Greatest distance flown by a bat

The greatest linear flight distance documented for a bat is 2,347 kilometres (1,458 miles) by a European noctule (Nyctalus noctula). It was originally ringed in August 1957 at Voronezh in Russia by Russian bat specialist Dr Petr P Strelkov, and was recorded again in January 1961 in southern Bulgaria.

Based on non-linear distance, the record goes to a straw-coloured fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) fitted with a satellite tag in Kasanka National Park, Zambia, in December 2005, as reported in the Journal of Zoology in March 2008. This individual moved 370 kilometres (230 miles) in one night and covered a cumulative 2,518 kilometres (1,565 miles) over 149 days, ending its journey in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; however, as the crow flies, it covered "only" a distance of 1,975 kilometres (1,227 miles).

Other notable long-distance fliers include the eastern red bat (Lasiurus boreali), which migrates distances of up to 2,000 km (1,240 mi), and the Mexican free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis) – also the fastest flying mammal – which migrates some 1,600 km (995 mi) from south-west USA into the interior of Mexico each autumn.