Jamaican fruit bats are Neotropical bats found in the new world tropics world-wide. This bat roosts in moist, open areas, and sometimes modifies palm fronds for roosting by biting around the midrib so that the leaflets fold downward to make a tent.

Fruits well liked by the Jamaican bats include figs, mangos, avocados, bananas, espave nuts, and the pulpy layer surrounding the seeds of some palm trees. The smaller fruits are carried to feeding sites during the night, but toward morning these bats carry fruit to their regular roosts. Jamaican fruit bats pass the fruit through its body quickly and nuts seeds, and fruit cores accumulate beneath roosting areas: these bats thus aid in the dissemination of seeds of tropical fruit.

The bats form colonies of 2-14 female bats, their young, and a single adult male. Males watch over the females and the young ones. Female bats usually only have one to two babies per year. The young stay nestled under the mothers wing until they are able to fly. They then practice until they can negotiate their own turns, land, and hang from walls. Pups completely stop nursing from their mothers at about 9 weeks old, and at this time are able to eat fruit on their own.