Bat with sticky discs found in Meghalaya

Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the Ri Bhoi district of Meghalaya.
The Umtrew is the main river of the area.
The sanctuary supports different species of fauna such as Royal Bengal Tiger, Clouded Leopard, Indian Bison, and Himalayan Black Bear etc.
Among the birds, the rare species which can be spotted here are Manipur Bush Quail, Rufous Necked Hornbill and Brown Hornbill.
Nongkhyllem is an area where annual community hunting had been a tradition, but with sensible intervention of the forest department and conscientious support of the neighboring communities, it is now a pristine sanctuary.

IUCN status: Least Concern
It is widely found in Myanmar and Laos.
It has a flattened skull and sticky pads which enables these bats to rest during night inside cramped spaces, clinging to smooth surfaces such as bamboo internodes.
It has very high frequency echolocation calls which suits them for orientation in a cluttered environment such as inside bamboo groves.

The disc-footed bat (Eudiscopus denticulus) has been recorded in Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary in Meghalaya which is not its natural habitat.
With its record, it has raised Meghalaya’s bat count to 66, the most for any State in India.
It has also helped add a genus and species to the bat fauna of India, the ZSI scientists said, counting it to 130 bats species in India.

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