Mammals of the WorldLesser Horseshoe Bat
Rhinolophus hipposideros
- Order
- Chiroptera
- Family
- Rhinolophidae
- Genus
- Rhinolophus
- IUCN status
- LC
- Distribution
- Morocco|Algeria|Tunisia|Egypt|Sudan|Eritrea|Djibouti|Ethiopia|Ireland|United Kingdom|Portugal|Spain|France|Belgium|Germany|Luxembourg|Switzerland|Italy|Malta|Austria|Czech Republic|Poland|Hungary|Slovakia|Slovenia|Croatia|Bosnia and Herzegovina|Serbia|Kosovo|Montenegro|Albania|North Macedonia|Greece|Bulgaria|Romania|Moldova|Ukraine|Russia|Georgia|Armenia|Azerbaijan|Turkey|Cyprus|Syria|Lebanon|Israel|Palestine|Jordan|Saudi Arabia|Iraq|Iran|Turkmenistan|Uzbekistan|Kazakhstan|Kyrgyzstan|Tajikistan|Afghanistan|Pakistan|India
- Realm
- Palearctic
About this species
- Weight
- Pups about 1.8g at birth
- Diet
- Small insects, mostly gleaned from stones and branches: flies, mosquitoes, butterflies, moths and spiders
- Range
- Europe and North Africa; in Asia including Kashmir, the Near East and Iran
The lesser horseshoe bat is a small insectivorous bat of Europe and North Africa, related to the greater horseshoe bat and named for its horseshoe-shaped nose-leaf. The soft, fluffy fur is light grey at the base, smoky brown on the back and grey below, and the ears and wing membranes are light greyish brown. In Asia it is found in Kashmir, the Near East, Iran, Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula (Wikipedia, general species account).
It lives in colonies and hunts by echolocation, agile and often flying within five metres of the ground, taking small insects mostly gleaned from stones and branches, such as flies, mosquitoes, butterflies, moths and spiders. About two-thirds of the females in a nursery roost give birth between mid-June and mid-July. Pups weigh about 1.8 g, open their eyes at about ten days and become independent at six to seven weeks. The cached account describes mostly European animals (Wikipedia, general species account).
Description: Wildlife of India guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)