Lesser Long-eared Bat

Fascinating facts about the Lesser Long-eared Bat

• When it forages in dense understory the lesser long-eared bat moves at just 4 km/h, making it one of the slowest foraging bats known. This deliberate pace lets it thread through tangled vegetation without losing control. It typically flies 6-10 m above ground but can abruptly change direction and even drop almost to the surface to seize prey. The combination of low speed and high manoeuvrability enables it to capture insects that other faster bats would miss.
• The species can launch itself directly from the surface of water, a behaviour rarely seen in microbats. Observers have recorded individuals hovering briefly before taking off from ponds or streams, showing a unique aerial agility. In open habitats it often spirals around shrubs and can reach commuting speeds of about 20 km/h when moving between roosts and foraging sites.
• When hunting, the lesser long-eared bat emits a minute whisper rather than the loud echolocation clicks of many bats. This whisper is so quiet that noctuid moths, which have evolved ears to hear typical bat calls, cannot detect it and therefore fail to evade capture. The bat relies on this stealthy acoustic technique alongside passive listening to locate prey on the ground and in foliage.
• The lesser long-eared bat will use almost any narrow, warm cavity for roosting, from tree hollows and cave crevices to the exhaust pipe of a tractor. Its roosting repertoire also includes peeling bark, fairy-martin nests, rolled-up swags and even piles of bricks, showing a high tolerance for human-altered structures. Colonies tend to shift roosts regularly, moving between sites that lie 6 to 12 km from their foraging grounds in the surrounding bushland.
• A single dilapidated warehouse once sheltered roughly 300 lesser long-eared bats, a colony size far larger than the usual groups of a few individuals. Typical maternity colonies contain only 10 to 15 bats with a single mature male, while larger aggregations of 50 have been recorded in Nullarbor caves.

Sources

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

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Lesser Long-eared Bat

As dusk descends, the Lesser Long-eared Bat stirs, unfolding its delicate wings like a dark, leathery cloak, and takes to the evening skies with a soft, whispery flutter. With echolocation calls that pierce the twilight air, it navigates the intricate tapestry of trees and underbrush, its large, attentive ears twitching with every faint echo, as it pursues the tiny insects that dance in the fading light. In this fleeting, crepuscular world, the Lesser Long-eared Bat reigns supreme, a master of the shadows, its very existence a testament to the magic that unfolds at the threshold of night.

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