The Little Forest Bat, Vespadelus vulturnus, is a very small insectivorous bat, which uses echo-location to find its way in the dark. They are very fast and agile, able to catch moths and other insects in flight. They usually eat their prey in flight, but will land on trees to eat large prey.

They typically have a head and body length of 40 mm, a tail 30 mm long, a 30 mm long forearm, a wingspan of 150 mm and weigh 5 grams.

Little Forest Bats live in groups of 20 - 50. They usually  roost in hollow tree limbs, but they may opportunistically use any suitable hollow. Single young are born in spring or early summer, and fed them with milk for 6–7 weeks. They remain in the roost until they can fly.

Little Forest Bats were captured in a Harp Trap at Mandeni, indicating that they inhabit the very moist forest/wetlands occurring on the lower slopes.

Photos by T. Hastings at Mt Lawson, bat being handled by wildlife ecologist Gary Luck, (7/10/2007). Click on either thumbnail to download a slightly higher resolution image.