Greater mouse-eared bat

3-14 years

Greater mouse-eared bat's diet primarily consists of small insects. Although adaptable, they exhibit a preference towards moths, beetles, and flies. Foraging typically occurs in close proximity to water bodies.

Greater mouse-eared bat is a medium to large-sized bat with long, soft, dark brown to reddish fur. Its wingspan can reach up to 40 cm. This species is characterized by the presence of a bare, horseshoe-shaped patch of skin around the nostrils. Its ears are large and pointed. There are no significant variations in appearance between sexes, age groups, or subspecies.

Like its relatives, the greater mouse-eared bat is an insectivore, feeding on various arthropods; however, unlike many bats, it does not capture its prey by using echolocation in flight. Instead, it gleans it from the ground, locating prey passively by listening for the noises produced by insects such as carabid beetles, centipedes and spiders. As a result, it uses echolocation only for spatial orientation, even if it emits ultrasound calls when approaching prey. Myotis myotis forages in open deciduous woodlands, forest edges and pastures. It roosts underground throughout the year, although roosts in Northern Europe are also located in attics and lofts of buildings. More rarely, small tree-based colonies also occur. Colonies on Mediterranean islands such as Mallorca usually have up to 500 individuals, though colonies of over 4.500 bats have been found in continental Europe. It has been known to roost with other bats, such as Myotis capaccinii and Miniopterus schreibersi. In mainland Europe, Myotis myotis performs annual dispersions of up to 200 km in spring, although most are only of 10 km or so. As with most vespertilionid bats, the greater mouse-eared bat exhibits slight sexual dimorphism, with females being slightly larger than males. Mating takes place in autumn, with females giving birth from May to June. Each female has 1-2 pups, which are carried around for about 45 days. During this period, females form nursery colonies from which males are excluded. The frequencies used by this bat species for echolocation lie between 22 and 86 kHz, have most energy at 37 kHz and have an average duration of 6.0 ms.