VELIKA, Feb 1 (Hina) - Seven protected species of bats have been discovered in Uviraljka, a cave in the Papuk mountain's nature park. Among these is the whiskered bat (Myotis mystacinus) which has not been seen before in this eastern
Croatian area and is among Europe's endangered species.
VELIKA, Feb 1 (Hina) - Seven protected species of bats have been
discovered in Uviraljka, a cave in the Papuk mountain's nature
park. Among these is the whiskered bat (Myotis mystacinus) which
has not been seen before in this eastern Croatian area and is among
Europe's endangered species. #L#
The bats were discovered in the cave 810 m above sea-level in a
research expedition completed earlier this week. The team was
headed by Nikola Tvrtkovic, manager of the Croatian Museum of
Natural Science in Zagreb, and Ivica Samardzic, manager of the
Papuk nature park.
Stating that the discovery was outstanding, Tvrtkovic said about
500 specimens of 11 species of bats live in Uviraljka cave.
The bats in Uviraljka sleep the winter off at a permanent
temperature of about six degrees Celsius and also like the cave's
relative humidity, Tvrtkovic said, adding the expedition also
discovered bats believed to have come from 100 km away.
Tvrtkovic said that bats, being very delicate and able to survive
only in a clean environment, were "bioindicators of the ecological
preservation or disruption of nature". They are also very useful
because they feed on plant parasites.
The pond bat (Myotis dasycneme) is another inhabitant of Uviraljka
cave, discovered during previous expeditions. "Because of all
this, this area has to be especially protected as one of the
nationally important habitats of the bat, particularly if we want
to become a member of the European community," said Tvrtkovic.
He added that international scientific institutions had been
notified, in keeping with Croatia's obligations under the Bern
Convention on the protection of endangered species.
The manager of Papuk nature park, Samardzic, said Uviraljka cave
was important for further geological research as it was a karst area
that was 150 million years old.
He said efforts would be invested in ecologically protecting the
park from all the negative influence of mankind because of the
area's enormous biological and geological importance.
(hina) ha