Lesser Bamboo Bat (Tylonycteris pachypus)
One of the smallest of all mammals is the Lesser bamboo bat (Tylonycteris pachypus) also known as the bumblebee bat which lives throughout Southeast Asia. The animals range from India and China down through Myanmar, throughout the Malaysian Peninsula, and across the island chains of Indonesia and the Philippines. The tiny flying creature is ridiculously small and measures only 40 millimetres (1.6 inches) in length with a wingspan of 150 millimetres (5.9 inches). An adult bat weighs approximately 1.5 grams–only slightly more than a paper clip.
Lesser Bamboo Bat (Tylonycteris pachypus) emerging from daytime hideout
As you will notice from the photo, the bamboo bat has a flat skull. This is to aid the creature as it crawls into its daytime hideout—a single segment of bamboo—which the bat is capable of squeezing into through cracks of as little as 4 millimeters in width (if you didn’t pull out your desk ruler earlier to assess the size of this bat, you should do so now to remind yourself how small 4 millimeters is). Like most vesper bats, the lesser bamboo bat lives on flying insects which it catches in the dark night skies by means of sonar and extraordinary flying prowess. The lesser bamboo bat is said to have a particular relish for termite swarms.
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4 comments
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October 6, 2011 at 11:38 AM
Diana
That is so crazy!!
October 6, 2011 at 12:22 PM
Hieronymo
I can’t get over the idea that they live in a single bamboo segment–how cozy!
From now on whenever I am passing through the haunted forests of Burma I will look at the bamboo groves with new respect knowing they are skyscrapers for bats smaller than a keyfob.
October 12, 2011 at 2:28 AM
Diana
That IS so amazing. If only we could all be so industrious!
May 20, 2012 at 3:03 PM
Alexa Carrie Gantt
Is there any information that has been recorded discussing migration routes, if any, and if they are gregarious. I read that they are in a harem-type colonizing fashion. Is there any credit to this?
Also, is there anywhere I can find information about breeding times? There is a very discrete amount of information to find via interweb, any advice would help in the greatest amount!
Thank you!