This miniature creature belongs to the Batwing family, the family of ordinary bats, the genus of night-nights.
In general, Bats are the oldest animals on Earth. Scientists have proven that representatives of this detachment lived on our planet 55 million years ago. More truly, it was an animal similar to a bat, but it is still impossible to determine more precisely.
Brandt's night lamp was first described by Russian naturalist and traveler Eduard Eversman in 1845. But named after the German naturalist, zoologist, botanist and physician Johann Brandt. By the way, sometimes instead of Brandt’s nightstand they say: Brandt’s bat.
Description
This mouse with a body length of 4 to 5 cm, rarely more. The length of the tail is two-thirds of the length of the body. The weight of an individual varies from 5 to 10 grams.
This bat has a rather long ear, which tapers towards the end and has a notch at the back. Wool on the muzzle (mask) of a dark color. The fur of the whole body is thick, long, somewhat disheveled. The hairs have dark bases. Color variations on the back - from reddish to dark brown. Wings with membranes. Their scope is quite large - up to 24 cm. Apparently therefore, describing the flight of the nightlight, zoologists note first of all its unhurriedness.
With relatively calm living conditions (except for the main enemy - man, bats do not have many natural enemies) can live about 20 years.
Brandt’s colony of night-nights looks like, the photo in the article fully demonstrates.
Females of this species usually do not form the largest colonies - only up to several tens of individuals (for comparison: some bats gather several thousand individuals). As for the males of the nightlight, they usually stay alone.
In the litter of Brandt’s nightstand, there is one cub whom the mother feeds for a month and a half.
Habitat
The habitat is very extensive: England, Europe, Siberia, Korea, Japan, Sakhalin. There are known finds of specimens of this species on the lands of the Northern Urals, in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.
Lives in the hollows of trees in both forest and forest-steppe areas. It can settle in rocky crevices, caves and quite rarely in buildings. But for the winter it is arranged most often underground.
Begins the hunt in twilight. Its prey is flying insects. It can pursue the victim among the crowns of trees, and above the water. The flight of this creature is smooth and maneuverable.
According to the classification in the Red Book, Brandt's nightlight in different regions is most often classified as "a rare species with a limited, possibly intermittent distribution in different areas." Its distribution has been little studied, however, meetings are rare.
Features
The Batwing in general hunts and moves, and Brandt’s nightlight in particular, emitting ultrasonic signals. Encountered by an obstacle (insect, wall, etc.), the impulse returns, like an echo, captured by the animal - thus information about the object enters the brain. Echolocation serves a bat like a flashlight emitting rays of light in different directions. With the help of a series of short signals of different frequencies, the bat is able to move and navigate even in complete darkness and confined space (cave). Here the need for vision recedes into the background.
It is clear that the ability to echolocation have more insectivorous bats, in particular Brandt's Night. Some fruit-eating and nectar-eating species living in open spaces calmly do without it.
In addition, scientists have proven that the sounds made help bats also coexist in the colony - that is, communicate. And the presence of a certain social behavior involves sounds of different heights, loudness, and totality. All this animal must be able to distinguish and understand. And Brandt's Nightstand is no exception in this case.
