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Blue tits shared a tree hollow with bird-eating bats – and survived

A pair of blue tits were seen nesting in a tree cavity that was also inhabited by about 25 greater noctule bats, which commonly eat blue tits, but the birds lived to tell the tale

By Soumya Sagar

21 March 2024

A blue tit and a greater noctule making their homes in the same tree cavity

Anne Maenurm

Prey animals usually prefer to stay out of reach of predators, but researchers have observed a pair of birds and a group of bird-hunting bats residing in the same tree cavity in north-east Italy.

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Spiders think with their webs, challenging our ideas of intelligence

Wildlife photographer Anne Mäenurm was monitoring greater noctules (Nyctalus lasiopterus), a species of carnivorous bat, in a forest near Udine as part of a study led by Danilo…

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