Eastern Horseshoe Bat
Click to enlarge image
© Australian Museum
Fast Facts
-
Classification
- Genus
- Rhinolophus
- Species
- megaphyllus
- Family
- Rhinolophidae
- Order
- Chiroptera
- Subclass
- Eutheria
- Subphylum
- Vertebrata
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Kingdom
- Animalia
Introduction
Eastern Horseshoe Bats are distinguished by the horseshoe-shaped fleshy area around their nose. They are disturbed when people enter their caves, especially in the breeding season when they may abandon their young.
Habitat
Eastern Horseshoe Bats roost in warm, humid caves, holes and cracks in rocks, old mines and tunnels and occasionally under buildings. Up to 50 bats roost together in a colony, hanging free from the ceiling.
Distribution
Seasonality
Hibernate during the cold months in southern Australia.
Feeding and diet
Eastern Horseshoe Bats hunt flying and non-flying insects and spiders. They fly close to the ground or foliage to catch their prey, then carry them to special feeding roosts to eat.
Economic impacts
Eastern Horseshoe Bats are vulnerable to disturbance from human visitors to cave roosts, destruction of cave roost sites by mining, and loss of feeding habitat by forestry operations, and clearing for agriculture and housing.
