Carollia perspicillataSeba's short-tailed bat

Geographic Range

Central and South America: S, Mexico to Bolivia, Paraguay, and SE Brazil; to 2,400 m elevation.

Habitat

Found in the moist evergreen and dry deciduous forests, usually below 1,000m but up to 1,500m.

Physical Description

  • Average mass
    15 g
    0.53 oz
    AnAge
  • Average basal metabolic rate
    0.24 W
    AnAge

Reproduction

Two reproductive periods. The larger one coincides with peak fruit productions, (June-August) and the other with the blooming of flowers at the end of the dry season (Feb.-May.) Gestation is 115-120 days. Newborns weigh about 5g.

  • Key Reproductive Features
  • gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
  • sexual
  • Average number of offspring
    1
    AnAge
  • Average gestation period
    95 days
    AnAge
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
    Sex: female
    258 days
    AnAge
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
    Sex: male
    258 days
    AnAge

Lifespan/Longevity

Behavior

Will enter a state of torpor when food is lacking. Gregarious with generalized roost requirements. Roost in groups of 10-100 in caves, hollow trees, tunnels road culverts,and less commonly in rocks, under leaves and in buildings. Two roost types: Harem (adult male with many females) and Bachelor (adult and sub adult males without a harem). Peak activity is right after sunset.

Communication and Perception

Food Habits

Generalist, feeding on a least 50 different species of fruit. Also pollen and insects. Generally forage close to the ground.

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Important disperser for many plants. Bats eat up to around 35 fruits of the genus Piper per night, which translates to 350-2,500 seeds dispersed per night per individual. Also may be an important pollinator to many plant species.

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

None known.

Conservation Status

Common and widespread.

Other Comments

Has an excellent sense of smell.

Contributors

Michael Mulheisen (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Glossary

Neotropical

living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.

World Map

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

rainforest

rainforests, both temperate and tropical, are dominated by trees often forming a closed canopy with little light reaching the ground. Epiphytes and climbing plants are also abundant. Precipitation is typically not limiting, but may be somewhat seasonal.

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

tactile

uses touch to communicate

References

Cloutier, D., and Thomas, D.W. 1992. "Carollia perspicillata: Mammalian Species" No. 417, pp.1-9, 3 figs. American Society of Mammalogists.