A nose-leaf, or leaf nose, is an often large, lance-shaped nose, found in

bats Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

of the Phyllostomidae,

Hipposideridae The Hipposideridae are a family (biology), family of bats commonly known as the Old World leaf-nosed bats. While it has often been seen as a subfamily, Hipposiderinae, of the family Rhinolophidae, it is now more generally classified as its own fa ...

, and Rhinolophidae families. Because these bats echolocate nasally, this nose-leaf is thought to serve a role in modifying and directing the echolocation call. The shape of the nose-leaf can be important for identifying and classifying bats. Furthermore, the shape of the nose-leaf can identify behavior of the bat itself; for example, in the families that have the nose-leaf, experiments have shown it to act as a baffle and focus their emission beams.

References

{{bat-stub Bats Nose