Short Description
Daubenton’s bat is grey-brown with a paler underside and large feet. A typical feature is its hunting flight low over water.
Features
Daubenton’s bat
Myotis daubentonii
hunts low over water
Similar species
Pond bat
Myotis dasycneme
In the city
Daubenton’s bats hunt for insects such as midges over water. In an urban environment, they can be mainly found in parks in the summer; parks provide them with the required aquatic hunting grounds as well as with old trees for roosting. They hibernate in caves or buildings.
Fun Facts
Daubenton’s bats use their tail membrane like a scoop net.
About 300,000 bats are killed each year in Germany by wind turbines. Pressure variations near wind turbines cause their internal organs to burst (barotrauma).
Daubenton’s bats catch small insects from the water surface using their big feet.
In their hunting flight, they are guided by familiar flight routes. These are marked by tree trunks, hedges or the walls of buildings.
In winter, they hibernate together in a large group. For this, they seek out cool caves or niches with high humidity.
- Endangerment level Germany: not endangered
The scientific name honours the French zoologist Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton (1716-1799).
Sources
Habitus , Gilles San Martin, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Myotis_daubentoni.jpg
Habitus , Molekuel, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Myotis-P1040975.jpg
Habitus , Rauno Kalda, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Myotsi_daubentonii.jpg
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