US EditionHow Europe's largest bat catches and eats birds mid-air
Researchers used biologging on 14 bats to document 23-minute continuous flight feeding and precise hunting of migratory songbirds, revealing unique aerial predation adaptations.
- Research published in Science reveals first direct evidence that greater noctule bats catch and eat passerine birds in flight over Doñana region, southern Spain.
- Prompted by feathers found nearly 25 years ago, researchers used biologging to confirm greater noctules eat birds, moving beyond guano evidence from Doñana Biological Station.
- High-Resolution biologging tags on 14 bats showed rapid ascents above 400 meters and up to 1200m, steep dives with triple acceleration, over 40 echolocation buzzes per attack, and chewing for 23 minutes while maintaining altitude.
- With conservation implications, the study highlights that greater noctules are rare and endangered, but researchers caution their low numbers limit threats to migratory songbird populations.
- Beyond the immediate discovery, the study reshapes understanding of aerial food webs and opens future research on biomechanics, sensory ecology, and the 2 other aerial-hawking, bird-eating bat species.
12 Articles
12 Articles
Bats hunt and eat songbirds mid-flight
Bat with tag. Credit: Elena Tena Europe’s largest bat species, the greater noctule (Nyctalus lasiopterus), has been caught red-handed terrorising songbirds in the night sky above southern Spain. High-resolution biologging tags affixed to the backs of 14 bats to record their 3-dimensional movements, acceleration, altitude and sounds documented 2 of the predators as they attempted to catch migrating songbirds for their next meal. One was successfu…
How Europe's largest bat catches and eats birds mid-air
After nearly 25 years of research, the mystery has finally been solved: Europe's largest bat doesn't just eat small birds—it hunts and captures them more than a kilometer above the ground. And it eats them without landing.
They catch for the first time a bat swallowing a bird while flying at high altitude thanks to devices that allow audio recording. The attack of this large node on a European robin has confirmed the theory that they can hunt and eat birds in full flight. Read
After decades of attempts, a team led by the Doñana Biological Station has managed to record the sound of a large node predating a European robin in the air
Europe’s largest bat caught hunting birds in mid-air for the first time
For nearly 25 years, scientists have puzzled over how Europe’s largest bat, the greater noctule, manages to eat small birds. The mystery has finally been solved. New research shows that these bats are capable of chasing, catching, and eating birds more than a kilometer above the ground—all while staying in flight. The findings, published in […] The post Europe’s largest bat caught hunting birds in mid-air for the first time appeared first on Kno…
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