bats – סלומה

Honduran white bats! They make a tent by chewing the leaf to cause it to
collapse downward like that, and then huddle up together inside to
roost.

Aside from bees and butterflies, bats are
one of the most important pollinators on the planet – especially in
tropical and desert regions. (Source)

Bats pollinating flowers.

The
Hardwicke’s woolly bat will roost inside of carnivorous pitcher plants,
where it provides the plant with nutrients (guano) in exchange for
shelter.

A woolly bat interrupted from its nap and removed from a carnivorous pitcher plant.

Carnivorous plant finds way to attract bats
Pitcher plants traditionally gain nutrition by trapping and digesting
insects, but in Borneo one particularly large variety of pitcher plant
has managed to adapt itself to take advantage of an alternative source
of nutrition thanks to its rather unusual relationship with bats.

Known as Nepenthes hemsleyana,
the species is still capable of catching insects but does not need to
consume as many because it supplements its nutritional intake with bat
droppings. To attract bats the plant has developed a unique
reflector mechanism that mirrors their ultrasonic communications thus
making it a lot easier for the animals to find it.

“With
these structures, the plants are able to acoustically stand out from
their environments so that bats can easily find them,” said study
co-author Michael Schöner. “Moreover, the bats are clearly able
to distinguish their plant partner from other plants that are similar in
shape, but lack the conspicuous reflector.”

Honduran white tent bats roosting under a heliconia leaf, which they sever down the length of its midrib to create a ‘tent’ that provides a waterproof shelter and protection from potential predators.

The Honduran white bat has snow white fur and a yellow nose and ears. It is tiny, only 3.7-4.7 cm long. It modifies its immediate surroundings for its own benefit, by cutting the side veins extending out from the midrib of the large leave of the Heliconia plant causing them to fold down to form a ‘tent’. They cling to the roof of this tent in small colonies of up to half a dozen individuals, consisting of one male and a harem of females.