Translated from the Dutch Mammal Society:
Albino bat found in Netherlands
August 12, 2010
Bat researcher Rene Janssen was really surprised when recently, during Regeling Ecologie & Landschap research, he caught an albino serotine bat, Eptesicus serotinus. “That night, I had caught fifteen serotine bats already, when suddenly this animal hung in the mist net. Really very cool, with its red eyes you can clearly see that it is an albino. Its skin is very pale, though his hair still has a little color. After the special bat had been photographed, it was set free again. …
A white bat is not, by definition, an albino. Of the more than 1000 species of bats in the world there are two species that are naturally white. For those Central and South American species this has a function. During the day, they hide under the big leaves of banana plants and heliconias. Because those leaves are somewhat transparent, the light makes these white bats look pale green, and makes them well camouflaged.
The discovery was in Gelderland province; near Eibergen.
August 2010. This summer The Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) is appealing to the public to turn their eyes to the skies for their chance to see real stars of twilight – bats, for the Big Bat Map the UK’s biggest bat survey: here.
Like stealth fighter plane, barbastelle bat uses sneaky hunting strategy to catch its prey: here.
October 2010: The Forestry Commission can reveal that the rare barbastelle bat has established a maternity colony in a Lincolnshire woodland – a first for the county and one of only a few such sites in Britain: here.
‘Whispering’ gives bats the drop on prey: Quieter echolocation may catch more moths: here.
ScienceDaily: Deadly bat fungus found in several European countries: here.
Related articles
- Breeding fears for Britain’s bats (bbc.co.uk)
- Nature’s big bat night quiz (bbc.co.uk)
- Britain’s bats are on the brink (express.co.uk)
- Albino jackal in Iran (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
- Rare albino hedgehogs named after royal baby move into their castle (globalnews.ca)
- August is Time to Go Bats in France (french-news-online.com)
- Save British long-eared bats (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
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