A team of specialists and young naturalists of the Centre of Cheiroptera Rehabilitation of the Feldman Ecopark has found the rarest and the largest bats of Europe – the greater noctule bats – not far from Kharkiv. The participants of an expedition (Vitalii Hukov, Viktor Kovalev, Valeriia Nazarenko, Olena Rodenko, and Nataliia Shaniuk) caught 5 young greater noctule bats. They found them only 4 km from Kharkiv, near the village of Karavan, Derhachi region, Kharkiv oblast. After all necessary measurements, photo- and video shoots were made, all greater noctule bats were returned safe and sound to the place, where they were caught.
“It is an amazing find! The greater noctule bat is the rarest and the largest species of bats in Europe having the wingspread of over 30 cm. The last confirmed find of this species in Kharkiv region was made in 1955, and this species was considered extinct both on the territory of the region and on the biggest part of Ukraine,” the head of the Centre Anton Vlashchenko tells. “Only in 2009, one bat was caught by our research group in Chernobyl exclusion zone (another animal was caught there in 2013).”
It should be noted that the study of Cheiroptera on the territory of Kharkiv oblast has been carried out since 1999. During this period, the most part of large forests were examined, over 15,000 bats were caught. That is why, this find of the greater noctule bat is really new, it is not the result of poor exploration of bats, the Centre’s specialists note. Nevertheless, they are not sure that these bats were born in Kharkiv forests. Most likely, they have migrated from the north (the nearest breeding site of this species is in Russia’s Voronezh oblast). Anyway, the greater noctule bat returns in the list of bats of Kharkiv oblast. And now there are 13 species of bats in the region.
The examination of Kharkiv forests in summer 2016 was carried out under the support of the American-based society of researchers and travelers, the Explorers Club.
It should be reminded that the Centre of Cheiroptera Rehabilitation of the Feldman Ecopark works since the end of 2013. In wintertime, the specialists of the Centre save and arrange hibernation for several hundred to several thousand bats. In spring, they are released to the nature. The Centre’s workers carry out scientific researches actively: they study the habitat, migration ways and the number of bats, and present their results during national and international conferences on a regular basis.
