Rain forest life

Today I got to have a nice look at a recently-built bat tent made by the species Ectophylla alba, more commonly known as the white tent bat. These bats construct "boat-style" tents from the leaves of Heliconia plants (these leaves look a bit like banana leaves). To make these tents, a bat chews through the leaf near the midvein so that the sides of the leaf fall down and shelter the bats within. The little group I visited today consisted of 6 individuals, but the other group I found a while back had 5 individuals. These bats are so cute and if you meet someone that hates bats, show them a picture of these guys and it will change their mind. Ectophylla look like little round fluffy white cotton balls with light yellow ears, face, and noseleaf. I have included a couple of pictures.


I also have some nice photos of an Agalychnus calidryas, the red-eyed tree frog. This one is a female I found in the lab clearing sleeping on a leaf! She didn't mind me taking photos and just kept on snoozing.

Well, that's all in a day's work out here in the rain forest!