Eptesicus furinalis

The Argentine Brown Bat is from the family Vespertilionidae.  It is a small to medium sized bat and has a broad-head, short rounded ears with dark brown fur.  In spring especially, we encounter orange coloured individuals and in 2019 we also came across these in the autumn.  Its average weight is 8-12 grams.  The tragus is long and curved forward, and the tail is completely contained within the membrane and may be used to scoop up insects.

Eptesicus furinalis is widely distributed in Latin America and is not endangered. We regularly catch it in our mist nets and the Harp trap when conducting bat research under the licence of Parque y Reservas.

They appear to have a bimodal breeding pattern and will generally produce twins in its first annual cycle.  Later litters in the year usually contain just one pup probably due to food shortage.

They can live in all manner of roosts including houses, trees, old bird’s nests, caves etc.    They have short broad wings which enable them to hunt by aerial hawking and gleaning.