Long-tongued Bat

Fascinating facts about the Long-tongued Bat

• The Mexican long-tongued bat is the only species placed in the genus Choeronycteris, making it a singular representative of that taxonomic group. Its genus name comes from the Greek words for "pig" and "bat", a nod to its distinctive appearance. The specific epithet mexicana reflects the bat's distribution across Mexico and neighbouring countries. This combination of unique taxonomy and name origin highlights its exclusive place in bat diversity.
• Its tongue can extend up to a third of its total body length, allowing the bat to reach nectar hidden deep inside long-corolla flowers. The tongue is long, narrow and extendible, specialised for nectar feeding, and is covered with tiny hair-like papillae that become thornier toward the base. These papillae help the bat grip the nectar-rich interior of blossoms.
• When roosting, each individual hangs 2-5 cm apart from its neighbour, suspended by a single foot, which gives it the ability to swivel freely on its perch. The species chooses caves or abandoned buildings for daytime roosts, providing sheltered but accessible sites. If disturbed, the bat tends to fly toward the opening and light rather than deeper into the roost, a rapid escape response.
• The Mexican long-tongued bat relies on echolocation like all microchiroptera, emitting calls that are especially tuned to high frequencies between 65 and 80 kHz. Remarkably, it also responds to much lower sounds around 5 kHz, giving it a broader acoustic range than many of its relatives. This dual sensitivity helps the bat navigate and locate food in the varied habitats it occupies, from thorn scrub to mixed oak-conifer forests.
• In southern Arizona the Mexican long-tongued bat frequently visits hummingbird feeders to sip nectar, supplementing its diet of floral nectar with pollen collected from agave plants and a variety of fruits. By exploiting both artificial and natural food sources, the bat can maintain its energy needs throughout the breeding season. This flexible feeding strategy supports its migratory movements that follow regional nectar availability.

Sources

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

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Long-tongued Bat

In the warm, golden light of a desert dusk, the long-tongued bat unfurls its delicate, almost translucent wings, taking to the evening air with a soft, whispery flutter. As it dances through the cacti-studded landscape, its remarkably long, extendable tongue darts in and out of its mouth with lightning speed, gathering the sweet, energy-rich nectar that sustains it. With each nimble, aerial maneuver, this tiny, nocturnal marvel weaves an intricate, high-stakes tapestry of survival, its very existence a testament to the boundless ingenuity of evolution.

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