Woermann's long-tongued fruit bat
| Woermann's long-tongued fruit bat | ||||||||||||
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skull |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Megaloglossus | ||||||||||||
| Page engraver , 1885 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Megaloglossus woermanni | ||||||||||||
| Page engraver, 1885 |
Woermann's long- tongued flying fox ( Megaloglossus woermanni ), also known as the African long- tongued flying fox in contrast to the Southeast Asian long- tongued flying fox (Macroglossini) , is a small species of flying fox found in the West and Central African rainforest belt from Sierra Leone to Uganda and on the island of Bioko in the Gulf of Guinea occurs.
features
Woermann's long-tongue flying foxes are very small and reach a total length (tip of the snout to the end of the tail) of 6 to 7.9 cm and a wingspan of 22.5 to 25.5 cm. The animals are dark brown in color, the belly is a little lighter. The back hair is soft and about 6 to 8 mm long and light brown with dark brown tips. Males and females are similar in size. The neck collar of the males is whitish, the hair on the throat, upper chest and neck are orange. Characteristic of the species are the long snout and the long (20 mm), narrow tongue ending in a brush-like tip. As with other nectar-eating bats, the molars are very small and have no function. Sometimes they don't pierce the gums. The eyes are large, the ears rounded and black-brown in color. The tail is very short.
Way of life
The animals live in primary and secondary rainforests, on clear-cuts, banana plantations and other agricultural areas within rainforests and in regions where small rainforests alternate like a mosaic with savannas, on Bioko also in Afromontane forests up to altitudes of 1400 meters and in mountain rainforests with a lot Moss growth up to heights of 1800 meters. Usually they move in the lower levels of the forest only a few meters above the ground. During the day they sleep in the foliage of bushes, small trees and bananas.
Woermann's long-tongued fruit bat feeds primarily on nectar and also on pollen . Animals kept in captivity did not eat fruit or insects, but drank honey water. When they eat, they do not hover in front of the flowers like the nectar-eating American leaf noses (Phyllostomidae) like hummingbirds , but land near the flowers beforehand. The plants that Woermann's long-tongued flying fox visit for nectar intake include the liver sausage tree and the papau . Since nectar mainly consists of different types of sugar that are used immediately, the metabolic rate of the animals fluctuates greatly. Their body temperature is usually only about 3 ° C above the ambient temperature and during cooler days or nights they fall into a topor, a state of rest with a lowered body temperature. The females get a single young animal per birth, rarely two.
literature
- Meredith Happold: Genus Megaloglossus Woermann´s Long-Tongued Fruit Bat, page 266–268 in Meredith Happold and David Happold (eds.): Mammals of Africa Volume IV. Hedgehogs, Shrews and Bats . Bloomsbury, London, 2013, ISBN 978-1-4081-2254-9