Geoscience Reference
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pollination and seed dispersal for a variety of rainforest plants. Old World bats as a
group are threatened due to the loss of tropical rainforests. Others are killed
because they are perceived as pests in orchards and plantations. Still others are
hunted as food.
The majority of bats in the Asian-Pacific rainforests are small insectivores that
use echolocation to find their prey. Many have distinctive noses and ears to aid in
echolocation. Tomb bats, sheath-tailed bats, horseshoe bats, round leaf bats, wooly
bats, bent-winged bats, bamboo bats, and lesser-yellow bats are found in these rain-
forests. Most are aerial insectivores, catching insects on the wing, but some are foli-
age gleaners. Others employ both strategies, taking insects from the air as well as
off vegetation. Only a few fish-eating or otherwise carnivorous bats inhabit the
area. From the endemic family Craseonycteridae comes the smallest known mam-
mal in the world. With the common name of the bumblebee bat, this little bat is
about the size of its namesake.
Australia's bats are similar to those of the rest of the region with the addition of
the Australia false vampire bat or ghost bat, so-called because it has white or pale
gray hair. They are the only carnivorous bats on the continent and eat large insects,
reptiles, frogs, birds, small mammals, as well as other bats.
Rodents are represented by four families: squirrels, Old World porcupines,
mice and rats, and bamboo rats. Asian squirrels and flying squirrels are members
of the same family. Squirrels are particularly abundant in the West Malesia subre-
gion of these rainforests. Most are arboreal, living in the upper and middle tree
canopy and eating fruits, seeds, leaves, and insects. Squirrels are the dominant
rodent of the Southeast Asian rainforest and occupy many niches taken by mice
and rats in other regions. Squirrels vary in size from a few inches to rabbit size.
Their fur differs in coloration from black, brown, or red, to white. Tree squirrels,
ground squirrels, giant squirrels, flying squirrels, giant flying squirrels, and
pygmy squirrels are abundant in the rainforest. Many medium-size tree squirrels
and ground squirrels in the forest are insectivores. Most are active during the day.
Giant squirrels are strictly arboreal, living high in the canopy. They have flat-
tened tails to help them leap from tree to tree. Flying squirrels have large fur-cov-
ered flaps of skin between their limbs that allow them to glide from treetop to
treetop. They cannot really fly, but are incredible gliders. Like other squirrels,
they are also excellent climbers. Flying squirrels are nocturnal and have very
large eyes so they can see at night. The pygmy flying squirrel is the smallest flying
squirrel, less than 4 in (100 mm) in length. The red giant flying squirrel can grow
to be more than 3 ft (0.9 m). It is the largest of the 14 species of flying squirrels
within the canopy.
Old World porcupines are large, slow-moving animals that rely on their impos-
ing quills rather than on speed or agility for defense. Some can weigh as much as
55 lbs (25 kg), while others weigh only a few pounds. Unlike New World porcu-
pines, these animals are terrestrial and excellent diggers, living in burrows they
construct. Their diets include many kinds of plant material, as well as carrion.
Three genera of Old World porcupines are found in the rainforests of West
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