Big Brown Bat
Eptesicus fuscus
Appearance 2
11-13 centimeters long with a wingspan of 33 centimeters. They have light to dark brown fur that can be reddish, and their bellies are lighter. Their faces, ears, wings and tail are dark brown to black and fur-less. They have sharp, powerful teeth. Unlike the little brown bat, their noses are longer and fur-less. They have a steady flight pattern.
Habitat 2
Various, including forests, fields, towns and cities. They can roost in tree hollows, caves, rock crevices, or various human structures, including attics, storm sewers, and barns. Nursery roosts are often in caves, rock crevices, hollow trees, under tree bark or in buildings.
Behavior/Reproduction 2
Bats mate in late fall and winter, but females become pregnant in the spring. Females give birth to one or two young in May to June and raise young in nursery roosts with other, closely-related females. Young are nursed for 4-5 ½ weeks and learn to fly at 3 to 5 weeks.
Big brown bats roost together except for females with young, who roost separately from the males in colonies of 20 to 300 bats. They use echolocation to find prey, emitting calls and listening for the echos. Males roost alone while females typically roost in a nursery roost. They typically can hibernate for less of the winter than most other bat species due to their larger size. A hibernaculum can contain one bat or dozens.
Fun Fact 2
If you have a brown bat in your house, it’s probably a big brown bat. However, farmers are encouraged to allow them to live in barns because they prey upon pest insects.
Citations 2
http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Eptesicus_fuscus/
http://www.batguys.com/services/bats/Bat-Article.html
http://www.nps.gov/shen/learn/nature/big-brown-bat.htm
Sources and Credits
- NPS, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Big_brown_bat.jpg
- (c) gburg2016, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
More Info
iNat Map
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