The Hill’s horseshoe bat was recovered in the net of a team of conservationists in the Nyungwe Forest National Park in Rwanda recently, marking its first appearance in 40 years. “When we first saw it, we all simply stared at it and exclaimed, ‘You look stupid.'” Dr. Jon Flanders, head of endangered species interventions at Bat Conservation International, told Mongabay, “Look how huge your nose leaf is.” It was quite a welcoming party.
A multi-national team of specialists led by Bat Conservation International (BCI), Rwanda Development Board (RDB), and Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association was responsible for the amusing finding (RWCA). Surveys have been performed since 2013, but the rediscovery happened on a fateful night in January 2019. The Hill’s horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hillorum) created quite an impression with its large schnozz.
In a release, BCI Chief Scientist Dr Winifred Frick remarked, “We recognized right away that the bat we had captured was special and amazing.” “The exaggerated facial features bordered on the absurd. Horseshoe bats may be distinguished from other bats because to their distinctive horseshoe shape and specific skin flaps on their snout.”
The large chunk of material on the nose of the Hill’s horseshoe is known as a nose leaf, and it is supposed to aid certain bats who echolocate nasally in shaping and changing their cries. With the rare bat in hand, the team took precise measurements and recorded the first-ever echolocation recording for the Hill’s horseshoe bat before releasing the show’s big-nosed star.
The Nyungwe Park Rangers have subsequently been able to put up detectors to listen on any Hill’s horseshoe bat discussions, making the recordings a huge triumph for the species’ protection. Sneaky. The bat’s size and the sheer bulk of its snout led to the likely species when they grabbed it. To be sure, Flanders went to European museum archives to compare his findings to the world’s only known Hill’s horseshoe bat specimens.
“We were concerned going into this experiment that the species had already become extinct,” he added. “Rediscovering Hill’s horseshoe bat was amazing — it’s wonderful to think we’re the first people to see this bat in such a long time.” “Now comes the hard part: figuring out how to keep this species alive for a long time.”
