Large horseshoe bat, photo and description. Big horseshoe bat photo Started with a big lie, ends with a big lie

To the question: Who is this and why is the Great Horseshoe Bat interesting? given by the author Friend #1 the best answer is Greater horseshoe bat - Rhinolophus ferrumequinum
Order Chiroptera - Chiroptera, Family Horseshoes bats- Rhinolophidae, Genus Horseshoe bats - Rhinolophus
Appearance.
The length of the forearm is 5.3-6.3 cm, the wingspan is 29-35 cm. The low anterior lobe of the ear is separated from outer edge narrow and deep cut.
On the nose of Horseshoe bats there are complex leathery outgrowths that serve as a mouthpiece for focusing the ultrasonic beam (1). The lower flat outgrowth is called a horseshoe; the middle one, sticking forward, is a saddle, and the upper one is a lancet. In the large horseshoe bat, the upper protrusion of the saddle appears rounded in profile. The ears are large, oval, with pointed tips, without tragus. The wings are short and wide. Coloration from brown to fawn.
Spreading.
It lives in the mountains and steppes of the Caucasus and Ciscaucasia, and is found in large colonies of up to 400-500 animals.
Habitat.
Habitats are confined to the foothills and low mountains, as well as to flat areas, where there are shelters suitable for the life of animals: natural and artificial dungeons, gullies in river cliffs, human buildings. IN summer time Most males and young females stay alone or in small groups; breeding females form aggregations of 200-500 individuals, often adjacent to colonies of other chiropteran species. The female gives birth to one calf at the end of June. Apparently, they overwinter in the same place where reproduction occurs, alone or in groups of 5-15 individuals of both sexes; Some individuals may migrate to more southerly locations. districts. It is possible that some individuals are associated with only one shelter throughout their entire lives. Departure for hunting is late, after dark. Food includes various flying insects, including relatively large Coleoptera. High mortality is observed in the first year of life, primarily during wintering; individual life expectancy (according to observations in France) is very high - 20 years or more.
Biology and behavior.
Hunts late in the evening and early morning, flying along cliffs and gorges, or low above the ground. The flight is noisy, fluttering, with frequent flapping of the wings. Unlike other bats, horseshoe bats cannot walk on a horizontal surface. The day is spent in caves and attics (2), hanging upside down and wrapped in their own wings, like a cloak (3). Usually the horseshoe bats hang on the ceiling of the cave at some distance from each other, only the spectacled horseshoe bats are often huddled together in a dense heap. In winter, they hibernate in deep caves in their summer habitats or migrate.
Voice.
The voices of bats are absolutely individual, so an animal can easily recognize the reflection of its own signal in a cave, where hundreds of thousands of animals are simultaneously using an echolocator. In addition to ultrasound, bats also use conventional sound signals, mainly for communication. These sounds usually lie at the threshold of human perception. Children hear the whirring and squeaking of most species, while older people hear only a few.
Reproduction.
There is only one cub. At first, he hangs on the mother’s body, clinging his teeth to the inguinal mastoid formations, and the mother envelops him with her wings. The mother leaves the slightly grown cubs to hang independently in the shelter for a while.
Source:

Answer from User deleted[guru]
Why are you interested? An ordinary bat.

Answer from Cheshire_cat[guru]

Distributed from North Africa(Morocco, Algeria) across all of Eurasia - from France and Spain through Asia Minor and Western Asia, the Caucasus, the Himalayas, Tibet, to China, the Korean Peninsula and Japan. The northern edge of the range enters the territory of Russia; here the large horseshoe bat is found in the North Caucasus from Krasnodar region to Dagestan. Listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation as a species

Answer from ENJI[guru]
Greater horseshoe bat (lat. Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) is a species of bat of the genus Horseshoe bat. Most major representative horseshoe bats in Europe: its body length is 5.2-7.1 cm, wingspan 35-40 cm, weight 13-34 g. The color of the back and wings is brownish-gray with a reddish tint; The belly is lighter than the back, greyish. Young animals are uniformly gray.
Distributed from North Africa (Morocco, Algeria) through all of Eurasia - from France and Spain through Asia Minor and Western Asia, the Caucasus, the Himalayas, Tibet, to China, the Korean Peninsula and Japan. The northern edge of the range enters the territory of Russia; here the large horseshoe bat is found in the North Caucasus from the Krasnodar Territory to Dagestan.
Habitats are confined to the foothills and low mountains, as well as to flat areas where there are shelters suitable for animals: natural and artificial dungeons, karst caves, crevices, gullies in river cliffs, suitable human buildings. In the mountains this species is found up to 3500 m above sea level. In summer, most males and young females stay alone or in small groups; females with offspring form clusters of 200-500 individuals, often in the vicinity of colonies of other bats. Horseshoe bats fly out to hunt after dark. Flight is slow, straight; Animals hunt not far from shelters, low above the ground. Large and medium-sized nocturnal insects (cutworms, Coleoptera, caddis flies) serve as food. When hunting, they use echolocation signals at a frequency of 77-81 kHz, which are emitted through the nose.
They winter in caves, adits, dungeons, and attics, where the temperature is above 7-10 ° C, alone or more often in groups of 5-15 individuals of both sexes. Some individuals may migrate to the southern regions. Hibernation lasts from October to April, interrupted by short awakenings. If the weather is warm enough for insects to emerge, horseshoe bats can hunt in winter. Large horseshoe bats mate in the fall, on wintering grounds, and less often in the spring; however, the fertilized egg does not develop until spring. Pregnancy lasts about 3 months; the only cub is born in June-July. His eyes open on the 7th day; by 3-4 weeks of life it can already fly. It becomes independent by 2 months, but sexual maturity (in females) occurs only at 3 years. Females often do not mate until they are 5 years old. The highest mortality rate is observed in the first year of life, primarily during wintering. Does not breed in captivity. Life expectancy is very high - more than 20 years.
The greater horseshoe bat is a widespread species within its range, and in some places a common species. It is listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation as a rare species in Russia. Also endangered in western Germany and Austria. Large brood colonies and wintering areas are vulnerable to anthropogenic impact. A large number of horseshoe bats die as a result of pesticide poisoning by eating poisoned insects. The general degradation of biota associated with human agricultural activities also has a significant impact on the state of the population.

Answer from Yergey[guru]
He is interesting because everyone who knows something about him has never seen him alive

Answer from Elena[guru]
Greater horseshoe bat - Rhinolophus ferrumequinum - found in the area North Caucasus from the Krasnodar Territory to Dagestan, where it is confined to foothill and low-mountain areas with suitable shelters. In this capacity, it uses dungeons, gullies in river cliffs, and human buildings. In summer shelters it is located openly, and therefore is very noticeable and vulnerable. Most males and young females stay alone or in small groups; breeding females form aggregations of 200-500 individuals, often adjacent to colonies of other bat species. The female gives birth to one calf at the end of June.
They overwinter in their breeding areas, alone or in small groups. Flying out to hunt after dark. Flying insects serve as food. High mortality rate in the first year of life. Individual life expectancy is very high - 20 years or more.

Great horseshoe bat , like other horseshoe bats, has a characteristic leathery growth on the nose, similar to a horseshoe. It serves to transmit directional location signals.

Row - Chiroptera
Family - horseshoe bats
Basic data:
DIMENSIONS
Body length: 5.2-7.1 cm.
Tail length: 3.1-4.3 cm.
Wingspan: 34-40 cm.
Weight: 13-27 g.

Reproduction
Puberty: females - from 2-3 years, males - from 2 years.
Mating season: autumn and wintering.
Pregnancy: about 3 months.
Number of cubs: 1.

LIFESTYLE
Habits: sleeps and winters in colonies.
Food: moths, beetles.
Lifespan: about 30 years old.

Related species. There are about 80 species of horseshoe bats known in the world; 5 species live in Europe. There are about 80 species of horseshoe bats. One trait sets them apart from other bats: when they sleep, they curl their wings up instead of lining them along their body. Of all the bats, only some species of bats and horseshoe bats hibernate.
Food. Large horseshoe bats feed on insects, mainly mole crickets and beetles, which are caught on heaps of humus. Since they are active at night, these bats fly out of their hiding places only after dark, that is, later than other types of bats. They have regular routes and feeding areas.
Like most insectivorous bats, greater horseshoe bats catch food with their teeth or using their membranous wings. They use their wings like hands and use them to guide insects directly into their mouths. Large horseshoe bats eat large prey while hanging on a branch, and small prey while flying. The special shape of the nose allows it to emit ultrasonic signals even while eating.
LIFESTYLE. The large horseshoe bat is common in warm areas, mainly in open areas covered with sparse forests and groves. He rests in caves. For wintering, horseshoe bats look for a cave or mine with constant temperature 7-10 C. In summer, horseshoe bats sleep under the roofs of barns, on bell towers and in storage facilities. IN temperate climate animals winter in deep, ice-free and fairly humid caves. When a horseshoe bat hibernates, its body temperature drops and its heart rate slows, but when alarmed, it can wake up easily.

Reproduction. Adult animals do not reproduce annually, and females become sexually mature only from 2-3 years. Therefore, with intensive destruction of places suitable for their habitat, the number of the species can quickly decrease.
Mating occurs in the fall and for the winter. The timing of pregnancy depends on air temperature - the higher the temperature, the faster the embryo develops. Therefore, pregnant females form brood colonies.
Adult male horseshoe bats visit colonies to find a female that is ready to mate. Only one baby is born. Newborns are blind and naked.
The cubs grow quickly. At the age of 22 days they can already fly. At the age of 30-40 days they feed themselves and can go on long migrations.

Relationship with a person. It is humans who are responsible for the fact that the number of horseshoe bats is rapidly declining. Over the past 100 years the population has declined by more than 90%. The main reason for this phenomenon was the destruction of horseshoe bat habitats.
Intensive development of agriculture has led to a reduction in the number of virgin fields and meadows. Horseshoe bats are also at risk of being used in agriculture poisons, especially biocides, that destroy not only insects, but also the bats that feed on them. Therefore, all horseshoe bats are included in the list of endangered species.
Horseshoe bat observations. The horseshoe bat is rarely seen in flight, as it flies out of its hiding place in the dark and returns before dawn. Horseshoe bats are active even on cold nights. You should not look for their shelter, as they do not tolerate noise well. These bats also make sounds that humans can hear. In their colonies, the noise is made by the cubs, who begin to scream loudly as soon as they are left alone.

Did you know… There are about 950 species of bats.
Chiropterans are the most numerous series of mammals, after rodents.
During wintering, the animal takes 10 breaths per minute. Shortly before waking up, the number of breaths increases to 200 per minute.
During flight, the horseshoe bat moves its ears 60 times per second to detect ultrasonic waves.
Lesser horseshoe bat, weighing only 3.6-8 g, is the smallest species of the family.
If you interrupt wintering, the animal will fully wake up in 50 minutes.
The great horseshoe bat is one of the most rare species bats of Central Europe.
Horseshoe bats send out 10 ultrasonic signals per second, other types of bats send up to 200 signals.
Characteristic features of horseshoe bats:
Nose: This is the most important organ of the location system. Ultrasound is released through the nose during flight. The direction of sound is changed by moving the nostrils rather than by turning the head.
Method of catching prey: The bat travels long distances in search of food. He searches for insects using a location system. Then it rushes down, chasing prey, makes a trap with its wings and grabs the insect with its mouth.
The nose has characteristic leathery growths. The middle fleshy part is like a horseshoe.

Location. From North Africa, South and Western Europe to the Himalayas, Korea and Japan. A related species of horseshoe bat lives in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Borneo and Japan.
Preservation. Despite protection, in some places this species is threatened with extinction.

Interesting video about great horseshoe bat

Latin name: Rhinolophus ferrumequinum

Description of appearance:

The size of this horseshoe bat is the largest of all European species of this family. Body length 54-69 mm; 31.5-43 mm; ear 20.5-26 mm. Forearm 53.5-60.5 mm. The total length of the skull is 21.5-23.7 mm; candilobasal length 19.1-22 mm; zygomatic width 11-12.6 mm; interorbital space 2.4-3.2 mm; skull width 9.8-10.4 mm; the length of the upper row of teeth is 8-9.5 mm. The size variability of this bat species is almost similar to that of the horseshoe bat. Photo of the animal below

The color of the upper side of the body of the greater horseshoe bat varies from dark chocolate-fawn and smoky-brown (in the Caucasus) to pale smoky-fawn (in Central Asia). Base of dorsal hair White or whitish-fawn. The underside is light, ordinary whitish with a variably developed pale fawn or ash-gray bloom. The animals caught in July and August in Nagorno-Karabakh and Western Georgia have a peculiar thin pattern on the underside; Their single-colored white hair is mixed with two-colored hair and forms a characteristic ripple.

At the same time, the dark tips of the hair are located in places in the form of narrow transverse rows, and if you look at the lower side of the body from the side, then smoky-fawn stripes are caught against a light background. Individual and seasonal variability colors have not yet been studied enough, but in general outline it is apparently similar to other species. The pattern of geographic variability in size and color is close to the color of the small one, but is expressed even less clearly and constantly.

The size of the horseshoe is wide – 7.5-9.5 mm. The upper protrusion of the saddle is shortened, gently rounded. The low anterior lobe of the ear is separated from the outer edge by a rather narrow and deep notch.

The fourth metacarpal bone is one and a half millimeters shorter than the fifth and 2-4.5 mm longer than the third. The length of the first phalanx of the third finger is 1-2.5 mm greater than half the length of the second phalanx of the same finger.

There are 7-8 palatal folds. The first three (in the form of thick ridges open in the middle) are separated from each other by relatively wide intervals. All the rest are thinner, almost straight, close to each other and usually solid. The decrease in number from 8 to 7 is due to the reduction of not the last, but the sixth fold.

The great horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) has a large skull, relative to its body size, with a relatively small rounded brain capsule, a massive nasal region and a fairly wide interorbital space. The width between the outer sides of the upper canines is 6-7 mm. Bony cochleae are relatively small and fairly widely spaced. The large upper molar is closely adjacent to the canine and only in in rare cases separated from it by a very narrow gap. In terms of the degree of specialization of the dental system (premolar teeth in particular), this animal has gone further than all other species.

Great horseshoe bat. Photo

Spreading:

Lives quite widely. Starting from Great Britain, Portugal and North Africa, its range extends through the mountains of Central Europe, the Balkans, Asia Minor, Crimea, the Caucasus, Turkmenistan, Hissar-Alai and the Himalayas to southern China and Japan.

Description of behavior and lifestyle:

Ecology. The shelters where these bats live are varied. On the plains of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and the steppe Caspian coast of the Caucasus, the large horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) lives in old Mohammedan tombs, in abandoned dark stables and under the domes of a mosque, but is not found at all in loess and other types of caves. On the contrary, in the mountains of Kopet-Dag, Gissaro-Alai, the Caucasus, Crimea and Central Europe, he chooses caves, rock crevices and stone ruins for his daytime refuge. In Crimea, animals often live in caves far from the sea, and only accidentally fly into the coastal ones. Sometimes only 1 or 2 individuals (mostly males) appear in one place, although more often these bats form large colonies (up to 400-500 individuals), which include only adult females and young animals. In concentrations of these bats, individual animals or entire colonies of other species can be found. Animals of the described species, disturbed in a shelter, squeal or emit short metallic squeaks, flutter from place to place or fly out of the darkness of their shelter outside, even in the middle of a hot day with dazzling sunlight. For the first 5-10 days, frightened solitary large animals usually do not return to their original shelter. Evening emergence in the Caucasus and Central Asia occurs later than in many other species. Like most of the order, they feed on insects. Evening feeding lasts almost the entire first half of the night, then the animals rest, and before dawn they leave the shelter again. Feeding locations vary depending on specific conditions. So, in the steppe areas, these bats spread just above the ground; in the Surakhana Valley - they make regular flights along the upper edge of steep loess banks; in the mountains, a horseshoe bat flies through a dark, deep gorge.

In Russia, bats are found in the North Caucasus region. One species of bat is the great horseshoe bat.

Appearance

The length of the horseshoe bat reaches 10 cm, of which 3 cm is the tail, 7 cm is the body length itself. Such a bat weighs a little, on average 27 grams, but the wingspan for such a small mammal is quite impressive, reaching 40 cm.

The nose of the horseshoe bat has quite interesting shape, there are skin growths on it that resemble a horseshoe. Thanks to this shape of the nose, the great horseshoe bat got its name. The growths help create sounds.

Species of bats similar to the great horseshoe bat
Bats like the horseshoe bat can be found throughout the world. There are 80 varieties in total, but the territory European countries inhabited by only five species. The greater horseshoe bat and its varieties have a distinctive characteristic feature: During sleep, these bats use their wings as a blanket and wrap themselves in them.

Lifestyle and nutrition

Horseshoe bats prefer to get food for themselves at night. Their food is insects, mainly beetles. Having once outlined a night hunting route, horseshoe bats rarely change it afterwards. The animals catch insects with their teeth or use their membranous wings for this. For horseshoe bats, their wings are a kind of arms; they use them to send beetles straight into their mouths. Such bats eat small insects directly on the fly, and with insects large sizes a little more complicated, they eat them hanging on a tree branch. Thanks to skin growths on the nose, horseshoe bats can make sounds even while eating.

Horseshoe bats do not breed every year. Females reach sexual maturity only from two years of age, and sometimes by three years. Due to this circumstance, if places suitable for the horseshoe bat disappear, its numbers may decline sharply.

Large horseshoe bats usually mate in late autumn, before hibernation. Embryo development directly depends on temperature environment The warmer it is, the faster the embryo matures. In this regard, pregnant females unite into one colony. Only one individual is born. At first, horseshoe bat babies are completely blind and naked, but they grow so quickly that after they reach 22 days, they begin to fly. When the cubs are 30-40 days old, they can catch their own food and fly long distances.

People's responsibility

The population of bats, or more precisely great horseshoe bats, has decreased by 90% over the previous century, and continues to decline at the present time. Who is to blame for this? Of course, man. It's people who are to blame for the disappearance large quantity horseshoe bat habitats. The development of rural land at the beginning of the last century led to a decrease pristine appearance fields and meadows. Toxic substances used in agriculture destroy insects and, as a result, bats that feed on them. All this led to the inclusion of great horseshoe bats on the list of endangered species of animals.

Features of the behavior of the great horseshoe bat

They rarely leave their young alone, as when left unattended they create a lot of noise and screaming, which can give away the hiding place of a bat colony.

When the horseshoe bat hibernates, it takes 10 breaths in one minute, just before emerging. hibernation their number increases per minute and reaches 200 breaths.

When a horseshoe bat flies, it detects ultrasonic waves by moving its ears 60 times per second.

Great Horseshoe Bat

Rhinolophus ferrumequinum

Spreading: The north comes into Russia. edge of the range. A large horseshoe bat was found in the North. Caucasus from Krasnodar Territory to Dagestan. Outside Russia, it is distributed over a significant part of Europe, in the North. Africa; further the range extends from Western Asia and the Caucasus along the foothills of the Pamirs, Himalayas and Tibet to Korea and Japan.

Habitat:Habitats are confined to the foothills and low mountains, as well as to flat areas, where there are shelters suitable for animals: natural and artificial dungeons, gullies in river cliffs, human buildings. In summer, most males and young females stay alone or in small groups; breeding females form aggregations of 200-500 individuals, often adjacent to colonies of other chiropteran species. The female gives birth to one calf at the end of June. Apparently, they overwinter in the same place where reproduction occurs, alone or in groups of 5-15 individuals of both sexes; Some individuals may migrate to more southerly locations. districts. It is possible that some individuals are associated with only one shelter throughout their entire life. Departure for hunting is late, after dark. Food is provided by various flying insects, including relatively large Coleoptera. High mortality is observed in the first year of life, primarily during wintering; individual life expectancy (according to observations in France) is very high - 20 years or more.

Number:The number of large horseshoe bats in Russia can be approximately estimated at no more than several tens of thousands of individuals. The great horseshoe bat is relatively protected from direct anthropogenic impact in winter time due to the sporadic distribution of individuals (at least in the Caucasus). But the open arrangement of brood colonies, together with low fertility, leads to high sensitivity of animals to increased disturbance factors. The development of caving tourism has a negative impact; Horseshoe bats are often subject to immoderate collection fees and easily become victims of senseless extermination. Change in architectural styles, as well as the reconstruction of old buildings, deprive animals of part of their summer shelters. Large numbers of animals can die as a result of pesticide poisoning. The general degradation of biota associated with various human agricultural activities, including changes in the composition and dynamics of the number of food items, has a significant impact on the state of the greater horseshoe bat population.