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Little Brown Myotis (Myotis lucifugus)

August 23, 2017 by

Little Brown Myotis (Myotis lucifugus)
Pennsylvania Counties for Little Brown Myotis

Common Name: Little Brown Myotis

Scientific Name: Myotis lucifugus

Habitat: Caves during winter; summer roosts include barns, attics, deserted buildings, belfries, behind shutters, and hollow trees.

Diet: Insectivorous—insects caught in flight.

Interesting Facts:
This is our most common species of bat. It frequently establishes nursing colonies at sites to which the females return each year. In 1939 during planning for the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Charles Mohr banded and transplanted an estimated 2,500 Myotis from tunnels that had originally been constructed for a railroad. Unfortunately, the bats did not accept this relocation some 80 miles away from the tunnels which had existed, largely undisturbed, since 1885. In late 1940, bats were still seen flying through the completed turnpike tunnels.

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