Canary long-eared bat facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Canary long-eared bat |
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The Canary long-eared bat (Plecotus teneriffae) is a unique bat. It is also called the Canary big-eared bat or Tenerife long-eared bat. This bat lives only on the Canary Islands. It is a type of vesper bat. Experts say it is a vulnerable animal. This means it is at risk of disappearing forever. These bats usually live in forests. They can be found from 100 to 2300 meters high. They mostly eat moths. They like to rest in caves, lava tubes, and old buildings.
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About Its Name and Discovery
This bat was first described in 1907. A British scientist named Gerald Edwin Hamilton Barrett-Hamilton named it. He studied bats at the British Museum of Natural History. The first bat he studied was collected in April 1887. It was found near a town called La Orotava. The person who found it was likely Ramon Gomez. He was a local pharmacist who also collected natural items. The bat's scientific name, teneriffae, comes from Tenerife. This is one of the Canary Islands. It is where the first bat was found.
What Does This Bat Look Like?
When Gerald Hamilton first described this bat, he noticed something special. He said it looked a lot like the brown long-eared bat. But the Canary long-eared bat had "much larger wings." This is one way to tell them apart.
Protecting the Canary Long-eared Bat
The Canary long-eared bat is considered vulnerable. This is a serious problem. There are several reasons why it is at risk.
- Its living area is getting smaller.
- It lives in fewer than five places.
- The number of bats is going down.
- It is losing its natural homes.
The bat's home is shrinking because of deforestation. This means forests are being cut down. Also, pesticides used near forests hurt the bats. Old buildings where they rest are sometimes fixed up. This makes the bats lose their roosting spots.
Scientists think there are only 500 to 2000 of these bats left. Only two places are known where they raise their young. One is on La Palma island. It is in the Cuevas de los Murciélagos. The other is on Tenerife. The group on La Palma has shrunk a lot. It has gone down by 80% in recent years.
Good news is that this bat is protected by law. Spanish laws protect it. Also, international agreements help. These include the Bonn Convention and the Berne Convention. These laws help keep the bats safe.
See also
In Spanish: Murciélago orejudo canario para niños
