Brown long-eared bat
Plecotus auritus (Linnaeus, 1758)
The brown long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus) is a mammal in the bat order Chiroptera, belonging to the family Vespertilionidae. It is a tiny bat with an adult body mass of 7.83 g, up to 9.195 g, and a wingspan of 25.4 cm.
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Quick facts about the brown long-eared bat
This nocturnal, scansorial invertivore lives in forest and shrubland habitats. The species is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, has 1 litter per year after a gestation period of 65 days, and has a lifespan of 30 years.
- Weight
- 7.83 g – 9.2 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- 4.5 cm – 4.8 cmsrc for Length
- Wingspan
- 25.4 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 30 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forest, shrublandsrc for Habitat
- Gestation
- 65.1 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1.28src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 11.6 months – 12 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Scansorialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the brown long-eared bat?
Photos of the brown long-eared bat
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the brown long-eared bat live?
Not recorded
What is the brown long-eared bat?
The brown long-eared bat or common long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus) is a small Eurasian insectivorous bat. It has distinctive ears, long and with a distinctive fold. It is extremely similar to the much rarer grey long-eared bat, which was only validated as a distinct species in the 1960s. An adult brown long-eared bat has a body length of 4.5–4.8 cm, a tail of 4.1–4.6 cm, and a forearm length of 4–4.2 cm. The ears are 3.3–3.9 cm in length, and readily distinguish the long-eared bats from most other bat species. They are relatively slow flyers compared to other bat species.
From the Wikipedia article “Brown long-eared bat” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brown_long-eared_bat&oldid=1374338337), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the brown long-eared bat endangered?
The brown long-eared bat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the brown long-eared bat classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderChiroptera
- familyVespertilionidae
- genusPlecotus
- SpeciesPlecotus auritus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Plecotus brevimanus, Plecotus peronii
Other names and names in other languages (27)
- Brown big-eared batEnglish
- Brown big-eared batEnglish
- Common long-eared batEnglish
- Common long-eared bat, brown long-eared batEnglish
- Ystlum HirglustWelsh
- Ystlumod HirglustWelsh
- Brun langøreDanish
- Langøret flagermusDanish
- Braunes LangohrGerman
- Καφέ ωτονυχτερίδαGreek
- Orejudo DoradoSpanish
- korvayökköFinnish
- Oreillard RouxFrench
- ialtag chluasachScottish Gaelic
- ialtagan cluasachScottish Gaelic
- Orecchione brunoItalian
- langøreflaggermusNorwegian Bokmål
- langøret flaggermusNorwegian Bokmål
- grootoorvleermuisDutch
- Bruine grootoorvleermuisDutch
- Gewone grootoorvleermuisDutch
- brunlangøyreNorwegian Nynorsk
- langøyra flaggermusNorwegian Nynorsk
- langøyreflaggermusNorwegian Nynorsk
- Бурый ушанRussian
- brunlångöraSwedish
- långörad fladdermusSwedish
Relatives of the brown long-eared bat
Other species in the same genus Plecotus.
Grey long-eared bat
Plecotus austriacus
Alpine long-eared bat
Plecotus macrobullaris
Sardinian long-eared bat
Plecotus sardus
Canary long-eared bat
Plecotus teneriffae
Mediterranean long-eared bat
Plecotus kolombatovici
Taiwan long-eared bat
Plecotus taivanus
CompareBrown long-eared bat vs Grey long-eared batBrown long-eared bat vs Alpine long-eared batBrown long-eared bat vs Sardinian long-eared batBrown long-eared bat vs Canary long-eared bat
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the brown long-eared bat?
The brown long-eared bat is a mammal, a bat in the order Chiroptera and the family Vespertilionidae.
How big is the brown long-eared bat?
It is a tiny bat with an adult body mass of 7.83 g, up to 9.195 g. Its wingspan is 25.4 cm.
What does the brown long-eared bat eat?
The brown long-eared bat is an invertivore, and its trophic level is carnivore.
What habitats does the brown long-eared bat live in?
It lives in forest and shrubland habitats, where it is nocturnal and scansorial.
Is the brown long-eared bat endangered?
No. It is listed as Least Concern (LC) in the global IUCN assessment, which is not an IUCN threatened category.
How long does the brown long-eared bat live?
The brown long-eared bat has a lifespan of 30 years.
How many young does the brown long-eared bat have?
It has 1.275 young per litter and 1 litter per year, after a gestation period of 65 days. It reaches sexual maturity at 358 days.
Who named the brown long-eared bat?
Its scientific name, Plecotus auritus, carries the authority (Linnaeus, 1758).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Brown long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-long-eared-bat
“Brown long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-long-eared-bat.
@misc{brown_long_eared_bat_2026,
title = {Brown long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-long-eared-bat},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}