I Belatedly Realized That I Probably Should Have Asked About The Spectral Bat: Any Facts To Share About

I belatedly realized that I probably should have asked about the spectral bat: any facts to share about these bats with a very excellent and spooky name, please?

Oh boy.......... spectral bats man............ one of my faves..........

These guys right here are one of the coolest hunters. They're carnivorous, so they eat almost exclusively small animals. They're also considered the largest bat species native to the New World (U.S., Canada, and South America), being up to 6 inches long.

These dudes are just rad. They'll eat your snakes. They'll eat your rats. They'll eat SMALL POSSUMS. NO JOKE. THEY'LL LITERALLY JUST PICK UP A POSSUM AND GO. THEIR WINGS ARE THAT STRONG. THESE BUFF CHADS OF A BAT SPECIES CAN LIFT THAT.

They're also excellent fliers, so they hunt in the air as well as on the ground. So they eat birds, including small raptors, and other bats. Their size means that they aren't super good at catching other bats, but they get lucky sometimes and snack on their smaller cousins. Metal.

As much of a Chad as this bat is though, they also drink their "respect your partner" juice because these guys mate for life! They are completely monogamous and the dads are completely involved in raising the young. They are only one of two species that does this. They only have one baby at a time, and both parents are incredibly gentle and affectionate with their pup; the mother bat usually sleeps with the baby tucked against her chest and wrapped up in her wings and the father bat will them wrap his wings around the both of them like a goshdang fanfiction fluff plot. They're so good at being a family that their pups usually hang around for a couple years to just chill and share food before finding their own mates and starting their own adorable little families that I definitely don't cry thinking about at night.

Anyway, Spectral Bats are equal parts badass and complete softie and I love them so much. They're also a threatened species. If you live in an area where they exist and you hear about them being killed do me a solid and tell people about how cool these guys are because they're still a cornerstone species and life would suck without them thanks.