Great mouse ear

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Great mouse ear
Great mouse-eared mouse (Myotis myotis) roosting in a bridge

Great mouse-eared mouse ( Myotis myotis ) roosting in a bridge

Systematics
Order : Bats (chiroptera)
Superfamily : Smooth-nosed (Vespertilionoidea)
Family : Smooth-nosed (Vespertilionidae)
Subfamily : Myotinae
Genre : Mouse ears ( myotis )
Type : Great mouse ear
Scientific name
Myotis myotis
( Borkhausen , 1797)

The large mouse- eared mouse or just mouse- eared ( Myotis myotis ) is a bat species from the mouse- eared species , which was first described by Borkhausen in 1797 under the name Vespertilio myotis . They are also found under the name of the giant bat. A similar species is the lesser mouse-eared mouse ( Myotis blythii ). The Great Mouse Ears was chosen by the Association of German Cave and Karst Researchers as Cave Animal of the Year 2011 .

Description and system

With a head-to-trunk length between 6.7 and 8.4 centimeters and a wingspan between 35 and 43 centimeters, the great mouse-eared mouse is the largest European myotis species. A fully grown specimen weighs between 28 and 40 grams. The great mouse-eared muzzle has a very short and wide snout, the ears are long and wide. In adult animals, the short fur is black-brown at the roots of the hair, and rather light-brown-gray on the upper side. The belly side is white-gray, the neck area sometimes slightly yellowish in color. Young animals are more gray than brownish in color. The snout, ears and wings are gray-brown. In contrast to the adult large mouse-eared mouse-ear, the small mouse-ear is colored dark gray, and the body dimensions are usually smaller than that of the large mouse-eared mouse. The number of ear folds (7–8 in the large mouse-eared mouse, 5–6 in the small mouse-eared mouse) is a distinguishing feature.

A distinction is made between two subspecies: The nominate form Myotis myotis myotis and the M. m, which occurs in Eastern Turkey and the Middle East . macrocephalicus ( DL Harrison & RE Lewis 1961), which is superior to the nominate form in body and weight measures.

Rear view of an adult male animal

Distribution area, habitat and way of life

The great mouse-eared mouse is widespread on the central , south , southeast and western European continents. The distribution limit in the east runs along the Dnieper to the Black Sea . In the Middle East, there are deposits in Israel , Syria and Lebanon . In the north, the distribution extends to the north of Poland , Schleswig-Holstein in Germany and the south of the Netherlands . In Great Britain the species was isolated until 1985, and it has been listed as extinct on the island since 1990. There are skeletal finds isolated from other occurrences from the Azores . In North Africa , as well as in Sicily , Corsica and Malta , the great mouse-eared mouse is missing, here it is replaced by the punic mouse- eared mouse ( Myotis punicus ).

Distribution area of ​​the great mouse-eared mouse
Great mouse-eared nursery colony

The habitat of the Great Mouse-eared Mouse is mainly in open terrain, such as meadows, fields and open woodland, but also in human settlements. Summer quarters are in roof trusses and church towers, also in bridges. The animals hang freely. In Central Europe, nursery colonies of females with their offspring usually comprise 50–1000 animals, but in some cases sizes of up to 5000 animals can be reached. In the Mediterranean area, the nursery colony sizes are larger, in individual cases around 8,000 animals can form a colony. The males of the great mouse-eared mouse can be found in so-called male quarters, isolated from females and offspring. Attics or abutments for bridges, but also bird or bat boxes or tree hollows serve as quarters. The distances between summer and winter quarters are between 50 and 100 km. Caves, tunnels, bunkers or cellars serve as winter quarters. Since there are clear differences between the number of animals in nursery roosts and those found again in winter roosts, it is assumed that the majority of animals in Central Europe overwinter in crevices or similar crevices that cannot be seen in winter and therefore the animals are not counted can. In southern Europe, on the other hand, most of the animals are found overwintering in caves.

Great mouse-eared mouse in flight

In a year, each female has only one young with a weight between 4 and 6.5 grams. The gestation period is around 60 days (50 to 70 days depending on the diet). After about five weeks, the young animals leave the nursery colony for the first time.

When looking for food, the animals like to fly around at low (1–2 m above the ground) and medium altitude between trees, listening to the rustling noises of the prey running on the ground (passive location). Probably the sense of smell also plays a bigger role in finding the prey, the echolocation takes a back seat. The animals are also capable of so-called shaking flight for a short period of time . There can be 4 to 17 kilometers between the quarter and the hunting habitat. The main food is articulated animals living in the ground, especially large ground beetles ( Carabus ), arachnids ( Arachnida ) and centipedes ( Chilopoda ).

In field experiments it has been proven that the animals have a magnetic sense and calibrate their "inner compass" with the help of polarized light during dusk .

Great mouse-eared skeleton

natural reserve

The great mouse-eared mouse is strictly protected according to the Federal Species Protection Ordinance. After a strong decline in the population in the past, the population has recovered slightly or is stable since the 1980 / 1990s, so that the IUCN classifies the great mouse-eared mouse as "not endangered" due to its large distribution area and the number of individuals (least concern) .

The greater mouse-eared mouse is listed by the European Union in Annex II and Annex IV of the Habitats Directive and is therefore a species of community interest that must be strictly protected, and special protected areas must be designated for their preservation. According to Annex IV of the Habitats Directive, bat species are also strictly protected outside of FFH areas; this does not apply to species in Annex II. The following buildings, among others, are designated as FFH areas for the protection of the Great Mouse-eared nurseries: House Düsse , St. Johannis (Rahden) , St. Johannis (Salzhausen) , Wasserschloss Ulenburg , Evangelical Church Ledde , Evangelical Church Neidhartshausen (Rhön ) and historical town hall Höxter , church in Dosdorf (Thuringia)

literature

  • R. Güttinger, A. Zahn, F. Krapp, W. Schober: Myotis myotis (Borkhausen, 1797) - Large mouse ear, large mouse ear. In: Franz Krapp (Ed.): The bats of Europe. A comprehensive guide to biology, dissemination, and determination. Aula Verlag, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-89104-751-4 , pp. 123-207.
  • C. Dietz, O. Helversen , D. Nill: Handbook of the bats of Europe and Northwest Africa. Biology, characteristics, endangerment. Franckh-Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-440-09693-2 , pp. 252-259.

Web links

Commons : Great mouse-eared mouse ( Myotis myotis )  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Theodor CH Cole: Dictionary of Mammal Names - Dictionary of Mammal Names . 1st edition. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg 2015, ISBN 978-3-662-46269-0 .
  2. ↑ Cave Animal of the Year 2011 ( Memento of the original from January 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hoehlentier.de
  3. ↑ Güttinger et al. 2011 p. 123.
  4. ↑ a b Klaus Richarz: Watching, recognizing and protecting bats. Franckh-Kosmos , Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 978-3-440-09691-8 , p. 104.
  5. ↑ Dietz et al. 2007 p. 252.
  6. ↑ Güttinger et al. 2011 p. 122.
  7. ↑ Dietz al. 2007 p. 253.
  8. ↑ Güttinger et al. 2011 p. 130f.
  9. ↑ Dietz et al. 2007 p. 252f.
  10. ↑ a b Dietz et al. 2007 p. 254.
  11. ↑ Güttinger et al. 2011 p. 139f.
  12. ↑ Güttinger et al. 2011. pp. 140ff.
  13. ↑ a b Dietz et al. 2007, p. 255.
  14. ↑ a b Dietz et al. 2007, p. 256.
  15. ↑ Güttinger et al. 2011 p. 178.
  16. ↑ Stefan Greif, Ivailo Borissov, Yossi Yovel and Richard A. Holland: A functional role of the sky's polarization pattern for orientation in the greater mouse-eared bat. In: Nature Communications. Volume 5, Article No. 4488, 2014, doi: 10.1038 / ncomms5488 .
  17. ^ Myotis myotis in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017.1. Posted by: I. Coroiu, J. Juste, M. Paunović, 2016. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  18. ↑ DE4315305 House Düsse.  (FFH area) Profiles of the Natura 2000 areas. Published by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation . Retrieved March 12, 2017.