Fawn Roundleaf Bat

Fascinating facts about the Fawn Roundleaf Bat

• First spotted by John Gould in 1854, this bat was initially placed in a different genus before a century-long taxonomic shuffle landed it in Hipposideros. Hill's 1900s revision and a 1981 review by Hill and Jenkins finally cemented its species name, while four subspecies still bear the imprint of early 20th-century naturalists, batchianus (1901), cervinus (1854), labuanensis (1859) and misorensis (1906).
• From sea level up to 1,400 m above sea level, this bat across the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, New Guinea and the Torres Strait islands of northeast Australia. Its presence on remote islands and a handful of mainland sites near Cape York and Coen, Queensland.
• The IUCN listed the fawn leaf-nosed bat as Least Concern in 2021, reflecting a presumed large, widespread population tolerant of some habitat change. Yet a Queensland regional assessment flags it as vulnerable to extinction, and the species may already be gone from Singapore.
• A medium-sized leaf-nosed bat, its forearm spans just 45-48 mm, head-and-body length reaches 41-51 mm and ears tip out 13-15 mm. Weighing between 5.6 and 8.5 g, the average adult tips the scales at 7.0 g.
• In 1958, researcher Medway counted roughly a quarter-million individuals roosting in Niah Cave, a single colony of about 250,000 bats.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Fawn Roundleaf Bat

In the lush, vibrant forests of Southeast Asia, the Fawn Roundleaf Bat flits through the darkness with effortless agility, its delicate, rounded ears and broad, flat face guiding it with precision as it navigates the intricate web of tree branches and foliage. As it moves, its wings beat at a hypnotic pace, casting a mesmerizing spell of silence and stealth, allowing it to stalk its insect prey with deadly precision. With its soft, tawny fur and large, round eyes, this enchanting creature embodies the very essence of the forest's nocturnal magic.

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