New Zealand Long-tailed Bat
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| New Zealand Long-tailed Bat | ||||||||||||||
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| Chalinolobus tuberculata |
The New Zealand Long-tailed Bat, Chalinolobus tuberculata, also known as the Long-tailed Wattled Bat or Pekapeka-tou-roa (Māori), is one of 15 species of bats in the genus Chalinolobus variously known as "pied bats", "wattled bats" or "long-tailed bats". It is endemic to New Zealand, but is closely related to five other species of wattled or lobe-lipped bats in Australia and elsewhere.
It is the more 'common' of the two extant bat species in New Zealand and is widely distributed throughout the North and South Islands, Stewart Island, Little Barrier and Great Barrier islands, and Kapiti Island.
Long-tailed bats are smaller than the short-tailed bat, chestnut brown in colour, have small ears and weigh 8 to 11 grams. They are believed to produce only one offspring each year. The bat's echolocation calls include a relatively low frequency component which can be heard by some people. It can fly at 60 kilometres per hour and has a very large home range (100 km²). An aerial insectivore, it feeds on small moths, midges, mosquitoes and beetles.
