Wild kids

Common name: Little Forest Bat
Scientific name: Vespadelus vulturnus
Photo: G. B. Baker/Nature Focus, Australian Museum

Bats

Little Forest Bat

Little Forest Bats are small bats that live in tree hollows and in the roofs of houses in south-eastern Australia. They are about 4 cm long with grey-brown fur covering their body.

This Little Forest Bat is about to catch an insect.

Little Forest Bats fly high above the treetops (canopy) at night searching for flying insects. They find insects by making small sounds through their mouths that humans cannot hear. The sounds bounce off objects and come back to the bat. The bats listen to the sounds that come back and are able to tell where things are. This is called echolocation. When they know where an insect is they hunt it down.

These bats catch insects in the stretch of skin between their back legs (the tail membrane) and carry them back to their roost to eat. They pull their prey apart with their sharp teeth.

Females give birth to one live young in November each year. The young bats are born helpless and without hair. The young bats feed on milk from nipples located under their mother's armpits until they are old enough to hunt for food themselves.