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Even if you know that bats do not get tangled in hair and Ukrainian bats do not drink blood – we are sure you will find many exciting things here.
The night of August 26-27 is International Bat Night. On this occasion, Vasyl Pokynchereda, a great connoisseur of bats and a scientist of the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve, told the most interesting facts about these unique mammals.
It is formally considered that 29 species of bats live in Ukraine. But this needs to be more accurate. Some species, not noticed (and therefore not registered) in Ukraine, live close to our border. Thus, a new species for Ukraine – a wide-eared fold-mouthed bat – was recently discovered in Kharkiv thanks to a resident’s appeal to scientists to help her get rid of a bat that flew into her apartment.
- Bats are the only mammals that can fly.
- All species of bats in Ukraine feed exclusively on insects. But, some species have learned to hunt insects in flight and those on the ground’s surface, bark, branches, etc.
- Water and pond bats – bats that hunt mostly over water bodies. And they know how to grab their prey from the water’s surface.
- There are fewer bats in the steppe than in other natural and climatic zones. This is mainly because few shelters are suitable for bats, such as hollows, cavities, crevices, caves, etc.
- The most significant number of bats is in the Carpathians – 26 out of 29 species registered in Ukraine live here.
- Some bats fly away in a swarm. Some species fly from Ukraine to “sleep” in the Mediterranean, and others flee from the north to fall into anabiosis in Ukrainian caves and our attics.
If, in the middle of winter, it suddenly turns out that the wintering place chosen by bats does not suit them (it is too warm or too cold here), bats have enough fat reserves to come out of hibernation even in frost and fly safely to a new wintering place.
- Bats can fall into a state close to anabiosis. They can do this even during daytime rest.
- The disappearance of bats is associated with the widespread use of toxic pesticides in agriculture and forestry in the second half of the last century. Now, this factor has weakened significantly. But new tests appeared – a fungal disease which causes bats to die en masse. Their number is also affected by the destruction of biotopes, management of wintering places (when caves become publicly accessible to tourists), and felling of old trees in forests (after all, bats need hollows).
- Most often, in Ukraine, you can meet (see) various bats, the ore bat, and the late bat, which do not shy away from human settlements.
- The late bat is the most “domesticated” species. He is a synanthropus (like, for example, a sparrow) – a species that found especially favorable conditions for itself near human settlements. The late bat roosts in or near human buildings and likes to hunt near streetlights.
- There are caves in the Carpathians where about a thousand bats hibernate simultaneously. Previously, there were dungeons in Crimea where tens of thousands of bats lived simultaneously (now the number of bats there is insignificant). In the USA, it is known about a cave where more than a million bats live, so during their departure, traffic jams occur for several hours.
- All species of bats registered in Ukraine are listed in the Red Book of Ukraine. They need protection. And it would be best if you were not afraid of them.
