Mouse-tailed bats | Rhinopomatidae

Muisstaartvleermuizen | Rinopomátidos

Bats with a tail nearly as long as the body, trailing free behind the animal: the tail membrane is reduced to a narrow rim and leaves most of the tail outside it. The nostrils are slit-shaped and can be closed against blowing sand, and above the muzzle stands a small rounded noseleaf. The ears are large and joined across the forehead. The wings are broad and the flight slow and undulating, low over open desert and along oases. They roost in caves, wells, ruins and tomb chambers, often in loose groups. What is unusual is how they deal with the season: in the good months they lay down large fat stores in the abdomen, on which they pass weeks at a time in torpor through the cool or dry season — an uncommon solution for a bat of hot country.