First Fishing Bat Discovered in Europe
The long-fingered bat is the first bat species in the Mediterranean known to catch and eat fish, scientists say.
Weighing around 0.3 ounce (9 grams) and measuring just over 1.5 inches (42 millimeters), the minuscule bat was long thought to feed only on insects. Scientists were therefore surprised to discover fish bones and scales in the bat's feces in 2003.
(Related: "'Whispering' Bat Evolved to Trick Prey.")
To figure out whether the bats were actively fishing, Joxerra Aihartza of the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, Spain, and colleagues began monitoring the animals' feeding behavior using small radio tracking devices.
Recently the team captured video of the bats catching live fish.
"They fly low over the water and catch surface-feeding fish, such as the
