Recently described Myotis alcathoe has been recorded in Ukraine for the first time and at eight new localities in three distant and geographically diverse areas of Poland (the mountains, the uplands and the lowlands). This data extends its distribution range in Central Europe and confirms it as a native breeding species in Poland. Specific identification of bats was confirmed by sequencing ND1 gene of mtDNA. In Poland its reproduction has been recorded in Łężczok reserve, Silesian Foothill and in Roztocze National Park. Bats were observed mostly within old broadleaved and mixed forests, near water, at altitude ranging from 112 to 736 m a.s.l. The only known roosting site for the species is a cave which is used both in spring and during the swarming period. In Poland the species co-occurred with both M. brandtii and M. mystacinus or with M. brandtii at all sites.

Metabolic rate and body temperature (T_b) reduction during torpor can provide significant energy savings for bats during inclement weather and food scarcity. However, torpor use may slow down biochemical processes including fetal and juvenile development and sperm production. Sex-differences in the timing of reproductive activity of bats in the temperate climate zone should result in differences of the thermoregulation behaviour by males and females during summer. To test this hypothesis, we studied thermoregulation of free-ranging, tree-dwelling gleaning bats (Myotis bechsteinii) and trawling bats (M. daubentonii) during different reproductive periods. Gleaners and trawlers are able to forage on prey which is sitting on vegetation and the ground (gleaning) or which is slowly moving over water bodies (trawling). This prey is characterized by lower ambient temperature (T_a) dependent abundance than flying prey. We used temperature-sensitive radio transmitters to measure skin temperature (T_sk). Temperature telemetry over 144 census days revealed a significant effect of reproductive period and sex on T_sk. Pre-spermatogenic males exhibited a significantly greater T_sk reduction than females in early pregnancy. Males at the beginning of sperm production and in main spermatogenesis exhibited much more frequent and deeper temperature reductions than females in late pregnancy and in lactation. Lactating females maintained the highest T_sk of all bats. Post-lactating females reduced T_sk to the same extent or even more than males in advanced spermatogenesis.

Our findings indicate that the thermoregulation of gleaning and trawling temperate bats is likely to be much less influenced by environmental conditions than that of aerial hawking bat species. We suggest that both sexes of Bechstein's bats and Daubenton's bats primarily adapt their thermoregulation in response to current reproductive activity.

In a Geoffroy's bat Myotis emarginatus colony in central Iberia, we investigated the foraging behaviour of six lactating females by means of radio-tracking and the diet of 23 individuals by faecal analysis. The bats preferred to forage mainly in pine plantations, riparian woodland, and scrubland, whereas native dehesa (a loose semi-natural oak Quercus rotundifolia and Q. suber woodland) was not exploited as expected. By far the most important prey type for this bat in the Mediterranean were spiders. We conclude that Geoffroy's bat prefers to forage in multistratified dense habitats, even if these include nonnative plantations. The vertical structuring and especially high cover, along with the combination of both parameters are important for this highly manoeuvrable, clutter-tolerant bat. This is valid even when the vertical component is much reduced as occurs in scrubland, in the first succession steps to woodland creation, and in degraded conditions. Under such circumstances, aerial weaving spiders might be detected and captured when lying in their webs. It is likely that dehesa is too loosely wooded to offer suitable characteristics for orb-weaving aerial spiders to build webs, and thus it may not be as attractive for M. emarginatus as more dense habitats.

The advertisement calls of Nathusius' pipistrelle (Pipistrellus nathusii) show an unified structure: three main motifs which can be supplemented with additional two motifs especially during mating season. In May and June, a continuous social vocalization of quite unusual structure and composition was recorded apart from these standard calls. Most of these calls were designed in a long “wavy line” pattern with the peak frequency of 14–36 kHz, and were accompanied by standard or modified echolocation calls. In one case we succeeded to supplement the acoustic records with a complete record of behavioural details: two bats slowly flew and followed one another in a circular path in front of the roost, where they repeatedly performed false landings, and during approaching one of them emitted the unusual social calls. This behaviour lasted for about 40% of the whole-night activity. The possible meaning is discussed.

Somatic chromosomes of 17 northern birch mice, Sicista betulina, originating from lowland and Tatra Mountain populations were studied. In the whole studied material constant diploid number of chromosomes (2n = 32) was found. Polymorphism of a pair of large-sized autosomes was found; acrocentric, subtelocentric and submetacentric chromosomes in homozygous or heterozygous state form the polymorphic pair. Consequently, chromosome arm number (NF) varies within 60 and 62. In this regard Polish populations of northern birch mouse differ from those of more eastward distribution (NF = 63–64).

The population density of the Eurasian otter, as in many other carnivores, is difficult to estimate in the wild. Spraint (otter scat) counts are usually used as an indirect indicator of abundance but its reliability is poorly known. In this work two methods of estimation (direct observations, DO, and track sampling, MNT) are compared in Central Spain. A new approach is applied to correct inherent biases to track sampling. Furthermore, the influence of sample size on MNT estimations was tested. The results indicate a highly significant relationship between the estimations of abundance derived from DO and MNT methods, although MNT could underestimate the density of otters when it is under 0.01 otters/km. The application of the new track sampling method could result in a successful reduction or removal of the biases. On the basis of current knowledge, it is argued that both MNT and DO could provide a realistic picture of the otter populations and facilitate their estimation and monitoring with sufficient reliability.

In early spring of 2007, unusual feeding behaviour was observed for the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) when a cache of toads (n = 18), black bullheads (n = 2) and great diving beetles (min. 58 ind.) were found in a hollow tree-trunk on the shores of an oxbow lake near the River Danube. Spraint analysis identified the primary food of otters in the area to be fish, with non-fish (buffer) prey of very low importance. As the otter consumed almost exclusively fish, and appeared to store mainly buffer food items, this may indicate that either preferred fish were less available (limited) or that non-fish items were relatively more abundant for a short period during the mild ‘cold’ winter and spring period. The otter had abandoned this particular cache. Food caching is an important dietary adaptation for many species, providing readily available food during periods when fresh food may be difficult to find.

Patterns of daily activity and the factors affecting it were studied in an invading Mediterranean population of American mink, Neovison vison, radiotracked in the northeast of Spain during the post breeding season (winter — half year). We distinguished between local activity, defined as active behaviour without spatial displacement, locomotion activity as active locomotion behaviour while foraging or travelling, and inactivity. We studied the effect of sex, age, daylight (nocturnal or diurnal), month, river flow and average rainfall on the activity of eight males and three females. Male mink presented more locomotion activity than females and subadult mink had more locomotion activity than adult mink. Average rainfall per day had a negative effect on locomotion, while daylight had no effect on either total activity or locomotion activity. Studied mink spent most of their time inactive in-den. These results are accordance with the patterns of activity shown by other native and invasive populations.

Animals' body size varies intra-specifically and geographically among populations, and many species (including small carnivores) show sexual dimorphism and larger individuals (lower superficial area/volume ratio) inhabiting cooler climates complying with Bergman's rule. In the present study we analyse data of common genets wild-caught in three different regions of the Iberian Peninsula, searching for variations in size and weight between males and females, testing for sexual dimorphism, as well as for micro-scale geographical variations among populations in biometrics and sexual dimorphism. We use field measurements such as length (body and tail) and weight, to characterise the three populations in the Iberian Peninsula. Our results show that Iberian genets present significant differences between sexes, although sexual dimorphism is lower than in other small carnivores, and that they comply with Rensch's rule, males size showing greater variation. Iberian genets also follow the Bergman's rule, being bigger and heavier in colder and northern regions. Although we have detected morphometric differences among studied populations, sexual dimorphism indexes varied little. We discuss our results in the light of the different hypotheses given to explain the sexual dimorphism in carnivores, trying to identify the mechanisms that might play a role in the dimorphism of genets.

Norway spruce is a wide-spread food resource and its utilisable biomass exceeds the needs of herbivores. Needles seem to be a generally ignored food component in temperate forests that is consumed only when there are no better food sources. It is used especially during winters with deep snow cover. The aim of this study was to test presumption of needles as nutritive poor component of ungulate diets through botanical diet analyses and chemical nutrition estimation (content of crude protein and metabolizable energy volume in faeces) and elaborate the calibration curve on indirect estimation of quality food resources for ungulates in environment (NIRS needle content in faeces). High content of spruce needles corresponded well with a low quality winter diet of wild ungulates and may reflect animal nutritional constraints. As a consequence, the content of spruce needles may be used as an easy index of animal performance in a particular environment in forested area with coniferous forests in temperate zone. Needle content can be determined from the faeces by near infrared spectrophotometer and this easy technique can be recommended as indicator of the food resources quality for ungulates.

The only autochthonous population of Tatra chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica) occurs in the Tatra Mountains (northern Slovakia and southern Poland). Another population has been introduced to the Low Tatra Mts., while Alpine chamois (R. r. rupicapra) has been introduced to the neighbouring mountain ranges, Vel'ká Fatra and Slovenský raj. All these populations have undergone intensive bottlenecks. Any resulting low genetic variability would mean that only few genetic markers could be used for population genetic studies due to prevailing monomorphism. We tested 65 markers previously used in chamois or other Caprinae species, from which 20 most suitable loci for noninvasive genetic study of the Tatra chamois were selected. These polymorphic loci were used for optimisation of three multiplex sets and revealed a mean number of alleles of 2.1 and mean expected heterozygosity of 0.331 for the Tatra population. Low genetic diversity was also observed in the Low Tatra population while slightly higher values were obtained for Alpine chamois population in Slovenský raj. We subsequently assessed the amplification success rate for noninvasively obtained samples (faeces), which ranged from 85.1% to 92.7% for particular loci. The developed polymorphic microsatellite sets provide a unique tool for population genetic study of the endangered Tatra chamois, even when using noninvasive sampling, and is also suitable for Alpine chamois.