Mammals of the WorldCommon Noctule
Nyctalus noctula
- Order
- Chiroptera
- Family
- Vespertilionidae
- Genus
- Nyctalus
- IUCN status
- LC
- Distribution
- United Kingdom|Morocco?|Spain|France|Belgium|Luxembourg|Netherlands|Germany|Denmark|Norway|Sweden|Finland|Switzerland|Liechtenstein|Austria|Italy|Malta|Czech Republic|Poland|Slovakia|Hungary|Slovenia|Croatia|Bosnia and Herzegovina|Serbia|Kosovo|Montenegro|Albania|North Macedonia|Greece|Bulgaria|Romania|Moldova|Ukraine|Belarus|Lithuania|Latvia|Estonia|Russia|Georgia|Armenia|Azerbaijan|Turkey|Cyprus|Lebanon|Israel|Oman|Iran|Iraq?|Kazakhstan|Turkmenistan|Uzbekistan|Tajikistan|Kyrgyzstan|China
- Realm
- Palearctic
Other names: Noctule|Noctule Bat
About this species
- Weight
- 25–30g; wingspan 37–40cm
- Diet
- Flying insects
- Habitat
- Small to medium woodland; roosts in tree cavities and buildings
- Litter size
- One or two young per female per year
The common noctule is an insectivorous bat found across Europe, Asia and North Africa. It has a robust body, long broad wings, a pointed snout and large ears. Its short fur is dark brown after moulting and turns red-brown before winter. Adults weigh 25 to 30g and have a 37 to 40cm wingspan, and it flies fast, at 20 to 40km/h and sometimes much faster (Wikipedia, general species account).
It prefers small to medium woodlands but forages up to 20km away at night, flying high above the forest. It often starts flying in early dusk, earlier than most European bats, and roosts in tree cavities, buildings and bat boxes. It is a migrating species with a female bias: the females migrate but the males do not. Each female rears one or two young a year. Nationally Data Deficient (Nepal National Red List 2011).
Description: Wildlife of Nepal guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)