WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL BATS
WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL
BATS
AGENDA
• Anatomy
• Bat Facts
• Video 1
• Mexican Free-tailed Bat
--- BREAK ---
• White-nose Syndrome
• Video 2
• Bat Houses
• Rabies
Chiroptera - hand wing
BAT FACTS
• 1200 known species in the world
• Mammals - only mammal with true flight
• Various species are adapted to specific food types
• Some are able to live up to 40 years
• Upside down sleepers
• By size slowest reproducing mammals on earth
• Very clean animals
• Have excellent eye sight
• Most are nocturnal & find food by echolocation
Echolocation
Smallest Bat
Bumblebee Bat
Largest Bat
Flying Fox Bat
What do Bats Eat?
Nectar
What do Bats Eat?
Fish and Frogs
What do Bats Eat?
Insects
Bat is fast, high flying and
slow to manuver
Bat is low, slow flying and
very manuverable
What Other Things do Bats
Eat? • Fruit
• Lizards
• Scorpions
• Centipedes
• Pollen
• Rodents
• Birds
• Blood
Vampire Bat
VIDEO
• Notice the Cave Gate
• Watch for agave pollinating bat
• Mother flying with her pup
• Bat/Flower adaptation
Mexican Free-tailed Bat
Mexican Free-tailed
ECR Bracken Visit
Bat Nursery Colony
Pups pack in at 500 per square foot
Radar Images
Mexican Free-tailed
Live….
• Caves
• Bridges
• Abandoned Tunnels and Mines
• Buildings
• Dead Trees
• Bat Houses
BREAK
White Nose Syndrome
White Nose Syndrome
• First discovered 2006
• Cold Temperature fungus
• Attacks exposed skin during hibernation
• Fungus is irritating causing bat to come out of torpor
• Stored up fat supply is depleted
• Bat dies
• Death toll has exceeded 5.7 million bats in NE U.S.
White Nose Syndrome
• We don’t know how to control it
• It is spreading rapidly
WNS Spread
VIDEO
• Look for:
- Austin bridge
- Bracken Cave again
• Video was made at least 4 to 5 years ago
Clues – look for:
- # of species
- Major losses uncommon
Bat Houses
• At least 2 feet tall & 14 inches wide
• Landing platform of 6 inches
• At least 2 roosting partitions ¾” apart
• Housing area groved/roughened
• Vent 6 inches from bottom
• House should be a light color
Bat House Installation
• Mount house on a pole
• Landing platform 15 feet from ground
• Install within ¼ mile of water
• Install no closer than 25 feet from trees
• Install away from bright lights
• Remember guano happens
Flat Bat House
Rocket House
RABIES • Bats can contract rabies
• About ½ of 1% of bats have rabies
• Rabid bats do not become aggressive
• How do you know…
- Bat on ground having trouble flying
- Out during daylight hours
• What do you do…
- DO NOT TOUCH without heavy gloves
- Place bat in shoebox
- Call me