#megadermatidae

Ghost Bat Macroderma gigas

Found in northern Australia. It is the only Australian bat that preys on large vertebrates – birds, reptiles and other mammals – which they detect using acute sight and hearing, combined with echolocation, while waiting in ambush at a perch. Prey may be taken at or to the ground, where it is enveloped with the wings and killed with bites to the neck. Their sharp teeth and strong jaws are able to subdue animals as large as the bar-shouldered dove.

A ghost bat (Macroderma gigas) in Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia

Most bats feed exclusively on fruit, nectar, or insects, but the ghost bat has its eye on much larger targets. This species is able to use its large ears to locate and hunt microbats, rodents, and small birds like budgerigars, in addition to their diet of large arthropods.

(Image: A ghost bat () swooping in for the kill by Duncan Mackenzie)

Ghost bat (Macroderma gigas) in the Northern Territory of Australia

Ghost Bat (Macroderma gigas)

Family: False Vampire Bat family (Megadermatidae) 

IUCN Conservation Status: Vulnerable

Most bat species feed either on small, flying insects or on the fruits of trees, but this relatively large microbat, named for its pale coloration, is unusual in that it feeds largely on vertebrates (mainly birds, lizards, frogs and small mammals, including smaller bats.) Found in scattered populations across northern Australia, Ghost Bats spend the day roosting in small colonies within caves, mines and cavities in rocks, and emerge at night to hunt (typically in wooded areas, ranging from arid woodlands to rainforests.) They hunt in a manner more akin to an owl than to a typical predatory bat: after arriving at a suitable hunting site they position themselves on an elevated tree branch and wait for signs of prey, which they detect using echolocation, an acute sense of hearing and sensitive eyes. They subdue their prey with their teeth; airborne prey (which may be as large as Bar-Shouldered Doves, which are only slightly smaller than a Feral Pigeon) is brought to the ground by a series of powerful bites to the head and neck, while terrestrial animals are pinned to the ground by a specialized claw on the bat’s thumb and then torn apart by its jaws. As they typically breed deep in caves almost nothing is known about the reproduction of this species except for the fact that they typically produce only a single pup at a time, and that said pup clings to its mother constantly until it is mature enough to hunt on its own - when its mother flies, the pup is able to ride on her belly by clinging onto her fur as well as one of a pair of non-functional “false nipples” that seem to serve the sole purpose of allowing the pup to maintain its grip. The Ghost Bat is threatened by the destruction of roosting sites used by colonies, and by the abandoning of otherwise suitable roosting sites following disturbances by human activity (it has been reported that after being scared away from a roosting site members of this species may not return for months or even years, and without a safe roosting site they are vulnerable to predation during that day.) One of the largest and most important colonies of Ghost Bats is found in the Mount Etna Caves National Park in eastern Queensland.

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Image Source:https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/41326-Macroderma-gigas