The trefoil horseshoe bat is a species of bat in the family Rhinolophidae. It is found in Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand. In Borneo locally common up to 1,800m, including mangroves. Wikipedia
This unique-looking bat can be found in many parts of Southeast Asia but they are listed as critically endangered in Singapore.
Horseshoe bats have very small eyes which are partly blocked by their nose leaf, limiting their field of vision.
Because of this, they rely on echolocation to navigate, producing sound through their nostril.
The nose leaf helps to aim the produced sound while shielding its ears.
Their ears can move independently of each other while the bat scans its surroundings, allowing its well-developed cochlea to pick up the echoes.
Their diet consists of insects and other arthropods such as spiders.
These bats tend to roost alone on small trees or vines a few metres above the forest floor.
This beauty came up in a conversation with a friend of mine which reminded me of a fortunate sighting I had a while back, where a group of macaques spooked this bat from its roosting spot while they were playing.
If not for them I most likely couldn’t have found the little one.
Text and Photos are by Law Jia Bao
Photos are copyrighted to Law Jia Bao
Please visit his Instagram https://www.instagram.com/yarrick_law/ for more amazing collections of wildlife in Singapore, especially the Raffles’ banded langurs.
