Geoffroy's Bat

Fascinating facts about the Geoffroy's Bat

• In southern Belgium, Geoffroy's bats feast on blood-feeding muscid flies, stable and face flies, making up as much as 72% of what they eat in some spots. By late summer, their menu flips: the orb-web spider Araneus diadematus accounts for 80% of recorded meals, while stable and house flies drop to the next two spots.
• An adult Geoffroy's bat stretches a wingspan of about 261 mm, ranging between 230 mm and 270 mm, while weighing roughly 8.65 g (6-15 g). Its forearm measures an average of 41.57 mm (40.42-42.72 mm), and the whole body, tail excluded, is about 47.5 mm long (41-54 mm). gleaning technique of plucking spiders straight from webs.
• Each Geoffroy's bat claims a home range between 287 and 1,492 hectares and can travel up to 6 km from its roost each night to hunt. Such a large foraging radius lets the bat exploit scattered patches of insects and spiders across farmland, forests, and even cattle sheds.
• Female Geoffroy's bats gather in maternity colonies that typically hold about 200 members, though colonies can swell to between 20 and 500 females. These groups form in late spring to early summer, usually May and June, and each female gives birth to a single pup.
• In the wild, Geoffroy's bats can live up to 22.7 years, with an average lifespan around 16 years.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia
• Animal Diversity Web

At a glance

About the Geoffroy's Bat

In the warm, golden light of dusk, Geoffroy's Bat stirs, unfolding its delicate wings like a dark, leathery cloak, as it takes to the evening skies with a soft, whispery flutter. With an effortless, aerial dance, it weaves through the shadows, its large, round ears twitching with every faint echo, guiding it through the hunt for insects with unerring precision. As it flits and darts, its tiny, mouse-like face set in a fierce, intent gaze, this diminutive creature is a marvel of nocturnal adaptation, a master of the hidden world that comes alive beneath the stars.

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