Huge, rare bats spotted ‘hugging’ each other in Costa Rica. See the video
In a dry tropical forest in northwest Costa Rica, researchers found a colony of rare Vampyrum spectrum, or spectral bats, living in a hollow tree.
The team set up a video camera and over the course of three months recorded, for the first time, several “remarkable” social behaviors exhibited by the family of four, including a mother, father and two pups, according to a study published Aug. 20 in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One.
One of the more unusual behaviors observed was “greeting,” which involved “a hugging-like interaction between a bat already in the roost and a newly arrived bat,” according to the study.
Researchers said the bat already at home would sometimes leave the roost and approach the returning bat when it got close enough. During these interactions, one bat wraps its wings around the other for several seconds while also vocalizing, researchers said.
Even inside the roost, the bats displayed a tendency toward body contact, with “at least one” wrapping its wings around another while they groomed or vocalized to each other, researchers said.
The team also observed the male spectral bat involved in the rearing of his young, according to the study.
“While biparental care is common in 90% of bird species, it is rare in mammals, where females alone provide care in 90% of species,” researchers said, noting monogamous spectral bats as an outlier.
One of the ways in which spectral bats display biparental care is a behavior called “prey provision” — when a bat brings prey home to share with the other members of the colony, “particularly those that may be less capable of hunting for themselves,” according to the study.
Researchers this may be a way for “adults to transition young bats from milk to a carnivorous diet, ensuring adequate food intake and allowing them to practice how to handle large prey items.”
Playfulness was also among the interesting social behaviors exhibited by the spectral bats.
“This bat species exhibits notable curiosity and playful behavioral traits,” researchers said. “One individual was observed interacting with the wildlife camera” while others “were attempting to catch passing cockroaches,” the study said.
Spectral bats, also known as false vampire bats, are the largest bat species in the Americas with a wingspan of over 3 feet.
The research team included Marisa Tietge, Eduardo Artavia Durán and Mirjam Knörnschild.
This story was originally published August 27, 2025 at 9:21 AM.
