Grey Long-Eared Bat

• GeneralIts ears are nearly half the length of its body, and it folds them away at rest.
• It creates genuine graveyards of prey: it carries each moth back to its perch to eat and the discarded wings pile up underneath.
• Its echolocation is so faint that it barely reaches five metres, which lets it hunt without being detected by moths with ultrasonic receptors.
• Its large ears also serve it for passive listening: it hears moths moving among the leaves without needing to emit a single pulse.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)

Habitat and environment

Farmland, dehesa, caves and building lofts

Birth weight

Born naked and blind, entirely dependent on its mother

Size at birth

Born naked and blind; it flies at four or five weeks

Sexual maturity

Males after their first year; females at two or three years

Gestation / incubation

About 2 months of gestation

Litter / clutch size

A single young from the second half of June on, in small colonies of 10 to 30 females

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List (e.T85533333A85533603) · SECEM - Atlas de los mamíferos terrestres de España · MITECO · Región de Murcia Digital (ficha Plecotus austriacus) · Dietz y Kiefer 2016

Best time: From spring to autumn; it hibernates from September-October to March-April