Sometimes, the nature conservationists in the way. For instance in the form of a Sperbers, the titmouse in the East of Bavaria in the upper Palatinate high castle, during the day, finches and blackbirds hunt, in the twilight, more recently, however, a bat. So the bird attacks, however, after one of the great successes of species protection in Central Europe: “It is the last Great Horseshoe bats of Germany, the draw in this house in the high castle their offspring are, finally,” said Andreas von Lindeiner, species protection officer at the regional Federation for the protection of birds (LBV) in the Bavarian town of Hilpoltstein.
Only eleven animals were left
three decades Ago, this bat species was extinct in Germany, almost, 1986 types of pads included in the last colony of greater horseshoe bat in the upper Palatinate just eleven animals spent in caves in the Winter. Several developments made to the type to create. Pesticides used in industrial agriculture and forestry, preventing crop losses due to insects, but also the basic food of the bats. In addition, housing shortages prevailed: To rare Horseshoe bats found roosts, where they spend the winter, and in summer the young were raised.
one Of the problems solved completely unintentionally, the US Army established in Germany stationed troops in 1951, just South of the high castle is one of the largest military training grounds in the country, with a total of 160 square kilometers. No one was there to put insecticides, so that the animals found enough food – including their most important prey in autumn: the dung beetle, which is located on the military training area in hohenfels from the legacies of elk and a few Thousand sheep to feed.
bat family searches for cave dwelling, a room, cold
in Addition, the bat need to have females of a suitable cave in which the Junior is safe from stoats, owls and the little owl. Unfortunately, most of the caves in Central Europe are quite cool and the young Horseshoe bats would have to grow slowly. So the animals find a cave, which is closed at the top by a small dome and an airtight seal. Hang in there, several females, to warm your body in the air. As the warm air builds up under the dome, the temperatures in this weeks tube.
Because the animals find such caverns are rarely, females love attics, in which at least no dangers for the young threaten. Because in the eyes of the Horseshoe bats-mothers but could also include people to the risk factors, should be the house, the attic, the best empty. “It is precisely in such abandoned buildings we discovered in the high castle in 1992, the weeks of the Great horseshoe nose tube,” recalls TCAS-conservationist Rudi Leitl, since the summer of 2009 for the protection of this last German colony responsible.
To the rescue the way the building was leased initially by the nature conservation authority, the upper Palatinate, and in 2008, the Bavarian nature conservation Fund purchased. Then, the collapse was renovated vulnerable to ruin and thus the economic power of this poor Region is strengthened: in the Meantime, tourists come to watch the evening flight of the Great horseshoe bat from the attic. With extra cameras installed, you can even look in the nursery of the bats.
The dining plan from the feces back
close to the living conditions of the endangered greater horseshoe nose improve, had to know the conservationists, however, which the animals feed. In the framework of a Life project of the European Union, Rudi collected Leitl and his staff, therefore, faecal Samples of bats. More than 60 species and genera of Arthropods, researchers discovered in these legacies. In the spring, particularly leaf-horn beetles of the species Rhizotrogus cicatricosus. This insect is also considered to be in danger of extinction. Where the beetle occurs, it is there but in large numbers. However, the beetle lives in lawns, apparently, only on South-facing slopes with Calcareous grasslands, where individual pine trees, whose needles he eats.
Until the middle of may life of the greater Horseshoe bats from these beetles. After that it are especially mosquitoes, in the summer many butterflies and in the autumn of the dung beetle. The Knowledge of the dining plan, made possible targeted measures of protection: “a Total of 65 acres of secured land, in the meantime, for the diet of the greater Horseshoe bats,” says TCA-types of protective conductor Andreas von Lindeiner. These include insect-rich meadows and fruit trees.
Cattle as a crucial component in the protection of bats
the conservationists have revived in Addition, the “Savannah of Central Europe”. What is meant is the Huteweide of the market, the high castle, but no animals grazed. There is an organic farmer drives on behalf of the TCA, a herd of of the also endangered cattle breed “Rotes height of cattle” from the upper Palatinate. “This is a red cattle has some of the behavior of wild animals, which have disappeared in other breeds for a long time, and, therefore, is in the forest without the help of the farmers well,” said Andreas von Lindeiner. These cattle eat the seedlings of trees and transform the forest into a kind of Savannah landscape with single trees and small groups of trees, under which a Lawn including many insects to grow. The greater Horseshoe bats need to hang on to the Branches individually standing trees and through the horseshoe-shaped skin structure, launch your nostrils inaudible for human ears to high Sounds. The echoes of these screams tell you where just a wage at the end of prey, fluttering through the night wooded pasture, the skilful pilot’s skin with your Flight to catch.
unlike other herds of cattle or sheep must not be treated in this red cattle with agents against intestinal parasites, which kill in the feces, the dung beetle. Only with the red cattle, the dung beetle population exploded, therefore, in the wooded pasture of the Horseshoe bats chew up a lot of Winter fat.
The success of these measures can be: Moved in 1996, just 18 females in the attic to the bat house in the high castle, nine Young, 2009, 31 females, with 23 boys. Since then, the colony experienced a Boom that ensures the Survival of the species in Germany: In the Winter of 2018, Rudi included Leitl and his staff are already 196 adult Large Horseshoe bats, in the summer of 76 hatchlings. On the however, a smarter Sparrowhawk is lurking. “Maybe we could scare these birds of Prey with the help of the hawk”, think for a TCAS expert, Rudi Leitl. This bird hunts namely Sparrowhawk.
More about
Virology Dangerous species diversity
Jana Schlütter
Horseshoes-Webcam: www.lbv.de/huficam
