News Animals

These giant carnivorous bats hug, cuddle — and even share dinner

The observations challenge the assumption that spectral bats are solitary predators

image of spectral bats huddled in a ball

Spectral bats (pictured) wrap their wings around each other, forming a cuddle ball, to rest inside their tree roost.

Marisa Tietge (CC-BY 4.0)

By Jay Kakade

Even for the world’s largest carnivorous bat, a hug is the best hello.

Spectral bats are far more cooperative than researchers long assumed, routinely greeting one another with wing wraps and even handing over captured prey to roostmates, researchers report August 20 in PLOS One.