Nycteris hispida

Geographic Range

Hairy slit-faced bats, Nycteris hispida , are common in Africa south of the Sahara desert. There are two subspecies; N. h. hispida lives in Uganda, Sudan, and Somalia, whereas N. h. villosa lives in South Africa and Mozambique.

• Biogeographic Regions
• ethiopian ethiopian
  • native native

Habitat

These bats are at home in both human populated communities and in the wild. In settlements they are found roosting in roofs or empty rooms. In the wild they can be found resting in bushes, aardvark holes, termite mounds, hollow trees and papyrus crowns. N. hispida lives just about anywhere, from dry open country to moist woodlands and marshes, often flying through papyrus swamps.

• Habitat Regions
• tropical tropical
• terrestrial terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland savanna or grassland
• forest forest
• rainforest rainforest
• scrub forest scrub forest

• Wetlands
• marsh marsh
• swamp swamp

• Other Habitat Features
• urban urban
• suburban suburban
• agricultural agricultural

Physical Description

Slit-faced bats in general share a common physical feature. A "slit" runs down the muzzle and ends at the nostrils. Around this slit is a nose-leaf. The interorbital region of the skull is deeply concave. N. hispida has ears longer than its head, which are connected near the base of the ears by a membrane. N. hispida also has a small tragus, small eyes, broad wings, and a long tail with a T-shaped tip made of cartilage. The dental formula for N. hispida is 2/3, 1/1, 1/2, 3/3 = 32. The forearm rages between 36 and 45 mm in length, and the ear is 18 to 25 mm long. The young have forearms that are about 15 mm long. Their fur is brown and long.

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic endothermic
• bilateral symmetry bilateral symmetry

Reproduction

There is not much detailed literature on the reproductive habits of N. hispida . It is likely that these bats are monogamous; pairing is quite common, and animals are often found in family groups.

• Mating System
• monogamous monogamous

In Zaire, it was noted that most births occurred in the spring months of March and April. However, there was another minor birthing season in September. One offspring is born to a female per breeding season. Adult size is reached in about two months, but the mother will still fly with her young clinging to her. Although the age of weaning is not known for this species, in another member of the genus, N. nana , females continue to nurse their offspring from 45 to 60 days.

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous iteroparous
• seasonal breeding seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual sexual
• fertilization fertilization
• viviparous viviparous

Little is known about parental investment in this species, though it has been documented that N. hispida is similar to other mammals in that the mother will care for her young until it is ready for independence. The mother apparently carries the young with her. The role of males in parental care has not been documented.

• Parental Investment
• pre-fertilization
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female

Lifespan/Longevity

No information is available on the longevity of these animals.

Behavior

Like all other bats, N. hispida uses flight as the primary form of locomotion. Typically, hairy slit-faced bats are found in groups of 20 or so individuals, though solitary animals are often seen. They roost during the day and become active about two hours before dusk. They are known to be very attached to their roosting site, and will return to it even after being frightened away.

N. hispida is a slow flying bat, but very agile and can easily navigate thick and difficult territory. However, they hunt for insects on the surface of leaves or walls more often than catching them in the air.

• Key Behaviors
• flies
• nocturnal nocturnal
• motile motile
• sedentary sedentary
• social social

Home Range

Unknown.

Communication and Perception

Because N. hispida is active during the night, vision is almost useless. Therefore, like many bats, they use echolocation to perceive their environment. They emit sounds that are often a higher frequency than humans can hear, and use the sound waves that bounce back as a type of radar to know their surroundings. The slit down a hairy slit-faced bat's face may have some role in echolocation.

There are some kinds of social communication in this species. When a young bat was separated from its mother, it called out and a different bat left the roost, even though it was day. Communication calls between mother and young are common in many bat species.

• Communication Channels
• acoustic acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual visual
• tactile tactile
• acoustic acoustic
• ultrasound ultrasound
• echolocation echolocation
• chemical chemical

Food Habits

Hairy slit-faced bats eat small insects (flying or otherwise) including moths, gleaned mainly from well lit walls or from the ground. It may be inferred from its feeding habits that N. hispida uses vision in a supplemental manner.

• Primary Diet
• carnivore carnivore
  • insectivore insectivore

• Animal Foods
• insects

Predation

It has been reported that these bats are sometimes killed by birds of prey such as owls and marsh harriers, as well as snakes and other mammals, including other bats. Their ability to avoid capture while in flight is a key tactic for survival.

Ecosystem Roles

Like other bats, N. hispida eats large amounts of insects, likely affecting insect populations.

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Humans certainly benefit agriculturally from the large amounts of insects eaten each day by bats. And in turn, humans create "restaurants" for these bats when at night street lights or store signs attract many insects. The guano of these bats can be used as fertilizer.

• Positive Impacts
• produces fertilizer
• controls pest population

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

There are no known adverse affects of N. hispida on humans.

Conservation Status

N. hispida is found throughout Southern Africa and does not seem to be threatened by the growth of towns or cities.

Additional Links

Encyclopedia of Life

Contributors

Nancy Shefferly (editor), Animal Diversity Web.

Alice Park (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Phil Myers (editor, instructor), Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

References

Balcombe, J. 1990. Vocal recognition of pups by mother Mexican free-tailed bats, Tadarida brasiliensis mexicana . Animal Behaviour , Vol. 39: 960-966.

Kingdon, J. 1984. East African mammals : An atlas of evolution in Africa . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Meester, J. 1966. Preliminary identification manual for African mammals . Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Nowak, R. 1997. "Slit-faced Bats, or Hollow-faced Bats" (On-line). Walker's Mammals of the World Online. Accessed April 01, 2004 at http://www.press.jhu.edu/books/walkers_mammals_of_the_world/chiroptera/chiroptera.nycteridae.nycteris.html .

Vaughan, T., J. Ryan, N. Czaplewski. 2000. Mammalogy . Orlando, FL: Saunders College Publishing.