The animal behind the “Spectre Bat” headline is the spectral bat (Vampyrum spectrum), the largest carnivorous bat in the New World. Infrared cameras at one Costa Rican roost captured prey transfers and bats leaving or returning together—social behavior that had been poorly documented in the wild. The study does not show that people feared the species for decades, nor does one group establish how all spectral bats behave.
Which bat does “Spectre Bat” mean?
“Spectre bat” is not the species name used in the study. The headline most likely refers to the spectral bat, Vampyrum spectrum. Bat Conservation International describes it as the largest bat in the Western Hemisphere and reports a wingspan approaching one metre and a weight up to about 180 grams. Its diet includes birds, rodents and other bats. Bat Conservation International’s spectral bat profile
That superlative needs a qualifier: “largest carnivorous bat in the New World” is not the same as “largest bat on Earth.” The giant golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus) is a different species, eats fruit and is found only in the Philippines. Bat Conservation International says its wingspan can reach six feet. These comparisons depend on what is being measured—diet, geography, wingspan or body mass—not on one universal definition of largest. Bat Conservation International’s bat FAQ
What did the cameras reveal?
In a study published in PLOS ONE on August 20, 2025, Marisa Tietge, Eduardo Artavia Durán and Mirjam Knörnschild documented social behavior at a hollow tree roost in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Their infrared wildlife camera recorded one group of four bats in a living Manilkara chicle tree. The researchers inferred that the group was an adult pair and their offspring, but the bats were not individually marked. The 2025 PLOS ONE study
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Across three months, the camera recorded the group on 60 days, producing 502 videos. Seventy-three included social behavior or other notable activity. Those counts describe the recording effort at this roost, not the species’ population or the frequency of behavior across all spectral bats.
Prey transfers and roost behavior
The footage showed bats bringing prey into the roost, eating prey, greeting one another, playing and roosting socially. It also recorded prey provisioning: in most filmed interactions of this kind, the bat carrying prey released it quickly as another bat approached. The camera captured bats leaving or returning to the roost together as well.
The authors describe their paper as “the first comprehensive description of prey provision and other social behaviors in a wild social group of V. spectrum.” They argue that the observations challenge the idea that the species always forages alone. They suggest that prey transfers could help young bats shift to eating meat and develop prey-handling skills, and that the group’s behavior may involve cooperative foraging. Those are interpretations and hypotheses, not proven functions for every transfer or established facts about every group.
What the study can—and cannot—establish
This was an observational study of a single roost group, not an experiment or a survey of the species across its range. The camera captured short, triggered videos; the bats could not be identified individually, and some prey could not be identified. These limits make it difficult to establish who participated in each behavior, how often it happens elsewhere, or exactly why prey was transferred.
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- Supported by the recordings: social roosting, prey brought into the roost, prey consumption, prey transfers, and bats departing or returning together.
- Proposed by the authors: that prey provisioning may help young learn to handle prey and that the group may forage cooperatively.
- Not established by this study: that all spectral bats live or hunt in groups, that every prey transfer serves the same purpose, or how many spectral bats exist.
What is known about conservation?
Bat Conservation International lists the spectral bat as Near Threatened and identifies forest fragmentation and destruction as concerns. Its profile cites a 2018 IUCN assessment, so this is the status as reported by that organization, not a claim that a newer IUCN reassessment has confirmed it. Bat Conservation International’s spectral bat profile
The flying fox comparison has a separate conservation record: the IUCN Red List page for Acerodon jubatus lists it as Endangered and gives April 5, 2016, as its assessment date. That date should be kept with the status rather than treated as proof of a current reassessment. IUCN Red List: Acerodon jubatus
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