Natural History:
The pallid bat is a saxicolous species, which literally means they live in rocks. Typical roosts are cracks and crevices in rock walls, although they sometimes roost in caves and, especially in other parts of their range, in man-made structures. The flight of pallid bats is usually slow, with close-quarter maneuvering and hovering. They typically forage near the ground, where they glean large insects. Pallid bats emerge relatively late in the evening, forage, and then move to night roosts before foraging again prior to returning to their daytime roost before dawn.
Adults may attain the following dimensions: total length 115-135 mm; length of tail 40-53 mm; length of hind foot 12-16 mm; length of ear 26-31 mm; weight 16-22 grams.
As noted above, pallid bats are among the only bats that capture insects on the ground. They fly slowly, with much fluttering and hovering, and when prey is located, alight before attempting to capture it. They then carry their prey to a night roost, where they eat and rest. These roosts can be identified by the accumulation of unconsumed hard parts of terrestrial insects, such as Jerusalem crickets, grasshoppers, scarab beetles, ground beetles, and scorpions.
It appears that the greatest natural enemy of this species is man. Owls probably catch a few, and other predators that forage around roosts occasionally might catch 1.
The pallid bat is a saxicolous species, which literally means they live in rocks. Typical roosts are cracks and crevices in rock walls, although they sometimes roost in caves and, especially in other parts of their range, in man-made structures. The flight of pallid bats is usually slow, with close-quarter maneuvering and hovering. They typically forage near the ground, where they glean large insects. Pallid bats emerge relatively late in the evening, forage, and then move to night roosts before foraging again prior to returning to their daytime roost before dawn.
Adults may attain the following dimensions: total length 115-135 mm; length of tail 40-53 mm; length of hind foot 12-16 mm; length of ear 26-31 mm; weight 16-22 grams.
As noted above, pallid bats are among the only bats that capture insects on the ground. They fly slowly, with much fluttering and hovering, and when prey is located, alight before attempting to capture it. They then carry their prey to a night roost, where they eat and rest. These roosts can be identified by the accumulation of unconsumed hard parts of terrestrial insects, such as Jerusalem crickets, grasshoppers, scarab beetles, ground beetles, and scorpions.
It appears that the greatest natural enemy of this species is man. Owls probably catch a few, and other predators that forage around roosts occasionally might catch 1.
These bats mate in late autumn or early winter. Females store the sperm in their reproductive tract until ovulation occurs in the spring. Births occur in maternity colonies in May or June. yearling females give birth to just 1 young, whereas older females may have twins. Pups begin flying at 4 to 5 weeks of age, and normal flight occurs by the age of 42 days.