Bats are very interesting animals. Mostly because they are mammals that can fly. The most interesting thing about my bat is that it is the largest bat native to North America. Also that the western mastiff is a part of the Molossidae family, of free tailed bats.

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The Western mastiff is relatively large with a body length of 5.5 to 7.5 inches. Plus the wingspan of the bat is almost two feet in diameter at 22 inches. The natural color of the Western mastiff is a chocolate brown fur coat. The most identifying characteristic of my bat are their ears. Their ears fold under in to their forehead to feature a noticeable appearance from the other bats in their family and genus.

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The Western mastiff bats are found in the southwest United States. They live in colonies in the sides of cliffs. The colonies can vary for three to over 72 bats at once. The western mastiff bat lives close to their resources of moths and insects, and the most important water. 

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The Western mastiff bat doesn’t have an exact population count, but the population is dropping overall. The reasons why are that the resources of open-water drinking sites are being closed off for human expansion. Also their cliff habitats are being destroyed by highway construction and housing construction. These are examples of what are happening to the Western mastiff in the southwest of United States, like the urban areas of Phoenix, Los Angeles, El Paso, and Las Vegas. Even though the western mastiff population is vanishing in the southwest, the bat is thriving in the pacific coast mountains of California, all the way north as San Francisco.

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The Western mastiff bat is more of a forager. They forage in the fields or dirt for their food. The mastiff bat takes off from his habitat at night to get his prey of small insects. Their prey includes 80% moths, 16% crickets, 3% grasshoppers, and 0.8% unidentified insects. Before the mastiff bat finds his prey he must fly from high altitudes to see from a wide view to then forage.

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From this essay I have learned a lot about a cool, mostly unknown bat. The most interesting thing I learned was that unlike other bats the Western mastiff doesn’t have night vision he must go high in the sky to see the little movements in the weeds. Also they are not aggressive to humans unless you bother them in the habitat. Surprisingly the Western mastiff is the largest species in North America. I’ve learned a ton from this interesting animal; I hope you all did too.

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Author: John A.

Published: 02/2011

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Sources:

 "Western Mastiff Bat (Eumops Perotis)." NSRL Home. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/eumopero.htm.

"Western Mastiff Bat (Eumops Perotis)." Texas Parks & Wildlife Department | Welcome. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/westmastiff/.

"Western Mastiff Bat." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_mastiff_bat