Wildlife
Horseshoe bats are named after the shape of their noseleaves, a complex horseshoe-shaped fold of skin used to emit echolocational calls and help focus the sound. Broad, round wings provide these bats with excellent manoeuvrability and agility in tight spaces, with many species actually able to hover and pick insects off surfaces and spiders' webs. Horseshoe bats also have a unique roosting posture, wrapping their wings around their body and enshrouding themselves. However, the 100 or so horseshoe species have an array of roosting habits, from large cave colonies to hanging in the open among tree branches.
Scientific name: Rhinolophidae
Rank: Family
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Horseshoe haunt
What do horseshoe bats look for in a place to hang out?
What do horseshoe bats look for in a place to hang out?
Farmland bats
Cattle fields with marginal hedgerows provide the perfect habitat for horseshoe bats.
Cattle fields with marginal hedgerows provide the perfect habitat for horseshoe bats.
The shading illustrates the diversity of this group - the darker the colour the greater the number of species. Data provided by WWF's Wildfinder.
The Horseshoe bats can be found in a number of locations including: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, United Kingdom. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
The following habitats are found across the Horseshoe bats distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Horseshoe bats (Rhinolophidae) are a family of bats. In addition to the single living genus, Rhinolophus, there is one extinct genus, Palaeonycteris. The closely related Hipposideridae are sometimes included within the horseshoe bats as a subfamily, Hipposiderinae. Both families are classified in the suborder Yinpterochiroptera or Pteropodiformes and were previously included in Microchiroptera.
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Farmland
Brownfield land
Mountains
Broadleaf forest
Rainforest
Urban
Paternal care
Helpless young
Camouflage
Carnivorous
Colonial
Adapted to flying
Acoustic communication
Hibernation
Maternal care
Nocturnal
Social
Chemical communication
Echolocation and ultrasound
Viviparous