Leaf-nosed bat rounded tips, range in body size from 4 cm to 13.5 cm and a wingspans of up to 90 cm or more. Like other bats, leaf-nosed bats are nocturnal foragers that use echolocation to locate food sources, though the food sources they are locating vary between species. Many bats in family Phyllostomidae appear to have limited reliance on echolocation, likely because frugivorous bats do not need to quickly identify flying insects like many other bats. Instead, species of leaf-nosed fruit bats appear to use scent to identify their preferred food sources. When they are not foraging, leaf-nosed bats roost in
Bat species identification (or "Pips") give good examples of what can be discovered with a bat detector and make a good start to learning how to identify bats. Bat detectors pick up various signals in the ultrasound range, not all of which are made by bats. To distinguish bat and bat species it is important to recognise non-bat species. Captured bats can be exactly identified in the hand but in many countries a licence is required before bats can be captured. There are four basic types of bat echolocation call. The term "frequency modulation" (FM) refer to the "chirp" type of bat call.