Bats of Romania

Romania’s bats form one of the most important and diverse bat populations in Europe. This importance is due to the great number of species and the size of colonies. Equally important is the fact that in Romania there are still natural habitats, clean rivers, large undisturbed and old forests, as well as naturally or artificially protected caves.

Up to this moment, Romania has a bat fauna of 32 species. In comparison, Great Britain has a bat fauna of 17 species, while Norway of only 10 species. In Romania it is still not that hard to find colonies with over 500-1.000 bats. These colonies are usually sheltered in caves, bridges and buildings. The largest building-dwelling colonies in Romania include over 2.000 bats.

Two of the largest bat colonies in Europe are found in Romania, each numbering about 100.000 bats (combined for the two caves). There are caves in our country that are home to over 20 bat species. The enigmatic greater noctule, Europe’s largest bat species, hunts in the untouched ancient forests of Romania. Caves situated at altitudes over 1.500-2.000 m offer roosts for the northern bat, with its typical coloration of black and gold. The warmer caves in the warmer, submediterranean habitats of Southern Romania present ideal conditions for all five European horseshoe bat species to be present. The 32 Romanian bat species are grouped into 10 genera, and they are as follows: