#greater horseshoe bat

[vintagewildlife]

Greater horseshoe bat By: Unknown photographer From: Wildlife Fact-File 1990s

[loveisinthebat]

Alerted!

[transgender-chiroptera]

hi i like bats also a lot lot lto lot my favorite is the vampire bat ofc because classic but also my favorite is horseshoe bats and any other guys who have the realllly wrinkly noses and faces. i hope you have a good day :)

YEAAHHHHH THE MORE WRINKLES THE BETTER BABYYYYY

[bat-identifier]

-Common Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) -Dwarf Epauletted Fruit Bat (Micropteropus pussilus) -Brown Long-eared Bat (Plecotus auritus) -Grey-headed Flying Fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) -Some kind of Myotis (possibly a Natterer's bat?) -Greater (?) Horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) -Pallas's Long-tonged bat (Glossophaga soricina) (Possibly a different Long-tonged bat, but I found the image source and this is how they labelled it, so...) -Southeastern Myotis (Myotis austroriparius) (or perhaps a different, similar myotis) (they all look the goddamn same!!!! lol) -Seba's Short-tailed bat (Carollia perspicillata) (potentially a different new world leaf nosed bat, the image source I could find very unhelpfully just labelled it a 'leaf nosed bat')

Bats 🦇

[bestanimal]

Round 3 - Mammalia - Chiroptera

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Our next order of mammals is Chiroptera, commonly called “bats.” Chiroptera is the second largest order of mammals after Rodentia. Bats comprise about 20% of all classified mammal species worldwide, with over 1,400 species. They are divided into the families Pteropodidae (“megabats”), Rhinopomatidae (“mouse-tailed bats”), Craseonycteridae (“Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat”), Megadermatidae (“false vampire bats”), Rhinonycteridae (“trident bats”), Hipposideridae (“Old World leaf-nosed bats”), Rhinolophidae (“horseshoe bats”), Nycteridae (“slit-faced bats”), Emballonuridae (“sac-winged bats” and “sheath-tailed bats”), Myzopodidae (“sucker-footed bats”), Mystacinidae (“New Zealand short-tailed bats”), Thyropteridae (“disk-winged bats”), Furipteridae (“Smoky Bat” and “Thumbless Bat”), Noctilionidae (“bulldog bats”), Mormoopidae (“ghost-faced bats”, “mustached bats”, and “naked-backed bats”), Phyllostomidae (“New World leaf-nosed bats”), Natalidae (“funnel-eared bats”), Molossidae (“free-tailed bats”), Miniopteridae (“long-fingered” and “bent-winged bats”), Cistugidae (“wing-gland bats”), and Vespertilionidae (“vesper bats”).

Bats are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight, with their forelimbs adapted as wings. Their wings are a patagium of skin stretched between 4 fingers, with their thumbs pointing forward and supporting the leading edge of the wing. The wings of bats are much thinner and consist of more bones than the wings of birds, allowing bats to maneuver more accurately and fly with more lift and less drag. The surface of the wings is equipped with touch-sensitive receptors on small bumps called Merkel cells, also found on human fingertips. In bats, each of these bumps has a tiny hair in the center, making it even more sensitive and allowing the bat to detect and adapt to changing airflow. While bats are highly agile in the air, they can only crawl or drag themselves awkwardly across the ground, and most of their time not in the air is spent roosting upside down. However, a few species, such as the New Zealand Lesser Short-tailed Bat (Mystacina tuberculata) and the Common Vampire Bat (Desmodus rotundus) are able to walk or even run on all fours. Most bats are insectivores, and most of the rest are frugivores (fruit-eaters) or nectarivores (nectar-eaters). A few feed on vertebrates, such as the specialized blood-drinking vampire bats (subfamily Desmodontinae), the bird-hunting Greater Noctule Bat (Nyctalus lasiopterus), the fish-catching Greater Bulldog Bat (Noctilio leporinus), the frog-eating Fringe-lipped Bat (Trachops cirrhosus), and the Spectral Bat (Vampyrum spectrum) and Ghost Bat (Macroderma gigas) which sometimes feed on other bats. Carnivorous bats make use of echolocation for navigation and finding prey, while herbivorous bats use their more well-developed eyesight. Apart from the Arctic, the Antarctic and a few isolated oceanic islands, bats exist in almost every habitat on Earth.

Some bats lead solitary lives, while others live in colonies of millions. In some, the females live in groups while the males are solitary, or males and females will live in separate groups. Most species are polygynous, where males mate with multiple females. Some species are promiscuous, where both sexes mate with multiple partners. A few species form monogamous pairs. Female bats use a variety of strategies to control the timing of pregnancy and the birth of young, to make delivery coincide with maximum food ability and other ecological conditions. In most bat species, females carry and give birth to a single pup per litter. The young emerges rear-first, possibly to prevent the wings from getting tangled, and the female cradles it in her wing and tail membranes. In social species, females give birth and raise their young in maternity colonies and may assist each other in birthing. A few species also assist in suckling other mothers’ young. Most of the care for a bat pup comes from the mother, but in monogamous species, the father will also play a role in childcare.

The fragile skeletons of bats do not fossilize well, but Chiroptera is assumed to have arisen in the Eocene. The oldest known bat fossils include Archaeonycteris praecursor and Altaynycteris aurora (55–56 million years ago), both known only from isolated teeth. The oldest complete bat skeleton is Icaronycteris gunnelli (52 million years ago).

Propaganda under the cut:

The eyes of most carnivorous bat species are small and poorly developed, leading to poor visual acuity, but no species is truly blind. Microbats may use their vision for orientation and while travelling between their roosting grounds and feeding grounds, as echolocation is effective only over short distances. Some species can even detect ultraviolet (UV) light.

The smallest mammal in the world is the Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat (Craseonycteris thonglongyai), also known as the Bumblebee Bat (though the the Etruscan Shrew [Suncus etruscus] is smaller by body mass). An adult Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat is about 29 to 33 mm (1.1 to 1.3 in) in length and weighs around 2 g (0.071 oz).

On the other wing, the largest bat in the world is the Giant Golden-crowned Flying Fox (Acerodon jubatus) which can reach a weight of 1.6 kg (3.5 lb) and has a wingspan of 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in).

Bat dung is mined as guano from caves and used as a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. Bat guano also contains fine particles of insect exoskeleton, which are largely composed of chitin. Chitin from insect exoskeletons is an essential compound needed by beneficial soil fungi, as chitin is a major component of fungal cell wall membranes. This fungi then improves soil fertility. However, unsustainable harvesting of bat guano may cause bats to abandon their roost. Many cave ecosystems are wholly dependent on bats to provide nutrients via their guano which supports bacteria, fungi, invertebrates, and vertebrates in the cave. The loss of bats from a cave can result in the extinction of species that rely on their guano.

The extinct bats Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon and Hassianycteris kumari, both of which lived 48 million years ago, are the first fossil mammals whose colorations have been discovered. Both were reddish-brown.

The fastest flying bat, the Mexican Free-tailed Bat (Tadarida brasiliensis), can achieve a ground speed of 160 km/h (100 mph)!

Mexican Free-tailed Bats are one of the few species to "sing" like birds. Males sing to attract females.

Greater Bulldog Bats (Noctilio leporinus) “honk” to warn each other when they may be about to collide.

Carnivorous bats make use of magnetoreception, in that they have a high sensitivity to the Earth's magnetic field, like birds. These bats use a polarity-based compass, meaning that they differentiate North from South, unlike birds, which use the strength of the magnetic field to differentiate latitudes.

Scientists reported in January 2025 that they had discovered how some bats travel hundreds of miles in the spring to give birth in warmer temperatures: they surf storm fronts.

The Spotted Bat (Euderma maculatum) can travel as much as 38.5 km (24 mi) in one night in search of food.

Many species of plants depend on bats for seed dispersal. The Jamaican Fruit Bat (Artibeus jamaicensis) has been recorded carrying fruits weighing 3–14 g or even as much as 50 g.

Nectar-eating bats have acquired specialised adaptations. These bats possess long muzzles and long, extensible tongues covered in fine bristles that aid them in feeding on particular flowers and plants. These long, narrow tongues can reach deep into the long cup shape of some flowers. When the tongue retracts, it coils up inside the rib cage. The Tube-lipped Nectar Bat (Anoura fistulata) has the longest tongue of any mammal relative to its body size.

Around 500 species of flowering plant rely on bat pollination. Because of this, some of these flowers have adapted to only open their flowers at night.

Due to the specialized metabolism of Vampire Bats (subfamily Desmodontinae) they are highly susceptible to starvation if they fail to feed within 70 hours. To combat this, vampire bats engage in reciprocal altruism, and will feed each other by regurgitating blood. If a bat cannot find food two nights in a row, due to injury, illness, or simple unluckiness, one of its colony mates may feed it. Vampire bats who are more “popular” in the colony may be fed more often.

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a fungal disease in North American bats which has resulted in the dramatic decrease of the bat population in the United States and Canada, killing millions and causing a 90% decline in some areas. The condition is named for a distinctive fungal growth of Pseudogymnoascus destructans around the muzzles and on the wings of hibernating bats. It is likely the fungus was brought to North America from Europe by cavers who didn’t wash their equipment. Bats in Europe seem to be resistant to the fungus. The Forest Service estimated in 2008 that the die-off from white-nose syndrome means that at least 2.4 million pounds (1.1 million kg or 1,100 tons) of insects will go uneaten, possibly leading to crop damage or having other economic impact.

It has been estimated that bats save the agricultural industry of the United States anywhere from $3.7 billion to $53 billion per year in pesticides and damage to crops. This also prevents the overuse of pesticides, which can pollute the surrounding environment, and may lead to resistance in future generations of insects.

Homosexual relations have been observed in the Bonin Flying Fox (Pteropus pselaphon) and the Indian Flying Fox (Pteropus medius).

The Christmas Island Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus murrayi) was declared extinct in 2009. This extinction was likely caused by introduced, invasive species such as Domestic Cats (Felis catus), Black Rats (Rattus rattus), Common Wolf Snakes (Lycodon capucinus), and Yellow Crazy Ants (Anoplolepis gracilipes). The bats could have also been poisoned by the insecticide Fipronil, used to control Yellow Crazy Ant Colonies.

In China, bats have been associated with happiness, joy, and good fortune. Five bats are used to symbolise the "Five Blessings": longevity, wealth, health, love of virtue, and peaceful death.

A new threat to bats has arisen in the form of bat taxidermy. Bat taxidermy, where bats are either mounted in glass, encased in resin, articulated as a skeleton, or simply stuffed, is growing in popularity as “quirky” decor. However, many sellers will claim to be ethical when they are not, and are actually catching and killing bats to meet the rising demand of this new market. In some cases, entire caves will be gassed so that the bat carcasses can be harvested by the thousands. Many of the bat species used for oddity decor are declining or even endangered. The transport of bat carcasses overseas has also been linked to the spread of disease.

[todaysbat]

round one: american versus eurasian

Greater Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) - This species of bat can be found in Europe, Northern Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Asia. It is the largest of the horseshoe bats in Europe. Its name comes from its distinctive horseshoe shaped noseleaf.

Evening Bat (Nycticeius humeralis) - This species of bat is often mistaken for juvenile Big Brown Bats due to their similar appearance yet smaller size. These bats do not spend time in caves, therefore they haven't been negatively impacted by White Nose Syndrome like other bat species in North America.

image description: a closeup of a brown bat showing its uniquely shaped noseleaf image source: Charles J Sharp

image description: a brown bat being held up for the camera with one wing outstretched by a researcher wearing black gloves image source: US Army

[miyrumiyru]

Greater Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum), Found this guy sleeping outsite of a cave and didn't respond even i got closer.

Let's enter that cave without any equipment, it would be awesome!

[outofangband]

Mammals of Dorthonion

Birds of Dorthonion

Flora, fauna, geography and environment of Arda Masterlist

This is a somewhat shorter post as I relegated it to pre Bragollach Dorthonion! I’m planning on making a separate post for Tarn nu Fuin. As always I included some world building at the end

Pine forests: Caucasian squirrel, northern bat, pine vole, pine martin, forest dormouse

Western slopes and cliffs: : crested porcupine, wild goat, red deer, fallow deer, lesser mouse tailed bat, greater horseshoe bat, common hare, grey hamster, bezoar ibex, steppe wolf

Heathlands: roe deer, common stoat, brown hare, water vole, common rabbit (rarer), common weasel, striped fieldmouse, house mouse

World building notes:

-There are about forty species of mammals in Dorthonion including many subspecies not listed above; the majority are found in the hills and cliffs of the western part of the region

-The Bëorians keep a number of mammals including donkeys, goats, alpacas, Guinea pigs, rabbits, and some sheep. Most of these were brought from Estolad and over the Ered Luin rather than being native to Dorthonion however interbreeding with local species did later occur.

-The Arafinwëan host in Dorthonion keep horses, both a small number of the Valinor born horses and their descendants given to the Nolofinwëan host and wild horses from Northeastern Beleriand

-The hares encountered by the Arafinwëan host were some of the first recorded by the Noldor in Beleriand; though the animal existed in Valinor, it lived in much more remote mountainous regions, away from where the majority of elven populations were located. The Noldor of Dorthonion found the hares curious and somewhat unsettling; the local Avarin population’s word for hares translated to simply “rabbit like” and this word was adapted by the Arafinwëans.

-The ecology of Dorthonion changed significantly after the Bragollach; many of the steppe and cliff species died or were pushed southward into the Ered Gorgoroth. The forests that grew over Dorthonion in this era had unique species of their own (definitely planning on making its own post!)

[lovecraftian-frog]

This colony was quite unique ! It was a colony of more than 200 bats from two species : Greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) and Notch-eared bat (Myotis emarginatus).

The horseshoe bat family is quite easy to recognize thanks to their very developped nose-leaf which allows them to make a particular sound. From afar, it is funny to see them turn their head around, trying to locate you and see if you're a threat or not. Horsheshoe bats are called lucifuge, they flee from the light. That's why it is important to limit the public lighting !

Contrarly to popular belief, bats are not blind and in fact have a similar if not better eyesight than human in half-lighted environments.

[vintagewildlife]

Greater horseshoe bat By: Unknown photographer From: Wildlife Fact-File 1990s

[bat-identifier]

Lesser Horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus hipposideros) and Greater Horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum)

They are pretty fucked up looking but look much more normal with their mouths open

making anyone awake at this unfortunate hour see these creatures with their awful proportions and disgusting man lips

[transgender-chiroptera]

Greater Horseshoe Bat, via Wildwoodtrustuk

[warningsine]

When the sowing began on the coastline of south-west England, conservationists warned it may take a little while for the new wildflower meadows to flourish fully.

But 18 months on, a vibrant display of blooms has popped up in north Devon, a joy for human visitors and a draw for precious birds, insects and mammals.

The idea is to create a network of flower-filled grasslands sweeping from the fringes of sandy beaches to moorland edges.

Eventually, the National Trust plans to plant up more than 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of land in north Devon, the charity’s largest ever wildflower grasslands project.

The first phase, 90 hectares at Woolacombe, Vention and South Hole, is being heralded a success, with oxeye daises, bird’s-foot trefoil and viper’s bugloss appearing and initial monitoring showing an increase of wildflower coverage from 2% to 40%.

There have been sightings of the brown-banded carder bee, meadow grasshopper and common blue butterfly, as well as birds such as swifts, skylarks, house martins and meadow pipits. Greater horseshoe bats dart across the meadows at dusk.

Joshua Day, a project coordinator at the National Trust in north Devon, said: “The sense of anticipation through the last two winters has been high, watching and waiting for the first successful seedlings to emerge.

“This first full bloom is an indication of success for the future of species-rich grasslands here in Devon, returning a diverse range of wild flowers to the countryside which will, in turn, benefit nature and ourselves.”

Species-rich grasslands are rare, with only 1% of flower-filled meadows remaining in the UK, and are among the most threatened habitats in Britain.

Seeds from these first meadows will be collected by rangers and volunteers to create more sites elsewhere. Every hectare harvested will provide enough seed to sow two more hectares of meadows.

By 2030, 1,275 hectares (3,151 acres) of grassland will have been planted in north Devon. Some sites are already identified, with others to be found over the coming years.

Ben McCarthy, the National Trust’s head of nature and restoration ecology, said: “As nature in the UK continues to decline, making space for flower-rich meadows in our countryside at a landscape scale will make a real tangible difference to its recovery.”

[ex8riko]

"Bats of Greece" (2024) - also available as a print!

tumblr is getting this first :) these are the 5 most common bat species in greece (source) species under the cut

from top left:

Tadarida teniotis - Νυχτονόμος / European free-tailed bat Pipistrellus pipistrellus - Νανονυχτερίδα (Πιπιστρέλλος) / Common pipistrelle Rhinolophus ferrumequinum - Τρανορινόλοφος / Greater horseshoe bat Pipistrellus kuhlii - Λευκονυχτερίδα / Kuhl's pipistrelle Hypsugo savii - Βουνονυχτερίδα / Savi's pipistrelle

(τα φυτά είναι επίσης ελληνικά είδη αλλά δε τα σημείωνα όταν τα ζωγράφιζα)

[woobats-and-witch-hats]

Hi there, Prof. Andrea Saknussemm, I'm from a village near Meteor Falls, and we've had an uptick of trainers coming through the caves and disturbed the Zubat population there.

They seem to be having a hard time recovering from the ordeal, and I was hoping to get some advice on how to help them.

-PKMNFossilResearch

Good morning, Professor Saknussemm,

Thank you for your question! Fortunately, zubat are an especially hardy species of bat pokemon, hence the many species of zubat are so widely distributed around the world. After being disturbed, they will usually stay stubborn and return to their roosting spots during the day. If I recall correctly, Meteor Falls is home to a large population of greater horseshoe zubat. These are common zubat in your area, although their populations are decreasing overall. 

If the trainers passing through are doing that, merely passing through, the zubat should have no problem returning to roost on their own. However, if the trainers are using a lot of sprays or chemicals such as repels as people tend to do while traversing zubat-dense areas, those can make their homes less comfortable for them and drive them to seek daytime shelter elsewhere.

Try discouraging trainers from repel use in and around Meteor Falls. 

If facing swarms of zubat seems daunting, try encouraging people to travel through the caves long after sunset when the zubat will have already left for their nightly hunting. They could even make an event of waiting outside the caves about half an hour before sunset so they can watch the colony fly out together, then when they’re gone proceed into Meteor Falls. 

It’s really amazing watching thousands of zubat fly off into the dusk together, I can’t recommend it enough!

[bonefall]

sorry if you've talked about this before, but I'm curious if clanmew have different words for different bat species? they obviously differentiate insects and birds, but bat's are harder to distinguish at a glance. cats would have an advantage with their hearing, being able to hear bat's squeaks (and I think different species make different patterns and sounds?) but like. I don't remember how many bat species there are here (I think noctule, pipistrelle, greater horseshoe, lesser horseshoe, daubenton's, whiskered, barbastelle, and serotine? I mightve missed a couple), but I love bat's so thought I'd ask. pipistrelle are the most common though I'm from the south-east of England so I occasionally see daubenton's too.

FOUR bat species! Over here in the main entry for birds, check there if you'd like more trivia on them. Clan cats count them as very special, blessed songbirds.

The ones that Clan cats have words for so far;

Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) = Popep

Soprano Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pygmaeus) = Ipi'ip

Long-eared Brown Bat (Plecotus auritus) = Fepfr

Common Noctule (Nyctalus noctula) = Shi'po

There are four more kinds of bat, for EIGHT total in this region, that I have not yet described because I don't have good access to their song recordings (Even the main four were ass on butts to hunt down) If you have clear recordings of the songs of these four I'll add them too.

Pipistrellus nathusii

Nyctalus leisleri

Myotis daubentonii

Myotis nattereri