| Bulldog or Fisherman bats Temporal range: Pleistocene to Recent |
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|---|---|
| Noctilio leporinus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Chiroptera |
| Suborder: | Microchiroptera |
| Superfamily: | Noctilionoidea |
| Family: | Noctilionidae Gray, 1821 |
| Genus: | Noctilio Linnaeus, 1766 |
| Species | |
The Noctilionidae family of bats, commonly known as bulldog bats or fisherman bats, are represented by two species, the Greater Bulldog Bat and the Lesser Bulldog Bat.[1] They are found near water, from Mexico to Argentina. The Naked Bulldog Bat (Cheiromeles torquatus) does not belong to this family, but to the family Molossidae, the free-tailed bats.
The bulldog bats have orange to brown fur, and range in head-body length from 7 to 14 cm. They have relatively long legs and large feet, exceptionally so in the case of the Greater Bulldog Bat. Unusually among bats, they have cheek-pouches for storing food, which give them their bulldog-like appearance. Both species are insectivorous, although the Greater Bulldog Bat also eats small fish, using its echolocation to pinpoint the ripples they make on the surface of the water.[2]
The greater bulldog bat trawls the water with it long curved talons approximately 2–3 cm below the surface. It makes sweeps of between 30 cm and 3m before ascending and turning to make a return sweep. In a single night the bat may catch 20-30 small fish in this way.[3]
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Noctilio Noctilio] at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Noctilio at Wikispecies
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