Geoffroy's bat

Description

The Geoffroy's bat is a medium-sized species and reaches a snout-vent length of about 41 to 53 mm with a wingspan of 22 to 24.5 cm and a weight of 7 to 15 g. The tail reaches a length of 38 to 46 mm. The tail reaches a length of 38 to 46 mm. The long and woolly dorsal fur is tricoloured with a grey base, straw-yellow centre and rust-brown to foxy-red tips. The ventral side is yellowish-grey and the snout is reddish-brown. Juveniles of the Geoffroy's bat are distinctly darker in colour than adults and have a smoky grey to brown-grey dorsal coat. The ears of the species are dark grey-brown and medium-sized, with an almost right-angled indentation on the outer edge of the upper third and six to seven pronounced transverse folds. The outer side is covered with numerous conspicuous papillae. The tragus is lanceolate and notched on the outer margin, almost reaching the indentation of the outer margin in height.

The patagium is also greyish-brown in colour. The forearm is 36 to 41 mm long and the wings are relatively broad. The hand flight skin (plagiopatagium) attaches to the toe root of the relatively small feet. The tail flight skin (uropatagium) has a straight calcar that reaches about half the length of the uropatagium. The bat got its name from sparse fine hairs on the dorsal side of the uropatagium, which overhang the free edge of the uropatagium.

Habitat

Summer habitats are often very bright compared to those of other species, in attics they prefer temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius and hang freely from roof battens or the ridge. 

They hunt their prey in flight like other bats, but also prey on caterpillars. The flight out to hunt begins about 40 to 45 minutes after sunset. The hunting grounds are usually close to the hunting grounds at about 500 m, and are reached via flight paths along hedges or paths. The bat hunts close to the ground at a height of one to five m and over water surfaces at a height of about two m. In the area of hedges and vegetation edges it flies slowly and collects prey, otherwise it is an agile flyer. In addition, Geoffroy's bats also like to hunt in livestock sheds, where they collect insects and spiders from walls and ceilings in pendulum flight.

The text is a translation of an excerpt from Wikipedia (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wimperfledermaus). On wikipedia the text is available under a „Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike“ licence. Status: 18 August 2021