Six New Species Of Bats Discovered – Just In Time For Halloween

Six New Species Of Bats Discovered – Just In Time For Halloween

Six New Species Of Bats Discovered – Just In Time For Halloween Tube-nosed bat-Murina luzonensis (Credit: D. Balete / SWNS) Six new species of bats have been discovered inside the protected forests of the Philippines—just in time for Halloween. The tube-nosed bats were identified by an international research team that pointed out how the nocturnal – and slightly spooky – group of mammals is incredibly diverse. “I’m astonished at how much we still don’t know about the natural world, such as how many bat species there are,” said one of the researchers, Dr. Burton Lim, assistant curator of mammals at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto (ROM). The Philippines was known to have 79 species of bats – even before the latest discovery. “Before we started our research, there were only two species of tube-nosed bats reported from the Philippines, but we did find five new species that were masquerading as (one of those).” Eating only insects, tube-nosed bats are found throughout Asia and they depend on …