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b"Our next Halloween monster is the ahool, a mystery bat from Indonesia and Java, but along the way we'll learn about megabats in general--especially the hammerhead bat! Thanks to Grace, Grace's sons, and Tania for the hammerhead bat suggestion!\\n\\nI've unlocked a Patreon bonus episode about burrowing bats, which you can listen to here.\\n\\nA hammerhead bat (male) from side and front. DAT SNOOT. (Photos by Sarah Olson and swiped off the web, because I have no shame.)\\n\\n \\n\\nThe Egyptian fruit bat (Photo by\\xa0Amram Zabari and swiped etc etc):\\n\\n\\n\\nGreat flying foxes, sleepin (photo by Lars Petersson and swiped etc etc):\\n\\n\\n\\nGolden-crowned flying fox, flyin (photo by Dave Irving and swiped etc etc):\\n\\n\\n\\nShow transcript:\\n\\nWelcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I\\u2019m your host, Kate Shaw.\\n\\nThis week we\\u2019re going to learn about bats\\u2014some real, some mysterious, and all of them awesome, because bats are awesome! Listeners Grace and Grace\\u2019s sons requested an episode about hammerhead bats recently, which made me realize two things. One, I had never actually done a bats episode even though bats are one of my favorite animals, and two, back when listener Tania suggested hammerhead worms and other hammerhead animals, I totally forgot hammerhead bats were a thing!\\n\\nAs a special Halloween treat, I\\u2019ve unlocked a Patreon episode about burrowing bats that anyone can now listen to. I\\u2019ll put a link in the show notes, which you can click to listen on your browser. You don\\u2019t need a Patreon login or anything.\\n\\nBats are grouped into two basic types, microbats and megabats. Microbats are typical bats, usually small, flat-faced with big ears, that use echolocation to catch insects at night. Megabats are typically larger, with limited echolocation abilities and longer muzzles, and they often eat fruit. They\\u2019re sometimes called fruit bats collectively. We\\u2019re going to focus on megabats in this episode.\\n\\nLet\\u2019s start with the hammerhead bat. It lives in parts of Africa near the equator, in forests and swamps, and mostly eats fruit. It especially likes figs. So do I, big flappy bat friend. It\\u2019s a big bat, with a wingspan over three feet wide, or 97 cm. Males are larger than females, and males tend to fly farther to find fruit while females generally stick to areas they know.\\n\\nDuring the day the hammerhead bat roosts high up in trees. Researchers think it\\u2019s nocturnal mostly because it tends to overheat while flying. Naturally it prefers to nap when it\\u2019s hottest out and is only active at night when it\\u2019s cooler.\\n\\nThe hammerhead bat\\u2019s body is furry, with leathery wings and a mostly bare nose, although it also has long whiskers. Its fur is mostly brown or gray-brown, but its shoulders are white and it has a tuft of white fur at the base of its ears. Its tail is short and its eyes are large.\\n\\nMost of what a hammerhead bat does is typical for other fruit bats. But it differs from other fruit bats in a big way. The hammerhead bat gets its name from the male\\u2019s face, which looks sort of mooselike with a big snoot, big lips, cheek pouches, a split lower lip, and a larynx that\\u2019s really big for the size of the throat. All these features allow the male hammerhead bat to make really loud honking noises to attract females. Females have smaller faces that resemble a fox or dog rather than a moose.\\n\\nOften, males gather at night to honk and flap their massive wings, showing off for the females. Females fly around, checking the males out and probably giggling with each other about which ones they like best and who\\u2019s got the best voice.\\n\\nThis is what the hammerhead bat sounds like, although it\\u2019s not a great audio clip. At least it gives you an idea of what these bats sound like:\\n\\n[hammerhead bats honking]\\n\\nThere are reports of the hammerhead bat attacking chickens and other birds to eat them. Fruit isn\\u2019t all that high in protein, so it could be that a bat occasionally needs nutrients it can\\u2019t get from its usual diet."