Daubenton's bat
Myotis daubentonii
— Where the name comes from
Daubentonii recalls Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, the anatomist who worked beside Buffon for forty years writing the rigorous descriptions the master’s prose did not contain — the collaborator who did the heavy work and who today survives almost only in species names. Myotis is “mouse ear”, from the Greek mŷs and oûs.
— Facts
- Group
- Mammals · Mammalia
- Order
- Bats
- Habitat
- Always near still or slow water; roosting in bridges, hollow trees, tunnels
- Range
- Europe and temperate Asia, from Ireland to Japan
- Size
- 4.5–5.5 cm of body, 25 cm wingspan, 7–15 g
- Diet
- Insectivore — midges and other insects gathered off the water surface
- Lifespan
- Up to 30 years
— Characteristics
- 01
It has disproportionately large feet, with which it rakes the surface of the water.
- 02
It flies a few centimetres above the water, in straight, regular lines.
- 03
It can use its feet as a net, gathering insects and bringing them to its mouth in flight.
— What sets it apart
It is the bat most easily seen in Europe without any expertise: stand on a bridge over a slow river at dusk and watch the surface. It flies very low, in regular passes back and forth along the same stretch, and now and then leaves a trail of small circles on the water — those are its feet, raking. What looks like distracted flight is in fact systematic patrolling: it eats the newly emerged insects still drying their wings on the film of water.
