Bats (moved from the Watering Hole forum)

We have the most wonderful bats here - approximately 40 species found in the area of the Greater Kruger National Park alone. The main ones that we see are the Epaulletted Fruit Bats as they are so large but there are lots of insect eating bats that are much smaller. Throughout the area a lot of the camps etc have introduced bat hotels and it is fascinating that they know to the minute depending on the month of the year when the bats will emerge to start feeding. They cannot fly when there is torrential rain as their sophisticated radar systems do not work then so spare a thought that on those nights they starve!

Thanks Penny..I think bats are very neat - and they do help by eating the state bug of Michigan - "The Mosquito"

Mini Monkey

That's so interesting, Penny! I keep wondering if the flashes we see at night flying by are bats/insects/birds. Every now and then one seems to dive directly into the waterhole - and not come out. A bat wouldn't do that, would it?

I am sure that the bats would be diving across the surface of the water for insects! They can consume 100's of thousands in one night alone! We also need them for our mozzies!

There are 8 species of fruit-eating (Megachiroptera) bats in Southern Africa:

Wahlberg's epauletted bat
Angolan epauletted bat
Gambian epauletted bat
Peter's epauletted bat
Dobson's fruit bat
Straw-coloured fruit bat
Egyptian fruit bat
Bocage's fruit bat

and an (amazing) 65 species of insect-eating (Microchiroptera) bats have been described in the region which are divided into 6 different groups:

Sheath-tailed bats
Slit-faced bats
Horseshoe bats
Vespertilionidae ( Leaf-nosed bats, long eared bats, hairy bats)
Free-tailed bats
Molossidae

The fruit eating bats are, in general, larger than the insect eaters

On a global scale the Megachiroptera include both the largest and smallest of bats. The flying fox of New Guinea has a wingspan of 1.8 m [6 ft] while another African species has a wingspan of only 180 mm [0.7 in]

The above information is courtesy of Wildlifecampus
www.wildlifecampus.com