Here are some bats sleeping on the underside of a tree along the river bank. This photo was taken from a boat on a wildlife viewing trip such as yesterday's raft trip. The bats were sleeping during the day on the shady part of a tree. At night they will fly off the tree on which they roost to eat insects. At night they will use a different tree to roost while feeding.Bats are the second most common type of mammals. Only rodents have more species than bats. 105 of the world's 980 species of bats live in Costa Rica. I have seen bats only in small groups such as this on a wildlife viewing river trip, but have not seen bats flying around at night in Costa Rica.
Bats such as these tend to hang upside down because it makes it easier for them to take off and fly by dropping from their roost rather than having to take off and overcome gravity. They tend to feed mostly in the hours after dusk and before dawn, being less active in the middle of the night, and being inactive during the day.
I cannot identify the specific type of bats shown in this photo, as I was content to view them from a distance from a river boat, rather than getting up close. I prefer to let sleeping bats hang.
9 comments:
That's so cool! I have a similar photo taken at Tortuguero! :-) You can check it, if you like, on my travel blog under Costa Rica on labels.
Oh wow, I've never seen bats like this before...interesting. From the portal, I thought they were just markings on the tree!
Never seen nothing similar, and hope not to see it in this part of the world ;)
I remember these. You couldn't see them until the moved.
Oh my gosh i have never seen or heard of this before, this is great thanks for sharing
jm,
I really enjoyed checking out your travel blog, and you photos are great. I saw your similar bat photo from Toruguero, and I was especially impressed with your remarkable photo of the sloth walking upside down along a branch. I have been able to photograph sloths only when they are curled up in high branches, but you got an outstanding photo showing his face and body in action, at least to the extent that you can call the movements of a sloth to be actin.
David, I was so lucky regarding the sloth! Would you belive if I tell you I didn't even used the zoom? He was right there, I could have touched him if I wanted to. :-)
jm,
I am stunned, and even more imptessed. It never entered my mind that your sloth photo could have been anything other than a telephoto. I would encourage anyone who reads this to click on your initials in your comment to follow the link to your travel site, check out the photos of your trip to Tortuguero, Costa Rica, and see the sloth. It is remarkable (and so much better than the sloth photo that I posted on this site).
And I don't blame you for not wanting to touch the sloth.
my goodness - it's the real thing not Halloween decor. amazing & nicely captured
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