More Fruit Bat Facts. These bats don't need any rainforest specific adaptations. Fruit bats, like other bats, are the only mammals in the world that can fly. Fruit bats have evolved specifically to live in the rainforest. This type of animal is also known for eating Honduran white bats. Fruit bats have evolved specifically to live in the rainforest. Courtesy of Chambers Wildlife Rainforest Lodge, Atherton Tableland, Far North Queensland, Australia They are capable of adapting to eat whichever fruits are available to them in their habitat; they also use the same trees for sleeping. There are 173 different species of fruit bats around the world. Most eat insects, which area abundant in the rainforest. The airborne gardeners doing the sowing are Old World fruit bats —some of which are known as flying foxes. In the rainforest, opossums often eat fruit bats. Unlike other bats, however, most fruit bats do not rely on echolocation to communicate and locate food. Rainforest Bats: Megabats, Large-eared Horseshoe-bat photos and text. AS ANY gardener knows, successful cultivation depends on sowing seeds in the right place at the right time. However, the majority of tropical rainforest regions lack caves, so bat species must look elsewhere for cover. Rainforest Bat Characteristics. Fruit bats typically eat a large variety of fruits ranging from mangoes to avocado. Vampire bats have a wingspan of about 8 inches and a body about the size of an adults thumb. These bats don't need any rainforest specific adaptations. Fruit bats are commonly referred to as the flying fox, due to the similarities in their facial appearance to the red fox. Bats are best known for roosting in caves during the day when they are inactive. Vampire bats have burnt amber coloured fur on their backside while soft and velvety light brown fur that covers their belly. Fruit bats also drink the nectar found in flowers, as well as tree sap. Opossums will also wait for bats to emerge from where they roost. Where caves exist in the tropics, many bats do roost there and in some areas blacken the sky as they leave the caves at dusk. Strange as it may seem, however, some of the most effective sowing in the rain forest is done at night —and from the air. They will lie in wait for the animal near fruit trees or they will capture the bat while it is in the process of eating.