Mammals · Chiroptera · Phyllostomidae

Seba's Short-tailed Bat

Carollia perspicillata

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

Seba's short-tailed bat is one of the most abundant bats in tropical America and an essential part of forest regeneration. It feeds above all on the fruit of the genus Piper, the wild peppers, which it finds by smell in the understorey. Each night it can carry hundreds of fruits to its perches, sowing seeds in clearings and degraded areas where the forest needs to grow back. It forms colonies in caves, tree holes and culverts.

Weight

15 g – 25 g

Size

5 cm – 7 cm

Lifespan

10 years

Diet

Herbivore

Feeds mainly on plants.

Activity

Nocturnal

Active mainly at night.

Social structure

Colony

Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

RainforestHerbivore Nocturnal Colonial Rainforest Mammal

18countries 79parks5same family

Fun facts

It is the great sower of tropical clearings: it disperses the seeds of the wild peppers, pioneer plants that colonise gaps in the forest, and without it the regrowth of the rainforest after a disturbance would be far slower.
It is one of the most widely used bats in research on smell, spatial memory and echolocation, precisely because it is abundant and easy to keep in captivity.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)
Habitat & environment: Understorey of rainforest, secondary forest and plantations of tropical America
Sexual maturity: 8.5 months
Gestation / incubation: 3.1 months
Litter / clutch size: 1

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carollia_perspicillata