Greater horseshoe bat
Rhinolophus ferrumequinum
Sammy Kernane · Sidi Safi
Key facts in one look
- Size
- Body 5.7–7.1 cm, wingspan 35–40 cm
- Diet
- Insectivore: moths, beetles
- Status in Georgia
- Native; the most frequent cave bat
- Habitat
- Caves; woodland and pasture
- Family
- Rhinolophidae
- Conservation
- LC / LC
The greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) is the largest horseshoe bat in Europe: its body is 5.7–7.1 cm long, its wingspan 35–40 cm and its weight 13–34 g. It is named after the fold of skin on its nose, curved like a horseshoe. It is the bat recorded most often in Georgia's caves and other underground sites. At night it hunts mainly moths and beetles. It looks very much like the lesser horseshoe bat, but it is much larger, and size is the main difference between them. If a bat flies into your home, do not catch it with bare hands: open a window and give it time to leave.
Identification
Greater horseshoe bat: how to identify it
A medium-sized, brownish-grey bat with a horseshoe-shaped fold of skin on its nose. It rests hanging freely by its feet, with its wings wrapped around its body. The lesser horseshoe bat does the same, so the two species are told apart mainly by size. The greater horseshoe bat is the largest horseshoe bat in Georgia.
Size is the main feature. The greater horseshoe bat's forearm is longer than 45 mm, its body 5.7–7.1 cm, its wingspan 35–40 cm and its weight 13–34 g. The lesser horseshoe bat has a forearm shorter than 45 mm, a body of 3.5–4.5 cm, a wingspan of 19–25 cm and weighs only 5–9 g.
Its nose carries a complex leaf of skin: the lower part is horseshoe-shaped and the upper part pointed. The ears are large, and there is no small inner flap, the tragus. These features are shared by all horseshoe bats and do not separate the species.
By day and in winter it hangs freely by its feet from a ceiling or wall, wrapped completely in its wings like a cocoon. The lesser horseshoe bat rests the same way, so this feature only tells you that you are looking at a horseshoe bat.
Two medium-sized horseshoe bats also live in Georgia: the Mediterranean horseshoe bat (body 4.3–5.8 cm, 8–17.5 g) and Blasius's horseshoe bat (forearm 43–48 mm). In size they sit between the greater and the lesser, so they are told apart only by exact measurement or by recording their echolocation calls. The greater horseshoe bat calls at 69–83 kHz, loudest at about 81 kHz, while the lesser calls at 93–111 kHz. Do not catch a bat to measure it: that is a job for specialists.
Colour
The back is brownish-grey, sometimes with a reddish tint, and the belly paler, greyish-white. The hairs are pale grey at the base. The ears and wing membranes are light greyish-brown. Young bats are uniformly grey.
Swatches are illustrative. Do not identify a species by colour alone.
The greater horseshoe bat is mainly a cave bat. It spends the day and the winter in caves, tunnels and other underground spaces, and sometimes in crevices and buildings. In the northern part of its range it also uses warm attics as summer roosts. It feeds over mixed broadleaf woodland and pasture, especially where cattle graze. It usually lives below 800 m, but in the Caucasus it reaches 3,000 m. The greater horseshoe bat has the most records from Georgia's underground sites, 67. It appears both in sources from before 1999 and in the surveys of 1999–2024. In some years and seasons it joins the large nursery colony in Ghliana Cave, where bats raise their young.
The greater horseshoe bat map combines public iNaturalist observations. Regions are taken from the records-by-region table, and the status column separates regions with enough records from regions with too few records. Record counts reflect observation effort rather than population density. So far only one region has enough records: Abkhazia.
Data: Reptiles.ge + iNaturalist · Methodology
- Field observation
- Several records in one spot
- Photo record
- Region with records
The greater horseshoe bat eats insects and picks large ones. About 41% of its food is moths, especially owlet moths, and 33% beetles, including dung beetles and cockchafers. The rest is wasps and their relatives, flies and cave spiders. In spring, from April to June, females eat mostly beetles, and from June to August mostly moths. In late August and September it eats crane flies and builds up fat for the winter. It leaves its roost at dusk and flies 0.3–6 m above the ground. It usually hunts within about 4 km of a nursery roost.
It hibernates from October to April in caves and tunnels where the temperature is +1 to +10 °C. It wakes from time to time, from once a day to once every 6–10 days, to feed or change roost. It usually travels 20–30 km between its winter and summer roosts, and the longest recorded movement is 180 km. Mating takes place mostly in autumn and partly in spring. In summer females gather in nursery colonies of a few dozen to several hundred animals, and often return to the roost where they were born. Each female has a single young in June or July. The young opens its eyes on day 7, starts flying at 3–4 weeks and leaves the roost at about 5 weeks. Males mature at 2 years and females at 3, and some females breed for the first time only in their fifth year. It lives up to 30 years.
Globally the greater horseshoe bat is rated Least Concern (LC, 2016), though its overall numbers are falling, while in places they are stable or recovering. It has died out in Malta, and in Britain it has disappeared from more than half of its former range. The main threats are changes to and fragmentation of woodland and pasture, pesticides that reduce insects, climate change, disturbance, and the loss of underground roosts and attics. In Georgia the 2021 national assessment rates it Least Concern (LC), with a stable population. It is an Emerald Network priority species. Georgia's cave bats are threatened most by human disturbance, by damage to caves or their use for other purposes, and by light pollution. Besides the caves, the land around them, where bats feed at night, also needs protection.
Related guides
Continue with related pages
Yes. It is the bat recorded most often in Georgia's caves and other underground sites, with 67 records. It appears both in old sources from before 1999 and in the surveys of recent decades. In some years it also joins the large nursery colony in Ghliana Cave.
By size. The greater horseshoe bat's body is 5.7–7.1 cm long and weighs 13–34 g, while the lesser's is 3.5–4.5 cm and 5–9 g. The greater has a forearm longer than 45 mm, the lesser a shorter one. Both hang wrapped in their wings and have a horseshoe-shaped noseleaf. The Mediterranean and Blasius's horseshoe bats, which fall between them in size, are told apart only by measurement.
It will not attack you, but do not touch it with bare hands. A bat bite can be tiny and easy to miss. Rabies cannot be ruled out by appearance, although most bats people see are not rabid. After a bite or scratch, wash the spot with soap and water for at least 15 minutes and see a doctor; in an emergency, call 112.
Stay calm and take children and pets out of the room. Close the doors to other rooms, open an outside window or door wide and switch off unnecessary lights. Then step back and give it time: a bat usually finds the way out on its own. Do not try to catch a bat in flight.
Large insects. About 41% of its food is moths and 33% beetles, including dung beetles. That is why it likes to hunt over pasture where cattle graze. In autumn it eats crane flies and builds up fat for the winter.
It is not threatened, but it needs care. Globally, and in Georgia's 2021 national assessment, it is rated Least Concern (LC). It is an Emerald Network priority species. In some European countries it has declined sharply, and in Malta it has died out, so do not disturb its colonies in caves.
References
What this profile is based on
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
Prepared by the Reptiles.ge editorial team from the sources listed here.
