State conservation biologists’ spent the summer radio- tracking cave bats and have turned up insights into the strength and sacrifices of mother bats.
The tracking is part of a federal grant used to learn more about different hibernating bat species and how bat populations are recovering from white nose syndrome.
DNR Spokesperson Owen Boyle says biologists used nets to capture the bats, then placed a small radio transmitter on their backs to track female bats back to their maternity colonies to find out where they’re reproducing and raising their offspring. Boyle says researching their summer habitats gives researchers a better understanding of how bats are able to adapt in a changing environment…
“…the maternity colonies are interesting because during for about a month or two in the middle of summer when the females are raising the young, they’re flightless. One of the really interesting things we found is…surprisingly entire colonies can pick up and move, even when pups cannot fly.”
Boyle says gathering information about the type of tree they’re roosting in, how many bats are emerging from the roost and how big the roost is allows researchers to better manage bats in a post white nose syndrome landscape.
For more information visit the DNR's website.
