German researchers have tracked the migration route of a bat from where it was spending the summer near Berlin to its winter quarters in Italy using a mini transmitter, the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research reported on Tuesday.
The bat, a lesser noctule, also known as an Irish bat, took five days to fly via Munich, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Lake Comer, Milan and Parma.
The use of the transmitter updates earlier data based on finding ringed specimens. Whereas the bats were found previously in general only at their destinations in France and Italy, the transmitter allowed tracking via nightly signals picked up by mobile phone masts.
The transmitter had to be tiny, as the bats weigh between 12 and 22 grams.
According to the research team, the lesser noctule is being impacted by intensive forestry practices and by wind turbines erected along their migration routes.
“We need more precise knowledge about the migration routes of the lesser noctule in order to protect this species,” researcher Uwe Hoffmeister said.
