Skip to main content

Northern Bat

Eptesicus nilssonii
Today's animal, the Northern Bat, has a tremendous range. These winged mammals are found throughout northern Europe and Asia, stretching from England all the way over to Japan!

Since they come from cold northern climates, these bats have furry bodies with short ears. They hibernate during the very coldest months, roosting either alone or in very small groups.

In fact, these bats aren't super-social at all, unlike many bat species that can be found in massive colonies. Males are almost always solitary during the summer, while females form little colonies that number a few dozen at the most.

Northern Bats are carnivores, and they hunt insects while in flight. They use echolocation-- sending out sound pulses to locate and identify prey. They hunt primarily at night, though some daylight hunts will occur when the days are especially long in the most northern regions.
IUCN Status : Least Concern
Location : Europe and Asia
Size : Body length around 8cm, Wingpan up to 28cm
Classification : Phylum : Chordata -- Class : Mammalia -- Order : Chiroptera
Family : Vespertilionidae -- Genus : Eptesicus -- Species : E. nilssonii
Image : Magne Flaten
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bornean Orangutan

The Bornean Orangutan is one of two extant Orangutan species in the world. It is the third largest primate (after Gorillas) and is the largest primarily tree-dwelling animal in the world. Males are substantially larger than females, and average at around 165lbs. Bornean Orangutans are largely solitary. A handful might live within a small range but they will seldom interact with one another. Males and females only meet up to breed, which happens only once every several years. A young Orangutan will stay with it's mother for about five years, and the females tend to go about eight years between births. That is the longest interim period of any animal! Sadly, the Bornean Orangutans are in a lot of trouble. They need large forests in order to thrive, and deforestation and habitat degradation has left many homeless. They are also hunted for meat and for traditional medicines. Conservation areas are being established to help these guys in the wild, and it is believed that there are a...
59 comments
Read more

Four!

For anyone who was counting, yesterday was our birthday-- four years! Four years filled with animals from A to Z, more than 1,100 of them! I can't thank my readers enough, it's been wonderful! And in celebration of that milestone... I'm taking a break. Hopefully not forever, but for a little bit at least. In the mean time I plan on getting a new layout out, along with some updates to some of the older articles. I'll post updates here and on the Facebook page, I'm also brainstorming some new animal-related projects, so keep an eye out! Thanks again for four awesome years!
18 comments
Read more

Banggai Cardinalfish

Pterapogon kauderni The Banggai Cardinalfish is a small tropical fish that is becoming very rare in the wild, even though it has been successfully bred in captivity. You will only find these small, 3in long fish around the Banggai Islands of Indonesia. They are the only members of their genus, and you can tell them apart from other Cardinalfish by their three-striped bodies, tasseled first dorsal fin, long second dorsal, and their deep-forked tail fins. Banggai Cardinalfish are diurnal and live in small groups of about a dozen members. They are opportunistic feeders who dine on whatever smaller plants and animals they can find. Courtship and mating is pretty interesting for these guys-- females are the ones who initiate. They isolate a male and the pair will perform various courtship rituals before spawning. The Cardinalfish are mouthbrooders, which means that the males take the fertilized eggs (up to 90 of them) into their mouths and incubate them for up to 30 days. During t...
37 comments
Read more