Recent and Late Pleistocene bats in a mountain cave of Slovenia: evidence of a climatic drop

Abstract

The Snezna jama cave, at the elevation of 1556 m in the Slovenian alps, harbors bony remains of a living bat fauna. These represent six vespertilionine species and suggest data related to frequency, age of individuals, aspects of specific ethology and chorology. Abundant comparable bat remains were fossilized in the same cave at some moment during the Late Pleistocene. These bear evidence of warmer local climatic conditions than the present ones and their subsequent deterioration.