Bat Nets

Tonight we captured bats with PhD student Hernani Oliveira. He is studying the diet of bats by analyzing the DNA in their feces. You can see his amazing pictures here: www.flickr.com/hernanif 

The fruit bat we observed tonight was pregnant. We learned that when the mother gives birth she either flies with her baby holding on which takes a lot of energy. She may also leave the baby with other females as bat "babysitters" or just leaves the baby alone in a tree branch if she has no other option. Male bats don't stick around for child rearing.

We also closely observed the bat wing structure and saw the bones of the wing are similar to the bones in a humans arm and fingers. They are the only flying mammals. Usually bones are heavy in mammals, but in this species the bones are light and hollow to help them fly.