Lesser bamboo bat

6-8 years

Lesser bamboo bat exhibits a strong dietary preference for insects, primarily consuming a variety of small arthropods. Intricately adapted to a highly insectivorous diet, its feeding habits play an essential role in maintaining local insect populations.

Lesser bamboo bat is a small bat with a sleek, elongated body and soft, dense fur. Its main coloration is brownish-yellow, featuring dark, broad bands on the dorsal side. Unique adaptations include balloon-like outgrowths on its soles and an elongated rostrum. There are no significant differences observed in appearance due to age, gender, or subspecies.

Lesser bamboo bats typically roosts in the slit bored into the shoots of bamboo by leaf beetle larvae. The entrance slit to such cavities is too restrictive for most predators, such as snakes, but the flattened head of the bamboo bat allows it to enter. Although the exact species vary across their range, in Malaysia, the preferred bamboo is Gigantochloa scortechinii, and the beetles are most commonly Lasiochila goryi. The bats sometimes use rock crevices or holes in trees as alternative roosting sites. Females tend to roost in small groups of about five individuals, although larger groupings of up to 38 have been reported. Males roost alone, or in small groups of up to six. Individuals switch roosts every day, and larger groupings tend to be temporary. The bats are insectivorous, with flies, beetles, and hymenopterans forming the bulk of their diet. They catch insects on the wing, using echolocation calls that start at 125 kHz and drop to 50 kHz.