Madeira Bats

When Madeira Island was discovered the only mammals that exist here were bats and monk seals. All other mammals found nowadays on this island were introduced, such as rats, mice, rabbits, cattle and domestic animals. Regarding bats there is only three species known to breed in Madeira, one endemic species of Macaronesia region and the other one a Madeira subspecies:

Madeira Pipistrelle Pipistrellus maderensis

This species is endemic to Macaronesia where it is found in Madeira, Azores and Canary Islands. In Madeira it is considered critically threaten due to its small area of occurrence both in Madeira and Porto Santo. Its population fragmentation is wide and its habitat is gradually loosing quality.

Its population is estimated in less than a thousand mature individuals and almost nothing is known about its population trends.

Habitat - Madeira Pipistrelle usually takes shelter in the rocks or building cracks. It can be found hunting around public illumination in all types of habitats, being more abundant in forest, agricultural and urban ecosystems.

Madeira Lesser Noctule Nyctalus leisleri verrucosus

An endemic subspecies from Madeira that is considered critically threaten, again due to its reduced area of occurrence only in Madeira Island and due to the lost of habitat. Its population is estimated in less than a thousand adults and very little is known about its trends.

Habitat - It is usually a forest species, associated with well developed leaf trees though it hunts in a great diversity of habitats. It can be found mainly in trees' holes though sometimes it is seen around buildings. Although this bat species give more importance to forest it can also be found around lakes or pastures.

Grey Long-eared Bat Plecotus austriacus

This is a common species in Europe though it is considered threatened in Madeira as, like the other bat species, very little is known about it and there is no estimations about the size or trends of its population. It occurs in Madeira Island though it was already observed in Desertas Islands as well. This species flies very low and sometimes it is hit by a car.

Habitat - The ecology of this species to Madeira is almost unknown though there are some records of it using agriculture warehouses as shelters. There are also records of it hunting in the Laurel Forest.