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0 The Honduran white bat is a tiny species of bat that one could easily mistake for blobs of cotton on a bright, sunny day. These cute little creatures are unique and serve to destroy most stereotypes based on bats in the modern world.
These exquisite little creatures are currently amongst the six only species of bats (out of nearly 1300) to have completely white fur.
Unfortunately, these once abundant critters now find their populations decreasing rapidly and are now classified as “Near Threatened” on the IUCN Red List.
Today, we’ll look at the significance of the Honduran White Bats, their behaviour, habitats, and the factors that have declined their population to an almost dangerous level. Let’s get started!
Physical Characteristics
Scientific Name: Ectophylla alba
Class: Mammalia
Genus: Ectophylla
Order: Chiroptera
Family: Phyllostomidae
Conservation Status: Near threatened
Population: Not known, but is decreasing
Size: 1.46″ to 1.85″ (3.7cm to 4.7cm), with 4″ (10.2 cm) wingspan
Weight: .20 ounces (5.7 grams)
Life Span: 20 years
What is a Honduran White Bat?
The Ectophylla Alba or the Honduran white bats are a small species of bats that belong to the Phyllostomidae family (also known as the leaf-nosed bat family). These bats were considered a separate species in 1892 courtesy of an American zoologist named Harrison Allen.
The Honduran White bats are the only members of their genus Ectophylla, which is derived from the Ancient Greek words “ektós” and “phúllon” meaning “out” and “leaf” respectively, referring to the way its nose is shaped. The species name “Alba” is derived from “Albus” which stands for “white” in Latin.
They are also one of the only two small “Frugivorous” bat species in the world, meaning they dine exclusively on fruits. In the Honduran white bat’s case, these fruits are only a single species of figs, namely, the F. Colubrinae.
What Does a Honduran White Bat Look Like?
Honduran white bats have entirely white fur, which sets them apart from the other 1300 species of bats except for six. It is also recognized by its protruding triangle-shaped nose (similar to a leaf) and has an average length of between 3.7 and 4.6 cm. The average wingspan of a Honduran bat is 10.2 cm, and their forearm length usually falls between 2.5 to 2.8 cm.
In addition to their fur, Honduran bats have a distinctive orange colour on their face, ears, nose, and some parts of their wings and legs. They also have little to no hair on their otherwise black wings.
The average bat from this species only weighs 5-6 grams and has no tail with large, rounded ears. The distinct orange colour visible on several parts of their body is due to the large number of carotenoids present in their body.
They also have natural protection from the Sun’s UV radiation through a thin black membrane covering the skull and wings.
Why are they white?
While scientists aren’t exactly sure what makes these bats white, the generally accepted theory is that these bats evolved to have white fur to ward off predators.
Since these bats like to roost (live) by making a tent between leaves, the theory is that the white fur helps to reflect the green colour of the surroundings making them hard to spot for predators.
Another popular theory also suggests that when rested, the white fur makes these bats look strikingly similar to a wasp nest, which most predators would prefer not to approach.
Ectophylla Alba Lifespan, Habitat and Behavior
Dietary Habits
Similar to other “tent-making” bats, the Ectophylla Alba are fruit eaters. While they may change their behaviour if they find themselves in a pinch (food shortage), these bats mainly feed on a single type of fig with an asynchronous crop (fruits all year round).
Although these bats may move their roosts (living place) occasionally, they almost always settle near these specific fig trees to make it easier to get food.
Scientists suspect the Honduran bats must consume food from alternative sources since surviving on such a narrow diet is unlikely.
Behavior and Diet
Honduran bats are, in general, a very social species. Like all bats, they are nocturnal and tend to hunt during the night and sleep during the day.
Since these bats have a very narrow-range diet (feeding on only a single type of fig), they have a much higher range of foraging (moving around for food) than other bats that feed on fruit.
While these bats use echolocation to navigate through the forest at night, they aren’t particularly loud and mainly communicate with each other through touch and visual means.
Honduran bats aren’t particularly aggressive and would rather hide than strike out against other predators. Even though they return to the same colony and leave after they forage for food, they aren’t known to defend their colony and are not considered territorial.
Habitat and Range
Although Honduran bats can be found roosting in colonies at any fruit tree near their food source, they prefer to build roosts out of heliconia leaves the most.
A single heliconia leaf can, at any given point, house between one to six individual bats, typically one male and five females.
Their roosts are constructed by strategically cutting a leaf from understory plants. This is usually done by female Honduran white bats who cut the leaf from its outermost edge to the mid-rib using teeth.
These tents provide the bats a safe place to roost during the day while also protecting them from rain and predators. Heliconia plants also have a structurally fragile stem and thus also act as a warning alarm for the bats if any predator tries to enter the roost through the plant.
The Honduran White bat population is mainly centred around Western Panama and Central America (mainly the Caribbean lowlands), plus the eastern parts of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Honduras.
In colonies, the bats prefer not to reside in a single tent all year round but rather alternate their roosting positions occasionally. These tents are typically scattered over a very wide range as these bats are known to have the highest foraging distance amongst leaf-nosed bat species.
Lifespan
Most information on the Honduran white bats has not been documented properly enough to accurately deduce its lifespan. However, a close guess is possible by judging information from closely related sources. Researchers believe that an average Honduran white bat can live for up to 20 years.
How do Honduran White bats reproduce?
Honduran white bats typically live in roosts of around five or six. Their mating season generally begins during the warmer and wetter part of the year in Central America, this is generally between May and August.
During this season, a single, sexually active, male Honduran white bat roosts with five or six females at a time. Research suggests that the brightness of nose leaves is typically used as a metric to choose a suitable mate by female Honduran bats. In short, the brighter the nose leaves, the higher the chance to mate for male white Honduran bats.
Female Honduran white bats in a colony also have a “synchronized birth,” meaning all the births occur within a single week. The gestation period lasts up to 3 weeks, and the colony splits into two right after the pups are born.
After birth, the males leave their current roosts to band together and form a “bachelor” roost, whereas the females and new pups band together to form a “maternity” roost. The bachelor roosts usually consist of around five or six males at a time.
It takes around 20 days for the pups to fly and an additional 15 days for them to fully mature. During this time, the female Honduran bats take care of the pups and feed them.
Female Honduran bats are also known to nurse and care for the pups of other female bats who have gone out to forage. This care lasts until the mother finds her way back to the roost.
After the 35-day mark, the pups of Honduran white bats are fully matured and almost identical to the adults in the colony in size and colour.
The males of the colony usually have no role in the upbringing of offspring after the “mating” part of the process.
Once the offspring have matured and left the roost, the bachelor and maternity roosts dissolve, and the colony returns to its usual schedule. Although it is suspected that female Honduran white bats can get pregnant twice a year, they are generally known to breed only once annually.
Differences between Male and Female Honduran White Bats
The sexual dimorphism (difference in physical characteristics between the two genders) of Honduran white bats has yet to be sufficiently explored. Generally speaking, males are considered to have a slightly larger average in terms of physical characteristics.
For instance, the nose of adult males is suspected to have a brighter shade of yellow than adult females.
Most information about Honduran white bats is currently up for speculation by researchers because of how shy and uncommon the species is. After discovering the first Honduran white bat in 1898, it took over sixty more years for us to discover another bat belonging to the same species.
Are Honduran White Bats in danger?
Honduran white bats are currently classified as “near-threatened” by the IUCN due to the rapid decrease in its population. However, this status is only because the Honduran white bat population’s decline has not surpassed a 30% decrease over the last three generations (currently assumed to be around 18 years for the Ectophylla Alba).
In short, the Honduran white bats as a species are only a few inches away from having their status changed to “vulnerable” by the IUCN.
Habitat Loss
The primary contributor to the rapid decline in the Honduran white bat population is the area’s rapid agricultural and urban development.
For example, only in the last century, Costa Rica has gone from having 80% forested land in the 1940s to only having 20% by 1987, which had a very negative impact on the Honduran bat population in the country.
However, there’s a good side to the story. Costa Rica had an awakening (sort of) in the late 1990s and made it illegal to chop down forests.
Since then, the country has set an example for the world and defeated deforestation by, once again, having more than 60% of its land covered in forests today with more than half a million different species of plants.
Unfortunately, not every country the Honduran bat resides in has made similar efforts, and there’s still a lot more to do until the decline in population stops.
These bats are only found in specific places worldwide, and they’re even more specific about the type of food they eat and the trees on which they roost.
Hence, when they lose their primary food source and roosting due to such development, these bats cannot accommodate themselves with other arrangements.
The reduction in the number of the F. Colubrinae fig trees and the Heliconia plants leaves the species particularly vulnerable to predators, too.
Although researchers speculate that Honduran white bats have several predators, the most notable include owls, snakes, and monkeys (the Capuchin and the Central American Squirrel monkey).
Efforts to save the Ectophylla Alba
Currently, no large-scale programs or conservation efforts are specifically targeted to save the Honduran white bat population.
Rather, the future survival of these bats has been more dependent on the general efforts of the population and environmental groups to halt deforestation of the area in which these creatures just so happen to reside.
Honduran white bats can survive in agroforestry habitats, which suggests that coexisting with humans might be possible for the species. However, they can only survive in small numbers currently.
Aside from the IUCN’s designated status, Honduran white bats do not hold any particular status on the CITES or other U.S. lists in general because they do not exist in their highlighted territories.
Are Honduran White Bats a threat to humans?
Honduran bats are, by no means, threatening. While calling them friendly would be a bit far-fetched, they’re not aggressive. The correct words to describe their behaviour would be shy/timid and sweet.
These bats usually keep to themselves and shy away from confrontation by every means possible. Furthermore, their teeth are small and specialized for eating fruits, so they prefer not to bite humans.
Of course, that doesn’t mean they will not bite at all. The possibility of a bite from a Honduran white bat is real but unlikely, especially since they’re usually okay with being held (only by an expert, of course).
Since the probability of a bite from such bats is very low, the fear of diseases such as rabies usually doesn’t apply to these bats.
Honduran White Bats as household pets?
Being as cute as they are, it makes sense to want to keep this tiny little critter as a pet. However, doing so would mean taking intensive precautions and care all year round.
Since these bats are used to a constant climate all year round in their natural habitat, they don’t need to hibernate.
A Honduran white bat owner would need to replicate the exact natural environment of the bat and provide it with its optimal roosting leaves along with a year-round supply of the specific fig that these bats love to feed on. Besides that, replicating their natural environment is next to impossible.
Furthermore, failing to meet these requirements would result in health complications arising very soon in captivity.
Importance of Honduran Bats
Ectophylla Alba is currently being researched to help combat macular degeneration inside humans.
The pigmentation (orange/yellow colour) of the nose, ears, and lips is produced due to substances known as carotenoids. The Honduran white bats are the only known mammals in the world to have enough of these substances in their system to change skin colour.
These bats can make lutein from free lutein, an essential carotenoid that helps prevent damage to the retina and restore vision.
Researchers are keen to study Honduran white bats and hope to link the production of carotenoids in these bats to come up with treatments for blurred and loss of vision in humans.
All in all, Honduran white bats are tiny little flying critters that serve to destroy most of the existing stereotypes about bats. Weighing in at around 5-6 grams, these bats do not roost in caves but rather leaves and eat only a specific fig throughout the year.
They’re amongst the only six species of bats (out of 1300) with natural white fur and the only mammals known to process carotenoids (which are the reason for the bright yellow/orange colour of their nose, ears, and lips).
Unfortunately, these populations of these unique critters are being threatened due to the urbanization of their habitats, and they’re now soon to be classified as “vulnerable” by the IUCN.
Even though they’re already considered “nearly threatened,” no real effort has been made for their conservation. If efforts to save these unique creatures aren’t made soon, the Earth might lose one of the most unique little critters of the bat family in the coming century.
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FAQs
Are Honduran bats friendly?
While not exactly friendly, Honduran bats aren’t aggressive either. They’re actually pretty sweet and shy and would rather prefer to hide or flee from predators rather than confront.
Do Honduran White bats transmit rabies?
The probability of a Honduran white bat carrying rabies isn’t that high. These bats have a higher chance of being wiped out completely in comparison to carrying rabies.
Are Honduran white bats good pets?
Keeping a Honduran white bat as a pet is close to impossible. Not only will you have to replicate their exact natural environment but also meet their dietary habits and space requirements.
Are Honduran white bats rare?
Honduran white bats are evaluated as “near-threatened” by the IUCN and are actually a bit rare to encounter. In fact, between the discovery of the first Honduran bat and the second, there was actually a gap of over 60 years!
