World's only known albino leaf-nosed bat born in Moscow zoo

An albino leaf-nosed bat, the only one known in the world, was born in the Moscow Zoo, the press service said Thursday.

"A leaf-nosed spectacled albino bat has been born in our zoo," the press service said. "Albino species are very rare in the bat family, and this is the first such case ever for this kind of bat."

The newly-born bat has been named Angela.

(photo credit)

New Sucker-Footed Bat Discovered in Madagascar

This newly discovered bat is an exemplar of stick-to-it-iveness—in more ways than one.

Scientists were conducting fieldwork in the fast-disappearing forests of Madagascar when they found this new species of bat with sticky suckers on its feet and thumbs.

The creature, dubbed Myzopoda schliemanni, uses the adhesive organs to scale the large, broad leaves of tropical plants where it roosts.

Only one other species of sucker-footed bat is known to science, and it too makes its home on the large African island.

Batty Discovery: The Longest Tongue

One nectar bat can launch its tongue three and a half times its body length, longer than any other mammal and second only to chameleons among vertebrates, scientists recently discovered.

The tube-lipped nectar bat (Anoura fistulata) was discovered in the cloud forests of the Andes of Ecuador, and first described last year.

But it wasn’t until recently that scientists realized the tongue of this bat extends twice as far as its family members. They suggest this long licker evolved to feed on a flower where the nectar is hidden at the end of equally long funnels. That gives the nectar bat sole pollinating rights to the flower.