| Publication Type: | Book Chapter |
| Year of Publication: | 1989 |
| Authors: | S. Aulagnier |
| Editor: | V. Hanák, Horáèek, I., Gaisler, J. |
| Book Title: | European Bat Research 1987 |
| Pagination: | 457-464 |
| Publisher: | Charles University Press |
| City: | Praha |
| Keywords: | Asellia tridens, Asio capensis, Asio otus, Athene noctua, Aves, Bubo ascalaphus, Chiroptera, diet, Eptesicus serotinus [isabellinus], food, Hipposideridae, Morocco, Myotis blythi [punicus], Myotis mystacinus, North Africa, Nycteridae, Nycteris thebaica, Otonycteris hemprichi, Pipistrellus kuhli, Plecotus austriacus [gaisleri], predation, Rhinolophidae, Rhinolophus euryale, Rhinolophus mehelyi, Rhinopoma microphyllum, Rhinopomatidae, Strigiformes, Strix aluco, Tyto alba, Vespertilionidae |
| Abstract: | Although bats represent a minor part in owl diets only, as a rule, the records obtained by analyses o owl pellets can often complete the knowledge of their distribution in a substantial way. This concerns, for instance, the Moroccan records of Otonycteris hemprichi and/or Rhinopoma microphyllum.In Morocco, the eagle owl (Bubo ascalaphus) is the most important predator of bats (nearly 1 % of prey, vertebrates only); Tyto alba takes bats to a lesser extent (less than 1 %o of prey). The results concerning the other owl species are not significant due to limited sample sizes. It is obvious that Strix aluco, Athene noctua and even Asio capensis that feeds particularly on insects prey, can kill bats (the diet of Asio otus and Otus scops being not documented). Apparently there is no relation between sizes of predator and prey. The habitat type appears to be more significant: owls living in hills and mountains take more often the bats than those inhabiting plains, and more in presaharian areas than in northern Morocco. This may be linked either with the number of bats, as mountains provide many caves and cliffs, or with the density of other available prey; in this point the cultivated plains cannot be compared with steppic hamadas.In total, 60 skulls of 11 species were identified. This is a very incomplete sample of Moroccan bat fauna (26 spp.), but many of them seem so rare (one or two records for each small Myotis spp., for example) that this result is not surprising. Within the sample, Myotis blythi (24) is the most common, followed by Pipistrellus kuhli (9), Asellia tridens (8), Eptesicus serotinus (5), etc. As observed in Europe, too, Rhinolophidae are poorly represented though they are abundant and widely distributed over the country. The absence of Miniopterus schreibersi is also noticeable: since it is common and very often coexists with the mouse-eared bat it must escape from owls. This and the presence of bats living only in narrow cracks show that, as elsewhere, the owls hunt flying animals. |