Thanks for asking! That thing - called a nose leaf - indeed performs a function. This species of bat hunts and communicates by echolocation calls, which they emit from their nose rather than the mouth. It basically focuses outgoing ultrasonic sound waves into a tight, highly directional beam, preventing the sound blast from overwhelming the bat's own ears.
The nose leaf also has serrated edges and is covered in fine hair. Those help the bat pick up insects and small invertebrates directly off foliage while hovering over dense rainforest vegetation. And this particular kind of nose leaf is unique to this bat species!
A unicorn bat!
Indeed!
I like all these goofy guys you post. Does the pointy nose perform a function or is it just stylish?
Thanks for asking! That thing - called a nose leaf - indeed performs a function. This species of bat hunts and communicates by echolocation calls, which they emit from their nose rather than the mouth. It basically focuses outgoing ultrasonic sound waves into a tight, highly directional beam, preventing the sound blast from overwhelming the bat's own ears.
The nose leaf also has serrated edges and is covered in fine hair. Those help the bat pick up insects and small invertebrates directly off foliage while hovering over dense rainforest vegetation. And this particular kind of nose leaf is unique to this bat species!
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nose-leaf And more: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0011893