A golf course, specifically La Sella, a facility located in the town of Denia, Alicante, is the natural habitat of a type of bigeye bat, specifically the Myoits capaccini, classified as an “endangered” species. The bigeye bat is a species typical of aquatic habitats, specialized in capturing prey on the surface of the water. At present, this type of habitat is very deteriorated in the Denia area, with very low flows in rivers and streams, as well as large areas of dried-up former marshes.
In this context, the lagoons located in the golf course of La Sella are an important contribution to the habitat of the species, where it hunts varied aquatic fauna, from abundant chironomid mosquitoes and other aquatic arthropods to fish of the genus Gambusia. This circumstance highlights the importance of golf courses -in this particular case La Sella Golf- as reserves of high ecological value. Within the framework of a research project funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, developed by researchers from the Doñana Biological Station (CSIC), the Zoology Museum of the University of Copenhagen and the Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology of the University of the Basque Country UPV-EHU, several lactating females of the endangered bigeye bat Myoits capaccini were tagged and monitored by radiotelemetry.
The monitoring of these animals revealed the existence of bigeye bats in the Cova de la Punta de Benimaquia and that they use the surroundings of the La Sella golf course as a hunting area, particularly the lagoons and ponds located there. Exclusively cave-dwelling, the bigeye bat – an endangered species – uses caves, mines, tunnels, etc. as shelters, always near wetlands such as rivers, reservoirs, irrigation ditches or irrigated areas.
The study developed by researchers from the Doñana Biological Station (CSIC), the Zoology Museum of the University of Copenhagen and the Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology of the University of the Basque Country UPV-EHU has been published in prestigious research journals, which highlights the importance of this fact. In addition to the natural environment of the La Sella golf course, colonies of this species of bigeye bat have been found in the Amaseno Valley, in Italy, and in Kibbutz Hezorea, in Israel.
Leave a Reply