The grey long-eared bat (Plecotus austriacus ) is a fairly large European bat. It has distinctive ears, long and with a distinctive fold. It hunts above woodland, often by day, and mostly for moths. In captivity, it has also been recorded to eat small lizards. It is extremely similar to the more common brown long-eared bat, and was only distinguished in the 1960s, but has a paler belly.
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NocturnalNocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal",...
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CarnivoreA carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of a...
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InsectivoresAn insectivore is a carnivorous plant or animal that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which also refers to the human practice of e...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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CongregatoryCongregatory animals tend to gather in large numbers in specific areas as breeding colonies, for feeding, or for resting.
Among animals, viviparity is the development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. The term 'viviparity' and its adjective form 'viviparous'...
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ColonialColonial animals live in large aggregations composed of two or more conspecific individuals in close association with or connected to, one another....
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Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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HibernatingHibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy charac...
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starts withDistributed throughout all of Europe, except for the Scandinavian Peninsula.
Its main foraging habitats are lowland meadows and marshes.It locates its insect prey via echolocation.The frequencies used by this bat species for echolocation lie between 18–45 kHz, have most energy at 28 kHz and have an average duration of 5.8 ms.
It is currently listed as near-threatened by the IUCN.It has a large geographic range and it is considered relatively common.In most of the countries where it is found, it is protected from intentional harm by legislation.While Continental European distributions are not threatened, a 2013 study found this species was close to extinction in the United Kingdom.
One possible reason for its decline in the UK is the loss of foraging habitat. It is currently a focus within the Back from the Brink conservation project which aims to increase foraging habitat around known roost sites.This species may also be threatened by climate change in Southern Europe.
One researcher noted, "long-lived, slow-reproducing species with smaller population sizes are not likely to be able to adapt to future climate change fast enough through the spread of new mutations arising in the population."In the future, it may be necessary for humans to relocate bats to suitable areas as climate changes.
Social animals are those animals that interact highly with other animals, usually of their own species (conspecifics), to the point of having a rec...