Japanese Pipistrelle

Fascinating facts about the Japanese Pipistrelle

• An adult Japanese pipistrelle is a very small bat, measuring only 3.6-4.8 cm in body length with a tail of 2.9-4.0 cm and wings of 3.2-3.6 cm, giving it a compact silhouette suited to tight roosts. The species prefers to roost under the ceiling or inside the roof of old buildings.
• The Japanese pipistrelle occurs across East Asia, stretching from mainland China and Taiwan through the Ussuri region and reaching the Korean Peninsula and the islands of Japan. It is found across this broad area.
• Within China, the Japanese pipistrelle is recorded in the southern island province of Hainan as well as on the nearby Hainan Island itself, extending its range to the coastal Zhoushan archipelago. These locations show the bat's presence on both mainland and island environments.
• The Japanese pipistrelle catches a wide range of insects while foraging at dusk. Its diet includes beetles, caddisflies, flies, hymenopterans, moths and true bugs.
• Before the young is born, the Japanese pipistrelle passes through thirty-three embryonic stages. These stages mark specific growth milestones in prenatal development.

Sources

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

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Japanese Pipistrelle

In the whispering twilight of Japan's forests, the Japanese Pipistrelle unfurls its delicate wings, a tiny, dark silhouette against the fading light, as it embarks on its nocturnal dance, weaving through the trees with an effortless agility. With echolocation calls that pierce the evening air like a series of high-pitched whispers, this diminutive bat navigates the shadows, its large ears twitching with every echo, as it pursues the insects that fill the night with their gentle hum. As it flits and darts, the Japanese Pipistrelle embodies the very essence of nocturnal life, a small but vital thread in the intricate tapestry of the forest ecosystem.

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