Rhinolophus Pearsonii from Anatomical and zoological researches.

Anatomical and zoological researches: comprising an account of the zoological results of the two expeditions to western Yunnan in 1868 and 1875; and a monograph of the two cetacean genera, Platanista and Orcella.

Rhinolophus Pearsonii, Horsfield.

Relax. This bat is not interested in your blood. In fact, it’s not a vampire bat at all. This is a horseshoe bat. Its name comes from the shape of its nose. It looks like it has a thin, leaf-like horseshoe at the end. The horseshoe bat uses this structure to help it locate things using sound. This is a good adaptation to have for a nocturnal animal that does a lot of flying at night! Horseshoe bats are not the only animals that use sound to find things. Dolphins rely on echolocation as well when hunting. If you want to see this particular bat using echolocation in action you have to head to Asia because this kind of bat is only found in nine countries. Be sure to bring a dung beetle; that’s its favorite snack!

A view of Pearson's horseshoe bat with details of its face and jaws.