Big Brown Bat
Eptesicus fuscus
Summary 6
The big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) is native to North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and extreme northern South America.
Description 7
Big brown bats make their homes in rural areas, towns, and cities, sometimes choosing barns, houses, or other buildings as roosts. Males usually live alone; females gather in maternity colonies in the spring and summer to give birth and raise their young. A maternity colony may include 20 - 75 adults and their offspring. Females in the eastern United States usually give birth to twins; those in the West usually have a single pup each year. Females may return to the same colony year after year. On warm, dry evenings, the bats leave the roost shortly after sunset to forage for insects especially flying beetles which they catch and eat in the air. When the weather is cold or wet, they may stay in the roost, dropping their body temperature and living on stored fat. In the winter, they hibernate. Many migrate a short distance (less than 80 km) to find mines or caves for hibernation, but some spend the winter in attics or walls where the temperature is cool but stays above freezing.
Links:
Mammal Species of the World
Click here for The American Society of Mammalogists species account
Sources and Credits
- (c) Juan Cruzado Cortés, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Juan Cruzado Cortés
- (c) 1999 California Academy of Sciences, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=699&one=T
- (c) 1999 California Academy of Sciences, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=654&one=T
- (c) Rob Curtis, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), uploaded by Rob Curtis
- (c) Matt Reinbold, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1350/673915993_eabef33055.jpg
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eptesicus_fuscus
- (c) Smithsonian Institution, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/6624840
