Large ears and, most importantly, a large horseshoe nose: these are the hallmarks of the horseshoe hill bat (Rhinolophos Healy) Make it unique. However, its nocturnal lifestyle and hard-to-reach ecosystem have long eluded the species from scientific research expeditions. After 40 years, a team led by John Flanders of Bat Conservation International (BCI) has finally succeeded in discovering the species again. This was announced by the working group in a press release; A study was conducted on it in »Biodiversity Data Journal” Presenter.
Since 2013, biologists have been hunting the animals in Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest National Park, but it wasn’t until 2019 that a bat was caught in the nets that had been set up. BCI Chief Scientist Winifred Frick says: “We learned right away that the bats we caught were unrepentant. Ordinary and adorable.The facial features were so exaggerated that they were almost comical.Horseshoe bats can be easily distinguished from other bats by their distinctive horseshoe-shaped nose and special leathery ridges on the nose.
After the bats were measured and photographed, they were released back into the wild: the species is considered critically endangered. Using the data, Flanders traveled to several museums that had Hill bat specimens in their collections to eventually confirm identity at the site. The team at the site also recorded the animals’ echolocation calls for the first time, so that they can be more easily detected in the future. An evaluation of a quarter of a million automatically recorded calls then showed their rarity at just eight locations in the park. “All previous work confirms that this species is very rare and has a very small area of distribution,” Frick says.
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