Horseshoe bats are bats in the family Rhinolophidae. In addition to the single living genus, Rhinolophus, which has about 106 species, the extinct genus Palaeonycteris has been recognized. Horseshoe bats are closely related to the Old World leaf-nosed bats, family Hipposideridae, which have sometimes been included in Rhinolophidae. The horseshoe bats are divided into six subgenera and many species groups. The most recent common ancestor of all horseshoe bats lived 34–40 million years ago, though it is unclear where the geographic roots of the family are, and attempts to determine its biogeography have been indecisive. Their taxonomy is complex, as genetic evidence shows the likely existence of many cryptic species, as well as species recognized as distinct that may have little genetic divergence from previously recognized taxa. They are found in the Old World, mostly in tropical or subtropical areas, including Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.
Lastoursville or Mandji is a city in east-central Gabon, lying on the Ogooué River, the Trans-Gabon Railway and the N3 road. It was founded as a slave depot named Mandji, renamed Maadiville in 1883 before being named for François Rigail de Lastours in 1886. It grew around palm oil production and as an administrative centre, and soon became a major missionary centre. The town is also known for its caves.
Lopé National Park is a national park in central Gabon. Bordered by the Ogooué River to the north and the Chaillu Massif to the south, the park takes up roughly 4912 square kilometers. Although the terrain is mostly monsoon forest, in the north the park contains the last remnants of grass savannas created in Central Africa during the last ice age, 15,000 years ago. It was the first protected area in Gabon when the Lopé-Okanda Wildlife Reserve was created in 1946, and in 2007, the national park and surrounding Lopé-Okanda landscape were added to the World Heritage List by UNESCO because of its biodiversity, unique savanna-forest transitional zone, and the spectacular petroglyphs in the region.
Hipposideros is one of the most diverse genera of bats, with more than 70 species. They are collectively called roundleaf bats after the shape of their nasal ornament. It is the type genus of the family Hipposideridae. It is divided into species groups based on morphology.
The dwarf crocodile, also known as the African dwarf crocodile, broad-snouted crocodile or bony crocodile, is an African crocodile that is also the smallest extant (living) species of crocodile.
The great roundleaf bat, also known as the great Himalayan leaf-nosed bat is a species of bat in the family Hipposideridae found in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. It gives birth to two young a year. It has been assessed as a least concern species by the IUCN.
Sundevall's roundleaf bat, also called Sundevall's leaf-nosed bat, is a species of bat in the family Hipposideridae.
Leach's single leaf bat, also known as Greater Antillean long-tongued bat, is a species of bat in the family Phyllostomidae. It is found in the southern Bahamas and in all the Greater Antilles. It forms large colonies, with up to a few hundred thousand individuals, and feeds on a relatively wide variety of food items including pollen, nectar, fruit and insects.
The Andaman horseshoe bat is a species of bat in the family Rhinolophidae. It is endemic to the Andaman Islands. During the day, it roosts in caves, but may also choose tree hollows.
Maclaud's horseshoe bat is a species of bat in the family Rhinolophidae. It is endemic to Guinea. Its natural habitats are moist savanna, caves and other subterranean habitats. It is one of five African microbat species to be listed as endangered by the IUCN. In 2013, Bat Conservation International listed this species as one of the 35 species of its worldwide priority list of conservation. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Syconycteris is a genus of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. There are three described species at present, with more likely to be added. Members of this genus are found in Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia. Their diet mainly consists of nectar and fruit, making them important for pollination and seed dispersal in their environment.
The Hipposideridae are a family of bats commonly known as the Old World leaf-nosed bats. While it has often been seen as a subfamily, Hipposiderinae, of the family Rhinolophidae, it is now more generally classified as its own family. Nevertheless, it is most closely related to Rhinolophidae within the suborder Yinpterochiroptera.
Deer Cave, located near Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia, is a show cave attraction of Gunung Mulu National Park. It was surveyed in 1961 by G. E. Wilford of the British Borneo Geological Survey, who predicted that Mulu would yield many more caves in the future. The cave, which is also known as Gua Payau or Gua Rusa by the local Penan and Berawan people, is said to have received its name because of the deer that go there to lick salt-bearing rocks and shelter themselves.
Kitum Cave is located in Mount Elgon National Park, Kenya. In the 1980s, two European visitors contracted Marburg virus disease there. It is one of five named "elephant caves" of Mount Elgon where animals, including elephants, "mine" the rock for its sodium-rich salts.
The bat virome is the group of viruses associated with bats. Bats host a diverse array of viruses, including all seven types described by the Baltimore classification system: (I) double-stranded DNA viruses; (II) single-stranded DNA viruses; (III) double-stranded RNA viruses; (IV) positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses; (V) negative-sense single-stranded RNA viruses; (VI) positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses that replicate through a DNA intermediate; and (VII) double-stranded DNA viruses that replicate through a single-stranded RNA intermediate. The greatest share of bat-associated viruses identified as of 2020 are of type IV, in the family Coronaviridae.
Bats as food are eaten by people in some areas of North America, Asia, Africa, Pacific Rim countries, and some other cultures, including the United States, China, Vietnam, the Seychelles, the Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Thailand, and Guam. Half the megabat species are hunted for food but only eight percent of the insectivorous bat species are. In Guam, Mariana fruit bats are considered a delicacy.
Yagodinska Cave is a cave in the Rhodope Mountains, southern Bulgaria. It is included in the 100 Tourist Sites of Bulgaria and is named after the homonymous village nearby. With a total length of 10,500 m, Yagodinska is the fourth longest cave in the country after Kolkina Dupka, Duhlata and Orlova Chuka and the longest in the Rhodopes. Yagodinska Cave is home to 11 species of bats.
Olivier Testa is a French cave explorer, known for his discovery of the orange cave-dwelling crocodiles of Gabon, the Iroungou burial cave in Gabon, the discovery of unexpected caves in the volcanic Bamboutos mountains in Cameroon and several discoveries in Haiti. He has led or participated in over 40 caving expeditions in Africa, Asia and in the Caribbean.
