EnglishA question via Twitter:
“Is it true that Nicaragua is home to the world’s 2nd largest bat?”
– Tours To Nicaragua (@NicaGuide)
The answer is a qualified “yes.” Nicaragua is home to the spectral bat, the largest known carnivorous bat, and a member of the megabat family.
The largest of the “megabats” is the Giant golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus), a rare fruit bat whose wingspan can be almost six feet. Nicaragua’s spectral bat (Vampyrum spectrum) generally has a wingspan just under three feet, and is believed to be the largest carnivorous bat in the megabat family. There may be other fruit bats, in addition to the Giant golden-crowned flying fox, which are larger than the spectral bat, but the spectral bat is larger than all other carnivorous bats.
Pictured above is our director of conservation science, Dr. Kim Williams-Guillen (R), with the famous bat expert Merlin Tuttle (L), Nicaraguan biologists, and a spectral bat found at Nicaragua’s Volcan Mombacho during a 2008 workshop on methods for surveying bat populations.
Let us know if you have other questions about the flora and fauna of Central America!