Bat Facts | Peruvian Amazon Wildlife Guide

One of the most numerous mammals found throughout the Amazon is bats. You may easily come across them slumbering by day halfway up a tree, folded up in a banana palm or roosting inside a cracked fence post. Bats are nocturnal and most are lunarphobic, which means they avoid bright light, even moonlight.

The majority of these animals are frugivores or insectivores. Despite some bat species’ peculiar looks, these creatures are generally harmless to humans and are actually quite helpful as pollinators, seed dispersers, and pest exterminators. While most bats feed on mosquitoes, moths and other insects, others eat fruit or lap nectar from night-blooming flowers. A few species feed on fish, frogs and small vertebrates. But no matter what they feed on, bats are highly beneficial, both ecologically and economically, especially if left alone.

Bats have developed a highly sophisticated sonar system called echolocation. These creatures emit calls that bounce off objects around them and send signals back. As a result, bats can determine how far away an object is, how big it is, and even what texture it might have.

The native bat species in the Peruvian Amazon come in many sizes and colors. Some of the bats you may come across during your visit to Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve are the fishing bat, the sharp-nosed bat and the tent-making bat. 

Header Credit: Gavin Lautenbach

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