Large Slit-faced Bat

This bat is 2.75 to 3.75 in (70 to 95 mm) long and weighs less than 2 oz (57 g) (same for male and female). The name of this species comes from the furrow down its face. The furrow is partially covered by its nose-leaf. It has a reddish brown to gray fur on the back and upper areas. The torso is pale grey.

This bat resides uniformly across Eastern, Central, and Western Africa. It tends to be limited to Savannah woodlands and rainforests, especially the coastal forests of East Africa. They use hollowed out trees or rocky caverns as roosting locations. Some examples of trees in which N. grandis tends to roost are Acacia aldiba, Adansonia digitata, and Mitragyna stipulosa. When living in captivity, these bats roost in artificial structures such as houses, culverts, and water towers. Though this bat is an opportunistic predator (diet depends upon prey availability), smaller bats, fish, and frogs constitute much of the biomass of its diet, so changes in rainfall such as drought can be detrimental to them by eliminating larger prey.

It lives in groups and the colony may number up to 60 bats. It spends the day taking shelter and roosting in trees, caves, or buildings, and it is a nocturnal species. They tend to return to the same roosting spot every day. After feeding, they usually groom themselves before approaching others. Females leave their young behind while they leave the roost to forage. Flight activity usually peaks in the hours after dark. Although individuals visit the same foraging sites frequently, a high degree of variation exists between sites, which does not seem to be correlated with similarity to roosting sites. Two foraging strategies are used, hunting from a perch or catching prey while in flight. Except when prey density is low, these bats prefer to perch and wait for prey, or to make short flights out to catch because the net cost of foraging is lower when performed in this way. Because of the broadness of their wings and lower wing loadings, these bats are less adapted to fly over long distances. Although smaller bats are consumed by N. grandis, they are only eaten when they fly into the roosts of N. grandis. N. grandis produces low-intensity echolocation calls at high frequencies, which makes them nearly inaudible except at close range. Instead of relying on echolocation to find their prey, these bats listen for wing fluttering of smaller bats and even insects. However, as N. …