Seba's short-tailed bat

Seba's short-tailed bat(Carollia perspicillata)

Phylum —chordata
Class — mammalia
Order — chiroptera
Family — phyllostomidae

Genus – carollia

Appearance

Seba's short-tailed batis a small to medium-sized bat with relatively short ears, and a short, triangular nose-leaf. They have fur that is dense and soft, and can be a variety of colors, ranging from black to brown to gray, with both albino and orange individuals found in certain areas. Sexual dimorphism varies in Carollia perspicillata based on geography.

The adult length is 1.8–2.5 inches (4.6 – 6.4 cm). Adults weigh between 0.6–0.7 ounce (17 – 20 gr). Adult wingspan is about 8–9 inches (20–23 cm).

Habitat

Seba's short-tailed batis primarily found in Mexico, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Trinidad, and Tobago.

Behavior

Groups of Carollia perspicillatawill roost in numbers from 10-100, in caves, hollow trees, and in tunnels. They will usually roost during the day, and will forage at night. There are two different types of roosts found in these bats: harems and bachelor roosts. In a harem roost, there is a single male, some females and their offspring. Bachelor roosts are used by males without harems, with females joining seasonally.

Males are territorial of their roosts, and will often fight other intruding males by means of boxing. Males follow a pattern of behavioral stages before fighting. This entails ear movements, head lifts, neck craning, wing unfolding, punch mimicking, and finally boxing with each other. Even though this is aggressive behavior, either male is allowed to stop fighting and leave the conflict, and injuries usually aren't worse than a few scrapes and bruises. Males use distinct vocalizations during conflicts, which might be used to determine the identity of the competitor, and based on that information, parts of the pre-fighting stages can be skipped, and the animals will begin boxing.

Diet

Carollia perspicillata is known to eat a large variety of fruit, as well as some flowers and insects.

Reproduction

It has been shown that there are two different reproductive periods in the year, one being from June–August, and the other from February to May. The June–August period coincides with a period of high fruit production, and the February–May period with a large amounts of flowers.

Gestation periods are about 120 days, and young are born precocial. Newborns grow quickly, and reach full adult body weight after about 10–13 weeks, and will usually leave the parental harem after about 16 weeks. All females will reach sexual maturity by the time they're one-year-old, and males will reach sexual maturity within the first two years of being born.

Seba's short-tailed bathas a long lifespan, being able to live up to ten years.

In captivity

If this animal is constantly kept in an enclosure, the enclosure must be spacious and located in a dark place. The optimal size of the enclosure for 20-50 individuals: 1.5*2*3 meters. Living in a room, before evening feeding, these bats must be released from the cage to move.

Their diet consists of a mixture of finely chopped fruits (mainly apples, pears, bananas, grapes, oranges, rarely kiwi and avocado) with the addition of yogurt, honey, pollen, olive oil, as well as trace elements and vitamins. Food is given in excess, in the enclosure must always be drinking water.

The temperature in the enclosure ranges from 25-27 ^оС, and the relative humidity is 70%. In such conditions, Seba's short-tailed batssuccessfully reproduce, and the females successfully feed their offspring.