📸 PhotoPhoto: Jigar Parmar 03 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Greater Mouse-tailed Bat
Rhinopoma microphyllum (Greater Mouse-tailed Bat · Greater Mouse-tailed Bat)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A weight of 20 g is about the weight of four Korean 100-won coins (about 5.4 g each) (Comparison).
- 💡 Its head-and-body length of 7.9 cm is slightly longer than the short side of a mobile phone (about 7 cm) (Comparison).
- 💡 In one study, a single individual was caught, measured, and analyzed for DNA to confirm the first record for Ethiopia.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Greater Mouse-tailed Bat is a cave bat distributed from North Africa to the Middle East and India, whose known range expanded when it was first recorded in Ethiopia.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
A female caught in Ethiopia measured 79 mm in head-and-body length, 57 mm in tail length, 69 mm in forearm length, and 17 mm in ear length; it is relatively large-bodied with a tail much shorter than its forearm.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It was found in a cave among rocky cliffs in dry shrubland at 1,382 m in Ethiopia and has been recorded up to 1,775 m in the Middle East. Its diet and behavior were not covered in the source material.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2017) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/19600/21998943
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • mammaldiversity.org — 1004774
- • iucnredlist.org — 21998943
- • wikidata.org — Q1830890
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Greater Mouse-tailed bat(Rhinopoma microphyllum).jpg
- • publication.plazi.org — 03881553FFA987687796562E1D5D12A5
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.