science · 20 June 2005 · 20 years ago
In 2005, a 41-yr-old wild bat was reported in an article received by the Journal of Gerontology. A male Brandt's bat (Myotis brandtii) was identified as the world's oldest known small mammal from a band attached during a project in the Biryusa karst region of Siberia in Russia. Over a number of years around 1962, 1544 individual M. brandtii bats in cave colonies had been banded. These bats are small - only about 6-g. A long annual hibernation is suggested as one cause of the exception longevity of bats. M. brandtii bats hibernate from late Sep until mid-Jun. Earlier age records include a 24-yr-old female little brown bat found 30 Apr 1960 in the U.S. and on 25 Aug 1999, a newspaper reported a 33-yr-old wild bat in Europe.
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