FLYING GARDENERS

Glossophaga soricina follows the same foraging route each night as it flies swiftly from flower to flower. The creature may hover over a flower like a hummingbird or sprawl across it as it feeds. Hovering requires an enormous amount of energy, and in fact Pallas’s long-tongued bat has the fastest metabolism ever seen in a mammal. Most of its energy comes from the sugar in the nectar, and the bat burns it off quickly without ever storing it. Foraging is concentrated during the first four hours after sunset.

Some bats defend the territory around a food plant they particularly like and chase off intruders, making high-pitched chattering sounds that humans can actually hear. The bats are known to consume parts of more than 30 different plants, and in addition to nectar they’ll also eat pollen and fruit as well as any insects they find. These bats are considered to be an important pollinator and also disperse the seeds of some plant species that humans regard as economically important.