Greater Horseshoe Bat

The greater horseshoe bat ranges from North Africa and southern Europe through south-west Asia, the Caucasus, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Himalayas to south-eastern China, Korea, and Japan. The northernmost occurrence is in Wales. Reaches to the southern parts of the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Ukraine. Generally the bats live below 800 m asl (above sea level), but it also lives, depending on roost availability and humidity, 3,000 m asl in the Caucasus.

The species feeds preferentially on lepidopterans (moths), making up around 41% of the diet - in particular the noctuid species. For example, the species preys on the lesser wax moth by identifying the moth's high frequency mating call. Coleopterans (beetles) constitute around 33% of the diet, of which dung beetles and cockchafers are often taken. Aphodius rufipes is one such dung beetle forming an especially important part of its diet. (Cow pats are part of its life cycle, acting as a food source and habitat for the larvae. Up to 100 larvae can be found in a single cow pat; while the adult beetle is most abundant in August when the young bats begin their first feeding flights.) The remainder of the diet consists of species of Hymenoptera and Diptera, as well as cave spiders. The feeding area from the maternity roost is typically of radius 4 km, as neither the lactating females or young can travel far. In late August and September the bats feed on cranefly, to fatten up before hibernation. Breeding females depend on beetles from April until June, and moths from June to August. The greater horseshoe bat leaves its roost at dusk. Its flying is made up of slow, fluttering travel with short glides, normally between 0.3 and 6 metres above the ground. Little hunting is done during wet and windy weather. …