Foraging activity and night-roost usagein the Japanese greater horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum nippon

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Nocturnal activity, foraging behavior and night-roost usage in Rhinolophus ferrumequinum nippon were examined using bat-detectors, radio transmitters and fluorescent tags. Emergence from the cave roost began around dusk from March to November. The mean emergence time averaged 14 min after sunset, and the principal foraging period was within a few hours after sunset. The main foraging style was flycatching (perch-hunting). The height of the branches used by bats as feeding or roosting sites averaged 4.1 m above the ground. The length of bats stay per feeding site averaged 6.6 min. In June, August and September, once the bats emerged, they seldom returned to the cave until just before sunrise, but in July, lactating females returned to the cave before midnight. In November, most of the bats returned to the cave about two hrs after sunset. Home range of adult females averaged 1.5 ha, and they foraged mainly in open forests, woodland paths or forest edges. The distances traveled to their main foraging sites averaged 0.87 km. Maximum-recorded distance traveled was 2.3 km during one night, and they hunted up to a distance of 2.0 km from the cave. Bats used specific night roosts, and their roosting bouts in the night roosts extended for about six hrs in April and varied from one to five hrs in June and October.
日本哺乳類学会の論文
2003-06-01