Thyroptera tricolor

Whew, I am glad that NaBloPoMo is over, but when I came into the office this morning and turned on my computer, I automatically logged into my blog! I guess I am in the daily blogging mode (for now). I will still try to post as much as I can (and if I have anything interesting!). Since I spent the last month making lists, there are a couple of things I saw that didn't fit into the listing category. One super-cool (and uncommon) animal that I was lucky to see was Thyroptera tricolor -- Spix's disk-winged bat. These bats are really small and delicate. They live inside the rolled-up leaves of Heliconia, Calathea, and banana plants. They stick to the sides of the leaf using little suction cups located on their thumbs and feet (you can see them in the pictures).

The little fella that I was able to photograph was captured and brought to the lab, where he stayed inside a large glass graduated cylinder. After getting a few pictures he was returned to the wild. I am always looking for Thyroptera in the field, but they are very difficult to find. Whenever I look into rolled-up leaves, I usually just end up finding huge spiders!