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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing sucker-footed bats. These small mammals are named for the adhesive discs found on their wrists and ankles. Regardless of what their name implies, sucker-footed bats don’t actually use suction. Instead, they secrete a sticky fluid from the discs which helps them stick to surfaces. Think along the lines of a snail on its sticky foot. The name confusion came about because the bats were originally believed to use suction to adhere to things, but it was later refuted. Sucker-footed bats aren’t the only bats that have this trait, either! The others actually do use suction and live in the Americas. Their adhesive discs are on stalks that aren’t present in the sucker-footed bats. It’s an example of convergent evolution!

There are two living sucker-footed bat species. What’s more, the second species was only described in 2007. Sucker-footed bats are endemic to Madagascar, which means they are only found living there. Fossil evidence suggests they once flew the skies over the African continent as well, but they aren’t known to live there anymore. One species lives along the eastern side of the island, and the other species lives in the North West corner and is commonly referred to as the Western sucker-footed bat.

These flying mammals are generally forest dwellers, but they do well in disturbed areas which can’t be said for many Madagascar species. The bats often live on forest edges, forests on the edges of water systems, and even plantations. They roost in the leaves of palm trees and other palm-like plants. As the leaves grow out, they have to slowly unfurl, and the bats love to utilize them during this unfurling process before they’re fully grown out. The Eastern sucker-footed bat species roosts in separate sexes being found only in same sex groups. In the western species, the leaves are co-ed. Sucker-footed bats change their roost every few days, moving to a new place that may be close but not the same leaf. It’s not uncommon for them to roost in groups as well. Typically these groups have about a dozen members, but upwards of 50 have been seen all huddled together in a single place!

The smooth surface of the palm leaves helps keep ectoparasites away. The small animals can’t get a grip on the slippery surface, so the bats have been found without ectoparasites, which is highly uncommon for mammals. Another odd trait that sets these bats apart from most bat species is that these bats roost with their head facing upwards. Their adhesive discs facilitate this. They don’t need to stay upside down when they can just adhere any way they want! What’s more, the bats use their long tail to help prop themselves up while roosting. It’s like a built-in kickstand.

Sucker-footed bats are small. Their wingspan only reaches about 4.5 inches (11.4 cm) long and they weigh 10 grams at their largest. That’s about the same weight as two standard sheets of printer paper. The western sucker-footed bat species is slightly smaller and paler than their eastern congeners. These bats are brown to gray with a darker face, ears, and wing membranes. Their chest and belly are lighter. Something that sets sucker-footed bats apart from other bat species, y’know, aside from their sticky discs, are the mushroom-shaped features present at the base of their ears. These aren’t seen in other bat species. Sucker-footed bats have broad ears and lack a leaf-nose, but they do use echolocation to hunt.

These bats forge as far as 1.2 miles (2 km) away from their day-time roost, but they most frequently stay nearby. Their echolocation may consist of long or short calls, which is another odd feature about them. Sucker-footed bats mainly eat insects captured through aerial hawking, which is when prey is caught in flight. Their meals include moths, beetles, and cockroaches but also spiders and ants which may be gleaned from vegetation surfaces as opposed to scooped from the air. While hunting, these bats fly in open areas or along forest edges over water or grasslands. Little is known about sucker-footed bat breeding, but it's seasonal and seems to correlate with the austral summer (from October to December) so births occur when food is most abundant.

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