Honduran White Bat

Honduran White Bat Profile

The Honduran white bat is also known as the Caribbean white tent-making bat and is a species of bat that is found in Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and western parts of Panama.

It is unique to all bats in that it has a distinctive, completely white fur which occurs in only six of well over 1,300 species of bat. They have a yellow leaf-shaped nose and ears, and a black membrane on their wings.

It gets the ‘tent-making’ name as it builds ‘tents’ out of plant leaves, that it first cuts carefully with its teeth. These bats roost in the tents during daylight.

Honduran White Bat Facts Overview

Habitat:

Rainforests

Location:

Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama

Lifespan:

15 – 20 years

Size:

4 – 5 cm

Weight:

5 – 6 grams (0.18–0.21 oz)

Color:

White fur, yellow ears & nose

Diet:

Fruit (figs in particular)

Predators:

Snakes, possums, owls

Top Speed:

20 mph (15 kph)

The Honduran white at is one of only two small species of bats that are frugivorous – meaning, it feeds on fruit. In fact, it prefers one single variety of fig and seeks fig trees that are close to their roosts.

The average home range of one of these bats is less than a quarter square mile and scientists struggle to see how this bat can survive on such a limited food source. There are suggestions that there are likely supplemental food sources involved.

The reproductive behaviors of the Honduran white bat are mostly unknown. Speculation puts births at occurring in April and September. Pregnant females have been noted in Costa Rica in February, March, June, July and August.

The litter size is usually just a single pup with mothers returning to the tent roost up to six times in an evening to feed their pups which can fly at 3 to 4 weeks of age. There are also suggestions that the female Honduran white bat can become pregnant twice in a calendar year although this has yet to have been completely proven.

Over sixty years passed between the discovery of the first Honduran white bat in 1898 and the second discovery in 1963.

The bat is currently listed by the IUCN as near-threatened and it meets this category criteria simply because the population of this flying creature is in a ‘significant decline.’ However, that being said, the Honduran white bat is also on the verge of qualifying for the designation of ‘vulnerable.’

Habitat loss for the Honduran white bat in the form of conversion to farmland and an expanding human population are the main threats to this white bat species. As it feeds primarily on one species of fig, habitat loss will impact the population numbers greatly.

Interesting Honduran White Bat Facts

1. They nest in Heliconia plant leaves, by building upside-down V-shaped ‘tents’

By cutting along the veins of the leaf with their teeth, they force them to collapse into a v-shape, which is enough for anywhere between 1 and 15 bats to shelter and sleep. They huddle up together.

2. The leaf tents help protect them from rain, hot sun, and predators
It clings to the roof of its tent and the leaves are generally 6 feet off the rainforest floor and dense, hidden away from most danger.

3. The white fur of a Honduran white bat makes them ‘invisible’
As sunlight filters through the green leaves of a white bat roost, the whitish fur coat of this bat appears green – making it virtually disappear if it remains still.

4. The Honduran white bat will remain motionless in their tent
They are so confident that they are protected in their roost that the tiny bat will not fly away or try to escape from a threat unless the stem of a leave the roost is made from is actually disturbed.