Devetashka Cave, Lovech, Bulgaria

Devetashka Cave, located near the village of Devetaki, Lovech municipality, is one of the largest caves in Bulgaria.

Devetashka Cave is one of the three most important shelters for bat hibernation in Europe. There winters a colony of over 35,000 specimens of the species Cave Long-winged, Long-toed Nightingale, Large Horseshoe Bat and Rusty Nightingale.

All bats in the country are protected by the Biodiversity Act, and four of the species found in the Devetashka Cave are included in the Red List of World Endangered Species: the Cave Long-winged, the Long-toed Nightingale, the Southern Horseshoe and the Meheli Horseshoe.