type lives:
- H. c. angolensis
- H. c. caffer
- H. c. nanus
- H. c. tephrus
These bats are most often found in savannah areas, which are grasslands with scattered trees. They tend to stay away from the thick rainforests in central Africa. But they are very adaptable! They have also been seen in Acacia shrublands, bushveld (a type of woodland), and in forests near the coast or those with mopane trees.
How Do Sundevall's Roundleaf Bats Behave?
Sundevall's roundleaf bats mainly eat moths. Moths can make up to 92% of their diet! They are picky eaters, though. They have been seen avoiding certain types of arctiid moths. These moths make ultrasonic clicks to warn bats that they taste bad. These bats also eat small amounts of beetles, flies, and other insects. Bat hawks are known to hunt and eat these bats.
These bats fly relatively slowly, but they are very good at moving around in the air. They can even hover in one spot for short times! They usually catch moths and other prey while flying. But they can also snatch fluttering insects right off the ground.
They use echolocation to find their food. This means they send out high-pitched sounds and listen for the echoes. This helps them tell the fast movement of insect wings from other things nearby. Their calls are a steady sound for about 6 milliseconds, followed by a quick, downward-sweeping sound. The exact sound frequency changes depending on where the bat lives, but it's usually around 140 kilohertz.
During the day, Sundevall's roundleaf bats rest, or roost, in caves, hollow trees, or human-made places like mines or attics. Some cave roosts can be huge! One cave in Gabon was reported to have as many as 500,000 bats living in it. In these colonies, it seems that one dominant male bat controls access to several females. While they don't truly hibernate, they sometimes enter a state called torpor during cold weather. This is like a short, light sleep where their body temperature and activity slow down to save energy.
Sundevall's Roundleaf Bat Life Cycle
In the northern and southern parts of their range, these bats breed during the winter. In areas closer to the equator, they have only one breeding season each year. This season might happen during the Northern Hemisphere winter or the Southern Hemisphere winter. This means that even populations living close to each other might not breed at the same time.
Pregnancy, or gestation, lasts about three to four months. However, in some groups of bats, the baby's development is paused for a while. This "delayed implantation" means the baby isn't born until five to seven months after mating.
The female bat gives birth to a single baby, called a pup. When born, the pup is blind and has little to no hair. Baby bats actually grow a set of "baby teeth" while still inside their mother, but these teeth are gone by the time they are born. Pups start to fly when they are about one month old. They stop drinking their mother's milk, or are fully weaned, at about three months old. By then, they are almost the size of an adult bat. They become old enough to have their own babies when they are one or two years old.
