Ghost Bats

The Redlist IUCN list this animal as Endangered

The largest Australian microbat. Its body length is approx 98-120mm. It weighs approx 75-145 grams. You can see how long the fingers are!

The Ghost bats tail is absent

Photographed at the Alice Springs Desert Park

Go Here to see our video of this Ghost bat at the Alice Springs Desert Park.

To find bats you may smell them before seeing them. You could also find their toilet site on the ground of an old unused building or in a cave etc.

All these skeleton photographs were taken at the Western Australian Museum

Upper jaw was 4cmL x 2.5cmw

Lower jaw

You can hear a Ghost bat which may give you another clue as to which bat is flying around.

They use echolocation and sight to find their prey.

They are found in the Pilbara and the Kimberley of Western Australia where they roost in caves, crevices or mineshafts. They can live in large colonies or in small numbers.

Flying foxes are very different in their biology, they eat different food and collect it differently. They also make different sounds and calls but there is a strong smell in the air around their camp.

Go Here to hear our recording of a flying fox in Kunnunurra in the Kimberley, WA

At the Alice Springs Desert Park I asked them...

How do they interact with the same sex and opposite sex?

"A social group is established and interaction is similar between both sexes. Only during the breeding season when females are pregnant or have young does the group composition change dramatically where bachelor and maternal groups become established."

When are they most active and for how many hours a night?

"Being nocturnal they are most active at dusk and dawn when they go in search of food, the time in between feeding they spend suspended from trees and cave walls in an alert fashion always on guard for an opportunistic feed."

What does it eat?

This is a carnivorous bat eating ground animals such as frogs, geckos, small birds and mammals including other bats and in the air it catches insects. They bite their prey to kill it and then take to a cave or crevice to eat it. It does not suck blood.