Pipistrellus pipistrellus

2,000 - 4,500 rubles.

Dwarf bat, small bat, small-headed bat (Pipistrellus pipistrellus)

Class - mammals
Squad - bats

Family - smooth-nosed bats

Genus - bats

Appearance

The smallest species of bats in Europe. Their mass is usually 4-8 g, body length 32-51 mm, tail length 20-36 mm, forearm length 29-34 mm, wingspan 19-22 cm. in a matchbox. The color of the top is from brown to gray-fawn, the bottom is somewhat lighter. The ear is small, narrowed towards the apex.

Habitat

Europe, Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Central Asia. Inhabitant of various landscapes, often associated with human dwellings. Common, in places numerous.

Lifestyle

Daytime shelters are attics and other sheltered places in houses, somewhat less often hollows, crevices of rocks, birdhouses. Forms rather large colonies, sometimes together with other species. Males live mostly alone. Feeding flight in early twilight, second flight at dawn, in midsummer hunts all night. Sometimes it flies during the day. It catches prey among buildings, around trees, near walls, over alleys, often over water, sometimes flies up to lanterns and whirls in their light. The flight is uneven, impetuous, with frequent flaps of the wings. It feeds on mosquitoes, mosquitoes and butterflies. In June - July, females give birth to two, rarely one calves. For the winter, part of them flies south, part hibernates in various shelters.

Reproduction

Mating after the end of lactation, with pronounced rutting, or at wintering grounds. Autumn rutting colonies are often found in tree hollows and under bridges. Pregnancy is about 45 days. There are usually 1-2 cubs in a brood. Lactation for about 40 days.

Live up to 16 years.

One of the main difficulties in keeping bats in captivity is creating the necessary microclimate in them. Indeed, unlike most mammals in bats, the body temperature changes depending on the ambient temperature, it is different in the state of sleep, wakefulness and in flight. These amazing creatures can even "sweat while trembling", that is, increase their temperature due to muscle activity, which is expressed in the form of a kind of "trembling" when waking up from sleep ... The animals need moderate coolness to rest, but the same temperature can kill a densely eaten a bat that needs to digest food eaten in the heat before going to bed ...

In their natural shelters, the animals themselves provide themselves with optimal conditions for a particular period, choosing the warmest or, conversely, the coolest corner of the cave, placing themselves alone or in whole clusters.

So it is necessary to arrange compartments in the premises for bats, in which different temperatures and humidity are maintained, so that the animals themselves choose the most suitable conditions for themselves. To ensure the temperatures required in the cage, its ceiling is divided by partitions into a number of compartments with a depth of 10-20 cm, in one of which the temperature is maintained at plus 30-35 ° C with the help of a heater, while room temperature is maintained in the remote cold compartment. As heaters, they are used, tightly covered with an opaque casing, or ceramic resistors with a power of 50-100 watts, a resistance of 15-20 kilo-ohms. The wooden walls of the cages, the ceiling and the slats that form the compartments are covered with a fine stainless mesh, which allows the animals to move freely, clinging to it with their claws. The edges of the net should be sealed very carefully to avoid injury to animals and maintenance personnel from protruding ends of the wire.

The necessary humidity conditions are created by placing cans of water in different places in the cage, which also serve as drinkers. Animals that prefer high humidity usually settle above the water. Drinking bowls are placed at the walls and in the corners of the cages so that animals can quench their thirst by going down the walls to the water.

A prerequisite for the well-being of bats in captivity is to regularly warm them up in flight. Animals that live in close cages should be allowed to run and move for at least 10-20 minutes before each feeding. For this purpose, the animals can be released to fly around the room. If the cage or aviary is spacious enough, it is not necessary to release the animals.

Their food in captivity is based on mealworms, pupae and adult beetles, as well as other insects. To make this feed more complete, worms are placed in small flat jars for two to four days before feeding for enhanced nutrition with protein and vitamin feed - fresh cabbage and carrots, raw and boiled meat, white bread, moistened with milk. Before feeding, the worms are carefully separated from the remains of feed, sifting through a colander and discarding large remains with tweezers.

In addition to insects, the animals are periodically given milk mixtures from a pipette, which include milk (about a glass), chicken egg yolk, peeled brewer's yeast or wheat bran (a teaspoon), granular glycerophosphate or calcium glycerophosphate (5 grams), honey or rosehip syrup (one teaspoon), vitamin E (two drops). Periodically, add two or three crushed multivitamins to the mixture. Insect feeding is done five times a week; milk formulas are given periodically for a week in a row before feeding by insects, after which a break of one to two weeks should be taken.

Newly arrived animals need to be given a milk mixture or at least water from a pipette, let them rest and clean, then make them fly a little and only then feed them with mealworms.

The first feeding is carried out in the hands, holding the animals in a natural position for a particular species and bringing a mealworm to their mouths. Some refuse to eat worms at first. Such animals have to be force-fed with squeezes from worms, squeezing them directly into the mouths of the animals.

Animals that willingly take worms can be fed on the first day by placing them in flat tin cans with beetle larvae weeded out of the bran, which they take on their own. The sick and the weakened have to be hand-fed, giving milk mixtures, sometimes two or three drops of Cahors, and only then worms. Such bats are fed in small portions at least two to four times a day, while healthy bats only need to be fed once.

Fed animals can digest food only in warmth, when certain areas of cells are heated to plus 30-35 ° C, otherwise, instead of digestive processes, putrefactive processes occur, which leads to death of bats.

Bats are very voracious. With unlimited feeding, they are able to absorb at one time up to 60 percent of their mass, which they would hardly have succeeded in natural conditions, when they would have to find and catch every insect. Because of this, animals can systematically overeat, which leads to their death from indigestion or obesity. We have to strictly limit them in food, especially the newly arrived animals that have not yet adapted to the new conditions of detention.

Under natural conditions in winter, most bats need hibernation at low ambient temperatures plus 3-7 degrees. In captivity, healthy, well-fed animals are useful to keep in a state of hibernation in the winter for four to eight weeks. It has been noticed that hibernation gives the animals a kind of rest, relieves overwork and stress.

For three days before laying for hibernation, the animals are not fed; in 48 hours, they are placed in a hibernation room and gradually cooled to the desired temperature. During hibernation, the state of the animals is regularly checked, judging by the postures in which they hang, by the reaction to light noise and breath. In case of deviations from the norm, the hibernation of the weakened animals must be interrupted.

To wake up, the animals are transferred to a warm room, allowing them to warm up and clean themselves, make them fly and feed them like new ones, that is, from the hands, with milk mixture and a reduced portion of mealworms.

Distributed dwarf bat from Ireland and western Spain, through southern and central Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, the area extends to western China. The northern border of the European part of the range goes from Uppsala (southeastern Sweden) through the lake. Seliger (Kalinin region)., Moscow, Ryazan caves on Kuznetsk (Saratov region). In Kazakhstan, the most northern finds lie near the Kyzyl-Orda and along the middle reaches of the Chu and Ili. The dwarf bats are very small in size. Body length 3.8-4.5 cm; tail 2.8-3.3 cm; ear length 1-1.1 cm; tragus length 0.45-0.55 cm, forearm length 2.8-3.3 cm, total skull length 1.15-1.22 cm; condylobasal length 1.1-1.18 cm; zygomatic width 0.72-0.78 cm; interorbital space 0.32-0.37; the width of the skull is 0.65-0.71 cm; the width of the brain capsule 0.6-0.64; the length of the upper row of teeth is 0.4-0.48 cm. Dental formula: i 2/3 c 1/1 p 2/2 m 3/3 = 34 teeth in total. The weight of the animals caught in early March after hibernation ranged from 2.76 to 5.26 g; in April - 3.72-4.42 g; at the end of May, the weight of females with embryos was 5.16-6.65 g, in mid-June, females weighed 3.9-5.5 g, males, 3.9-5.1 g; in July, females weighed -5.6 -5.8 g, males, 4.2-4.3 g; in August, females weighed 4.3-4.8 g, males, 3.7-4.3 g. The nasal surface is smooth, evenly covered with short hair. The ear is distinctly narrowed towards a rounded apex. The tragus is short, slightly bent forward.

The length of the tail is usually much less than the length of the body. The skull is very small. Palatine folds 7; the first is longitudinal and straight; the second is solid with a sharp median deflection. The color of the dense, relatively low and even fur is from brown to pale grayish-fawn. The underside is colored somewhat paler and duller than the top. Hair bases are dark black or slate brown. Ears and membranes are gray or dark brown. Body hair extends only to the very bases of the airways. Females have one pair of nipples. The dwarf bat settles in the attics of houses, in the floorings of adobe roofs, behind window frames and in other shelters associated with human housing; less often - in the hollows of trees. In the depths of forests, as well as in the open steppe or desert, it does not occur at all, and, moreover, it always avoids large caves, which are willingly inhabited by other species of bats. In the forest belt of the European part of Russia, dwarfs, alone or in small groups, settle together with the forest bat and two-tone skins. The extreme rarity of adult dwarf bats in the spring-summer period is always striking. It is not uncommon to observe colonies in abandoned, solitary houses, far from human settlements; a single specimen is found in the ruins. Far from human dwellings, the dwarf bat settles in the crevices of the rocks. Before sunset, the shelters begin to revive. The observer hears noise from fuss and a kind of quiet squeak. Twilight does not have time to come, as the dwarfs begin to fly out. Loners are often observed flying towards the forest, despite the bright sunlight. Bats fly to the nearest gardens and rush there in all directions between branchy crowns, and if not near tree vegetation, they fly near various buildings. If there is a suitable reservoir, many dwarfs fly to it and rush above the surface for several minutes. The duration of evening feeding often does not exceed 15-20 minutes. and after which the animals climb into their shelters and sit there until dawn to fly out again. In the morning hours, hundreds of animals do not move away from the shelter, but in a swarm rush directly near it, and the extraordinary speed of their flight is striking. The duration of the morning flight usually does not exceed 10-15 minutes. The weather has little effect on the activity of dwarf bats. Only during rain and very strong winds do they not leave their shelter. It is not uncommon for this species to fly around electric bulbs, illuminated windows, and floodlights. In these places, there are especially many flying insects, which serve as easy prey here. The normal flight of a dwarf is extremely uneven; the path he describes in the air is a broken line, the individual links of which have the most varied directions. This tiny bat feeds on small insects, mainly dipterans. Due to its abundance and habitation near human habitation, the dwarf bat is one of the most useful bats in our fauna. In summer, females form large colonies, which, thanks to a continuous squeak, not only before the evening flight, but also throughout the hot day from 11-12 o'clock, become very noticeable.

Mass births take place in June or even early July. Normally, each female brings two cubs and only in rare cases one at a time. Cubs grow very quickly and by the end of the first month of life reach the size of their parents, differing from the latter only in the dark and dull color of juvenile fur, and the remnants of cartilaginous layers. Dwarfs begin molting around the second half of July. The first to molt are adult males, which by the beginning of August are already completely covered with new fur. In late July and early August, hair change begins almost simultaneously in old females and young males, and in young females somewhat later. By the end of August, the molt of animals of all these groups ends. Mating takes place from the second half of August. For the winter, the bulk of dwarf bats from distant countries does not migrate, but remains in summer habitats. With the onset of autumn frosts, they begin to look for insulated shelters and often fly into open windows and vents of residential premises. Such invasions last 3-4 days, after which the animals remain in selected shelters for the whole winter. They are often found in cold and even poorly sheltered places from the wind. Probably, a large number of them die in winter. The wintering grounds of the dwarf bat are very weakly isolated from the external environment. Therefore, the slightest increase in temperature causes the colony to awaken: a squeak is heard, and individual individuals fly out. A sharp and significant drop in temperature causes massive death of bats. Bats that entered a warm room and stayed there for the winter will certainly die. At the same time, bats placed in a cooler place, the temperature of which ranged from 0 to + 15 ° and was 5-8 ° higher than the outside temperature, lived much longer. Some of them survived to the time of the mass flight, weighing from 3.39 g to 3.96 g. Others died with a weight of 3.2 g. Mass flight in the spring is timed to the end of March - early April. Mass hibernation begins by October, although some individuals are found until the end of November. Winter sleep is very light; on thaw days, mice wake up in their shelters and squeak. In March, bats fly daily, except for those days when unexpected snow falls, rain or low temperatures. There is a massive awakening from hibernation this month, with departure times occurring at more specific hours than February. On cloudy days, bats fly out a little earlier than on cloudless days. At a relatively low temperature (+ 8 °), the bats did not fly, or very few of them flew. No dwarf bats at low temperatures are very short-lived. With light rain, the number of emerging individuals is sharply reduced, and during summer showers it stops. In early April, on cloudy days, flight occurs at 19:00, and on sunny days, at 20:00. In May, dwarfs appear much later than in April. In October, the time of departure is strongly influenced by the weather. In November, the number of flying bats decreases, leaving earlier than in October. During breeding, with an abundance of food, bats fly throughout the night, although females in mass began to return from 21 hours.

(common bat) Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Schreber, 1774) Taxonomic position Class mammals (Mammalia). Order bats (Vespertilioniformes). Family Vespertilionidae. Conservation status Species undefined by status (4).

Area

Western and Southern Europe, North Africa (after the revision of the taxonomic status of Pipistrellus pipistrellus s. L., The boundaries of its distribution need to be clarified).

Features of morphology

Small type, forearm length - 28–33 mm. The sibling species of Pipistrellus pygmaeus. The ears are short, with a supraorbital lobe; the tragus is short, slightly curved. Has a wide epiblema with a transverse septum. The back is brown, the abdomen is slightly lighter. The skin around the eyes, cheek glands and genitals in adults are not orange in color.

Features of biology

Sufficiently detailed information about the findings and biology of Pipistrellus pipistrellus s. l. in the Crimea are present in the works of researchers of the Crimean chiropterofauna, however, after the group was divided into the species Pipistrellus pipistrellus and Pipistrellus pygmaeus, it is impossible to attribute the information. Shelters - hollows of trees, buildings, less often - dungeons. Obviously, wintering in Crimea species. Spring meetings are registered from March to April. Sometimes there are departures in warm winters. Childbirth takes place in June, females give birth to 1-2 cubs.

Threat Factors

Destruction of shelters in buildings, cutting down of hollow and dead trees.

Security measures

The species is included in Appendix II of the Berne Convention, Appendix II of the Bonn Convention and Appendix I of the EUROBATS agreement. Inhabits the territory of a number of natural reserves of the Crimea and in the Nikitsky Botanical Garden. It is necessary to preserve shelters, popularize knowledge about bats among the population.

Sources of information

Kozlov, 1949; Gazaryan et al., 2011; Dietz et al., 2011; Kravchenko et al., 2013.

Compiled by: Dulitsky A.I., Bednarskaya E.V. Photo: Mnolf (http://commons.wikimedia.org/) (CC BY-SA 3.0).

  • Class: Mammalia Linnaeus, 1758 = Mammals
  • Infraclass: Eutheria, Placentalia Gill, 1872 = Placentals, Higher Beasts
  • Order: Chiroptera Blumenbach, 1779 = Bats
  • Family: Vespertilionidae Gray, 1821 = Common bats, leathery, smooth-nosed

Species: Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Schreber, 1774) = Dwarf Bat

The pipistrellus (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) is the smallest species not only of this genus, but also of the bats of Europe in general. A baby dwarf bat can be placed in a regular thimble, while an adult animal will be comfortable even in a matchbox. The mass of adult animals usually ranges from 4 to 8 g, with a body length of 32 to 51 mm and a wingspan of 19-22 cm (the length of the tail is 20-36 mm, and the length of their forearm is 29-34 mm).

Not a fictional story ...

In the evening of October 9, 2013, they called me and asked what to do with a bat found on the captain's bridge of a large ship. They called from Kherson. The sweet but alarmed voice of the girl (and her name is Vladislav) testified that she was really worried about the fate of the Kazhanchik, especially since the air temperature was not so good - only 10 degrees Celsius. I suggested to her, observing accuracy (including to avoid a bite), to allow the mouse to fly away calmly, but the kazhanchik did not want to do this. We decided that the mouse would stay in the box until the evening, and at 10 pm it would be released, having given it a drink, if possible.

It is very important to give a drink to a mouse that has been in dry air for a long time - otherwise, the elasticity of the wing membranes is disturbed, which can end sadly. The ship "Mikhail Lomonosov" sailed away, and we agreed that the mouse would be released already in Zaporozhye, where the ship was heading. Since it was difficult to arrange a meeting that evening, Evgeny Chebotok arranged to meet with someone from the team the next day. To his delight and delight, the CAPTAIN of the ship "Mikhail Lomonosov" brought the mouse and solemnly handed the specialist a box, beautifully tied with a ribbon. Eugene gratefully accepted the program and arranged a photo session for the animal in the evening.

According to the photos sent, it was possible to identify our traveler - this is a small bat, the mouse turned out to be an adult male, with the characteristic features of the southern population of this species (in particular, a thin light fringe along the edge of the wing). I asked Evgeny to clarify the location of the find with the captain, who had left him his phone number. It turned out that the mouse was found on a raid in Sevastopol. And whether she was a "local", or a migrant who flew along the Crimea further south, we do not know, but in any case, her route by the will of fate has somewhat changed. Perhaps she will stay for the winter in Zaporozhye, and maybe, like many other migratory species, she will fly to catch up with her relatives along the migration route to the south along the Dnieper.

In this story, the most touching thing is the experience of the entire crew of a large iron ship about a tiny tiny creature. Big people about a little mouse. Thanks to everyone who participated in this action.

GERMAN-Dwarf Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Schreber, 1774)

Status... IV category. A species with an undefined status. Listed in Appendix III of the Berne Convention. Protected in many European countries - included in the European Community Directive 92/43 / EEC on the protection of natural habitats and wild species of fauna and flora (Annex IV). It is located on the northeastern edge of the range.
Description... Body length is 3.2-5.1 cm, weight - 4-8 g, forearm length - 2.9-3.4 cm. Fur is short and thick, hair bases are dark. Back color from brown to gray-fawn; belly somewhat lighter than the back. The ears and face mask are almost black. In adult males, the buccal glands are practically not pigmented. Flies out to hunt in early twilight. It hunts for small flying insects at low altitudes above forest edges, clearings, alleys, streets, etc. In the region, it is a migratory species. Brood colonies - up to several tens and hundreds of individuals. Males keep apart. Habitat - from Northern Europe and the Mediterranean (including northwest Africa) to the Urals, Central Asia and Kashmir. Distribution in the European part of Russia needs to be studied due to the slight differences of this species from the small pipistrellus pygmaeus Leach, 1825. In Chuvashia, it was recorded in the Surye region. It is included in the Red Data Books of the republics of Tatarstan (I category), Mordovia (IV category), Ulyanovsk region (IV category).
Habitat. In the Volga region, it inhabits various landscapes, but gravitates towards forests, often lives in human settlements. The main shelters are the hollows of trees, less often - human buildings. It is more often observed in shelters together with other species of bats.
The number and tendencies of its change. There are no data on the number and trends in its change. The only known record, presumably, of a dwarf bat from the territory of the Alatyr area of ​​the state natural reserve "Prisurskiy" near the village. Attack. The determination was carried out by the nature of the flight and location signals, without catching. There is a high probability that the meeting, rather, belonged to a twin species - the small pipistrellus pygmaeus, whose distribution, according to the latest data, is wider and to which the overwhelming majority of finds from the forest zone of the European part of Russia belong.
The main limiting factors. Lack of shelters due to cutting down of ripe trees, violation of the food supply as a result of human economic activity (use of insecticides).
Breeding. Breeding activities were not carried out.
Security measures taken. The species is protected on the territory of the Prisursky State Nature Reserve.
Necessary security measures. Collect data to identify species status and estimate abundance. Preservation of mature forest plantations, hanging artificial shelters. Explanatory work with the population about the need to preserve bats and their shelters.
Sources of information: Popov, 1960; Strelkov, Ilyin, 1990; Ermakov et al., 2001; Ilyin, Smir-nov, 2002; Pavlinov et al., 2002; Belousova et al., 2008; oral communication of S.V. Kruskop
Compiled by: Ganitskiy I.V., Tikhomirova A.V., Dimitriev A.V.