Wild kids

Common name: Gould's Long-eared Bat
Scientific name: Nyctophilus gouldi
Photo: G. B. Baker/Nature Focus, Australian Museum

Bats

Gould's Long-eared Bat

Gould's Long-eared Bats are small bats that roost under peeling bark and in tree hollows in south-eastern Australia. They are about 6 cm long with dark brown or grey fur on their back and a paler belly. They have short wide wings, and long ears.

Gould's Long-eared Bat has huge ears.

Gould's Long-eared Bats fly close to the ground in forests to hunt for insects at night. They find insects by making small sounds through their mouths that humans cannot hear. The sounds bounce off objects and come back to the bat. The bats listen to the sounds that come back and are able to tell where things are. This is called echolocation. When they know where an insect is they hunt it down and catch it in their jaws as they fly past.

Sometimes they wait in trees and then drop onto insects on the ground. They pull their prey apart with their sharp teeth and eat it.

Females give birth to one or two live young in November or December each year. The young bats are born helpless and without hair. The young bats feed on milk from nipples located under their mother's armpits until they are six weeks old. Young bats hold onto the fur on their mother's belly while she searches for food at night until they are old enough to look for food themselves.