Frugivorous bats play a fundamental role in tropical ecosystems. In the Peruvian Amazon, frugivorous bats visit collpas, open areas in the forest where the soil is exposed.

Nightly, large numbers of bats arrive to drink the water accumulated in collpa depressions created by larger geophagous animals, such as tapirs and white-lipped peccaries. Although bats visitation to collpas is a common behaviour, very little is known about this phenomenon.

The goal of my research is to document in detail the use of collpas by bats, study its seasonality in relation to the bats’ breeding season, and conduct experiments to determine what are the specific resources that bats are seeking at collpas.

Based on this information, I want to determine the importance of collpas as conservation priorities for the Peruvian Amazon.