Birth of a Bat

In the course of field work last week, we had a most strange and wondrous experience. We'd gone south, to Belize's Mountain Pine Ridge, doing a bat survey which involved using harp traps as well as acoustic recording. As the name implies, the harp trap has "strings" suspended on a frame, and depending on placement, the bat flies into the strings and tumbles gently into a canvas holding bag. Bruce retrieves the bat, records the pertinent data and releases it, unharmed.

On this day, a nectar feeding bat, Hylonycteris underwoodi, gave birth in his hand! No sooner had he pulled her from the soft cotton holding bag, just like that, her baby popped out. It was total surprise to all of us. You can see it in the photo above, a wet little package that the mother is holding with her feet.

Given the unexpected birth, we wondered whether to put the pair in a warm, dark place to "bond" or what exactly was the best post natal care to offer. As it turned out, the mother bat knew just what to do and wasted no time going about it. She hiked the baby up to her breast with a foot and launched, disappearing into the forest, heading for home.