Short-tailed Leaf-nosed Bat

The short-tailed leaf-nosed bat (Carollia perspicillata) is a nocturnal mammal. The forearm and four elongated fingers support the bats' wings.

Size: The head and body length is 48-65 milimeters with a forarm length of 34-45 millimeters. The short-tailed leaf nosed bat can grow to 10-20 grams.

Life Span: 2.5 to 10 years

Color: Brown to rusty color

Continent: South America, Africa

Range: Southern Mexico to Paraguay and southern Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada in the Lesser Antilles

Habitat: Humid tropical evergreen forest as well as caves, mines, rocks, culverts, hollow trees, logs and buildings

Food: Short-tailed leaf nosed bats eat primarily fruit, such as guavas, bananas, wild figs and plantains.

Reproduction: The young (the "pup") is ¼ the weight of its' mother. This is the equivalent to a 120-pound woman giving birth to a 30-pound baby.

Fun Facts: Bat droppings in caves support whole ecosystems of unique organisms, including bacteria useful in detoxifying water, improving detergents, and producing gasohol and antibiotics.

Conservation: Bats are exceptionally vulnerable to extinction because they are the slowest reproducing mammals on earth for their size, most production only one pup annually.