Megabat long, thus smaller than some microbats, for example, the Mauritian tomb bat. The largest attain a wingspan of , and weigh as much as . Most fruit bats have large eyes, allowing them to orient themselves visually in twilight and inside caves and forests. Their sense of smell is excellent. In contrast to the microbats, the fruit bats do not use echolocation (with one exception, the Egyptian fruit bat "Rousettus egyptiacus", which uses high-pitched tongue clicks to navigate in caves). Megabats make up the only family (Pteropodidae) in order Chiroptera that is not capable of laryngeal echolocation. Echolocation and flight
Long-legged bat family Phyllostomidae that use low-intensity “whispering” echos, the Long-Legged Bat has been shown to produce high-intense echolocation calls to detect its prey. M. macrophyllum will adjust the intensity of its calls depending on the environment that it’s in. When in areas with high acoustic clutter, the bats will decrease their signal intensity, while in more open areas, the bats will increase their signal intensity. By increasing call intensity in a more open environment, this allows these bats to have a broader detection range for food. Average intensity output has been shown increase by 11 dB, corresponding to a 4x amplitude