BANISHING VAMPIRES DUELING IN THE DARK WIND ENERGY in the jungle a new threat to bats

WWW.BATCON.ORG SUMMER 2004

BATSBAT CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL

SleepingSleeping inin thethe LeavesLeaves R ED B ATS’ WINTER S ECRET Vo lume 22, No. 2, Summer 2004 BATS P.O. Box 162603, Austin, Texas 78716 (512) 327-9721 • Fax (512) 327-9724 Publications Staff D i rector of Publications: Robert Locke Photo Editor: Kristin Hay FEATURES Copyeditors: Angela England, Valerie Locke B AT S welcomes queries from writers. Send your article proposal with a brief outline and a description of any photos to the address 1 Banishing the Vampires of the Jungle above or via e-mail to: [email protected]. A remote village finds a new appreciation for bats M e m b e r s : Please send changes of address and all correspondence by Sandra Peters to the address above or via e-mail to [email protected]. Please include your label, if possible, and allow six weeks for the change 4 Wind Energy & the Threat to Bats of address. BCI, industry and government join to resolve a new danger facing Founder & Pre s i d e n t : Dr. Merlin D. Tuttle Associate Executive Director: Elaine Acker A m e r i c a ’s bats B o a rd of Tru s t e e s : Andrew Sansom, Chair by Merlin D. Tuttle John D. Mitchell, Vice Chair Verne R. Read, Chairman Emeritus 6 Hibernation: Red Bats do it in the Dirt Peggy Phillips, Secretary Elizabeth Ames Jones, Treasurer by Brad Mormann, Miranda Milam and Lynn Robbins Jeff Acopian; Mark A. Adkins; Eugene L. Ames, Jr.; Charles Chester; Robert E. Gerrie; Nancy Harte; Joan Kelleher; Tr a v i s 8 Forest Bats in the Timberlands Mathis; Scott McVay; Thomas Read; Eugenio Clariond Reyes; Wilhelmina E. Robertson; William Scanlan; Lee Schmitt; Patsy by Michael J. Lacki Steves; Dr. Merlin D. Tuttle; Roy Vaughan; Marc We i n b e r g e r. 10 Dueling in the Dark Advisory Trustees: Sharon R. Forsyth; Dr. D.J. Sibley, Jr. Scientific Advisory Board : What moths tell bats in the heat of battle Dr. Leslie S. Hall, Dr. Greg Richards, Bruce Thomson, by Nickolay Hristov Australia; Dr. Irina K. Rakhmatulina, Azerbaijan; Dr. Luis F. Aguirre, Bolivia; Dr. Wilson Uieda, Brazil; Dr. M. Brock Fenton, Canada; Dr. Jiri Gaisler, Czech Republic; Dr. Uwe 12 Amazing Diversity Schmidt, G e r m a n y ; D r. Ganapathy Marimuthu, Dr. Different strokes for different moths? Shahroukh Mistry, India; Dr. Arnulfo Moreno. Dr. Rodrigo Medellín, Mexico; Ir. Herman Limpens, Netherlands; Dr. by Jesse R. Barber Armando Rodriguez-Duran, Puerto Rico; Dr. Ya-Fu Lee, Taiwan; Dr. Paul A. Racey, United Kingdom; Dr. Denny G. DEPARTMENTS Constantine, Robert Currie, Dr. Theodore H. Fleming, Dr. Thomas H. K u n z, Dr. Gary F. McCracken, Dr. Don E. Wilson, United States; Dr. José R. Ochoa G., Venezuela. 14 News and Notes Membership Manager: Amy McCartney New homes for bats at a Canadian bridge B AT S (ISSN 1049-0043) is published quarterly by Bat A Chinese fishing bat Conservation International, Inc., a nonprofit corporation supported by tax-deductible contributions used for public Managing bats & mines: a conference in Reno education, research, and conservation of threatened and Finding the bats of the bosque endangered bats. The wish list © Bat Conservation International, 2004. All rights reserved. Bat Conservation International is dedicated to conserving and restoring bat populations and habitats around the world. Using COVER PHOTO: This eastern red bat’s coloring makes it almost invisible amid the oak non-confrontational approaches, we educate people about the ecological and economic values of bats, advance scientific leaves on the forest floor. Researchers discovered that some red bats survive the knowledge about bats and the ecosystems that rely on them, and winter by burrowing into piles of leaves. (Story begins on page 6.) preserve critical bat habitats through win-win solutions that benefit both humans and bats. C O U R TESY OF LYNN ROBBINS A subscription to BATS is included with BCI membership: Senior, Student or Educator $30; Basic $35; Friends of BCI $45; Supporting $60; Contributing $100; Patron $250; Sustaining $500; Founder’s Circle $1,000. Third-class postage paid at Austin, Texas. Send address changes to Bat Conservation COURTESY OF FPL ENERGY ( SEE PAGE 4) International, P.O. Box 162603, Austin, TX 78716. BATS is printed on a 50/20 chlorine-free recycled paper with a water-based coating on the cover. Banishing theVampires of the Jungle by Sandra Peters A remote village finds a new appreciation for bats ushing the thought of my mother’s trtrepidationepidation to the back of my mind, I Pclimbed into the small, single-engine plane and took my seat on a sack of rice. With my knees near my shoulders and my head wedged against the ceiling, the pilot gave me a thumbs-up, and I was on my way to A’Ukr’Ukre,e, a remote village hidden deep in the Amazon jungle of Brazil.

Bats fascinate kids, whether they live in American cities or the Brazilian jungle. These youngsters display educational materials that became an effective adjunct to a BCI-funded project to expel vampire bats from a traditional Amazon village.

Volume 22, No. 2 S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 1 B A T S With the support of Bat Conservation International, I was returning to this traditional, indigenous village in hopes of helping to solve a serious vampire-bat problem without harm- ing the many beneficial bats of the region. A’ Uk re is one of 10 small villages in the Kayapó In d i g e n o u s A rea (KIA). Only a few thousand people live in the KIA, which is more than twice the size of Costa Rica. Although A’ Uk re isn’t much to look at – 29 rough houses arranged around a central Ta k a n a, or Me n’s House – the pristine forest that surrounds it is home to many species of plants and animals. The Kayapó still live a largely traditional lifestyle with their own language, elaborate rituals and festivals, and intricate body painting. Feather headdresses and jewelry made of teeth and bones are often worn, and bows and arrows continue to be used. Most resources are obtained from hunting, fishing and small-scale agriculture, and villagers have limited contact with the larger Brazilian society. The common vampire (Desmodus rotundus), one of only three bat species that are vampires, I became acquainted with the Kayapó in 2002, when I was feeds on the blood of mammals, primarily livestock. They are found throughout much of Latin America, from Mexico to northern Argentina. conducting graduate re s e a rch at Pinkaití, a field station about 1 7 ⁄2 miles (12 kilometers) upriver from A’ Uk re. During the 1990s, the villagers had sold much of the highly va l u a b l e mahogany found in their territory. But, in partnership with C o n s e r vation International, they established a 31-square - m i l e ( 8 , 0 0 0 - h e c t a re) forest re s e r ve (Pinkaití), where stands of mahogany trees remain intact. Because mahogany trees are widely dispersed, only a few trees per acre are usually harve s t- ed. My re s e a rch, supported by two BCI Scholarships, exam- ined the impact of this type of logging on bat communities. During my time at Pinkaití, I was constantly in awe of my field assistants from A’Ukre. Their forest skills and knowledge of plants and animals were incredible. They expertly navigated boats around treefalls and other obstacles at night, built rain shelters from vegetation in minutes and scaled trees with the grace and agility of squirrels. After learning a bit of the Kayapó language, I began to understand why most villagers were convinced that bats are dangerous. The common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) was causing significant problems in A’Ukre. Although rarely

The indigenous village of A’Ukre retains a largely traditional lifestyle (left). When vampire bats started showing up in homes, the village lacked the resources to deal with them short of killing bats in general. BCI Scholar Sandra Peters, who had been doing bat research in the region, sought help from BCI’s Global Grassroots Conservation Fund and was awarded a grant to banish the vampires by putting screens on all openings into the houses (upper left).

B A T S 2 S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 Volume 22, No. 2 The plan was simple: Cover all openings with coarse mosquito netting so the bats could no longer get inside the houses. T h e w o rk was hot and dirty but ve ry successful. After three weeks, each of the 29 homes in the village was completely screened and va m p i re - f re e . An unforeseen payoff of the project has been a distinct change in villagers’ understanding of bats. The field guides I had brought with me helped convince people that many types of bats existed and that most are impor- tant to the health of their forest. Initially, children would stop by my house to look at the pictures of bats in the field guides. But soon both adults and kids were showing up, often too many to fit in my house. The author and a number of helpers covered windows and other openings with screens to keep out vampire bats. When the work was fin- A field assistant named ished, all 29 homes of A’Ukre in the Brazilian jungle were free of vampires. The project proved to be a valuable teaching opportunity and N h e p r e, which coincidentally changed village attitudes about the many beneficial bats in the region. means “Little Bat,” was instru- mental in changing negative atti- encountered in undisturbed forest, vampires can become a tudes toward bats. He regularly corrected people who mistak- nuisance in areas with a readily available food source, and the enly identified foraging insect-eaters as vampires. Nhepre also village was host to an unusually large population of them. proved adept at capturing bats that were roosting in houses, Because homes in A’Ukre had many openings, vampire and these live bats helped educate villagers about the diversity bats were frequent indoor visitors. Villagers were discussing of tropical bats and the important roles that bats play in trop- hunting or poison to resolve the problem – and that would ical forests. doubtless kill many of the fruit-, nectar- and insect-eating bats A bat that lived in my own house also was helpful in chang- that are vital to the region’s environmental health. ing people’s perceptions. Many villagers offered to kill it for A more effective solution would be me, but I pointed out this was a fruit- to keep bats out of houses by blocking eating bat that wouldn’t harm me. I all the openings. But because A’Ukre knew that attitudes in the village had has few sources of income and all sup- changed when people began making plies must be flown in, the cost of special visits to the house to see my screening the houses was well beyond resident bat. the village’s means. It has now been several months Enter BCI. I approached BCI’s since the screening project was com- Global Gr a s s roots Conserva t i o n pleted. A lack of telephones and email Fund, hoping it might fund a project p re vents correspondence with my that not only protected an entire vil- friends in A’Ukre, but I recently spoke lage from va m p i re bites, but also with a fellow student who had just helped conserve other bat species that returned from the KIA. The exclusion were likely losing their natural roosts project is still working, and it seems to the vampires. BCI agreed, which that some of the village childre n sent me back to A’Ukre in the fall of named the bat in my house after me. 2003. It now has several companions, and their antics entertain the youngsters. The people of A’Ukre, like this child, were intrigued by SANDRA PETERS is a graduate student in pictures of bats in field guides the author brought with the Faculty of Fo re s t r y at the University of her to Brazil. They were also amused by a fruit-eating bat To ro n t o. Her re s e a rch in Brazil was funded that moved into her home and even named the bat after her. “Sandra” remained a source of entertainment even by BCI, the American Society of Mammal- after Peters returned home. ogists and the Donner Canadian Fo u n d a t i o n .

Volume 22, No. 2 S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 3 B A T S Wind Energy &the Threat to Bats

Wind turbines at Lake Benton, Minnesota. by Merlin D. Tuttle

BCI, industry and government join to re s o l v e a new danger facing America’s bats

IND OFFERS A REMARKABLE SOURCE OF GREEN ENERGY – The issue of bat kills at wind farms was widely neglected RENEWABLE, WIDESPREAD AND POLLUTION FREE. THE BIG TUR- in early wind-power assessments simply because bats, unlike birds, have no broad-based legal protection. Reports of two or BINES, WHICH LOOK LIKE HIGH-TECH WINDMILLS AND TURN three bats per turbine being killed each year at some facilities WWIND INTO ELECTRICITY, ARE GOING UP ON WINDSWEPT SITES seemed a relatively small price to pay for clean energy. Such AROUND THE UNITED STATES. BUT AS WIND FARMS PROLIFER- figures, however, can be misleading. We now realize that many more bats may have been killed but not counted. ATE, AN UNFORESEEN PROBLEM IS TURNING UP: MIGRATING Moreover, wind farms increasingly contain hundreds, some- BATS ARE CRASHING INTO THE SPINNING BLADES OF THE TUR- times thousands, of wind turbines; if even a few bats are lost BINES IN DISTURBING NUMBERS. at each turbine, total losses can add up quickly. With many thousands of new turbines being planned nationally, the risk This recently discovered issue could get worse in a hurry. of serious, cumulative impacts cannot be ignored. Wind power is the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. ener- The reality was driven home late last summer when we e k- gy industry, and tax subsidies that are expected from Congress ly surveys beneath 44 giant turbines at West Vi r g i n i a’s this year could trigger a construction boom that will put Mountaineer Project discove red that an estimated 2,092 bats thousands of wind turbines on high-risk ridges and moun- of seven species had been killed. Howe ve r, since no surve y s taintops, especially in the eastern United States. we re conducted during the first half of the peak mortality peri- To prevent serious threats to bats, Bat Conservation od in August and since unknown numbers of bats we re International is working with industry and federal agencies to re m oved by scavengers between the seven-day search interva l s , determine exactly why bats are fatally flying into the turbines the total number of bat fatalities could easily approach 4,000. and how that can be prevented. The Bats and Wind Energy The Mountaineer Project is the first large wind-energy site C o o p e r a t i v e includes BCI, the American Wind En e r g y in eastern No rth America to be built on a high ridgeline. Association (AWEA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Exceptional bat kills are also being re p o rted at a Tennessee wind the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy farm on a mountaintop; 85 bats are being killed there each ye a r Laboratory (NREL). at just three turbines. These are the only two wind farms built

B A T S 4 S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 Volume 22, No. 2 so far on ridges and mountaintops in the Eastern states. bines than birds, but we have no idea why. They may be For more than a decade, biologists have been raising con- attracted to turbines by either sound or visual cues or to noc- cerns about ridge-top wind sites as potential threats to migrating turnal insects lured to or otherwise concentrated around tur- b i rds, but bat migration was rarely considered. With major bat bines. We do not know why most bats are killed between late m o rtality confirmed at the only two Eastern wind-turbine pro- July and mid-September, mostly in August. They may be jects located on ridge- and mountaintops, the potential for dev- migrating, but the migration times typically last longer than astating cumulative impacts is clear, especially since wind powe r the period of primary mortality. We also have no idea how is expanding so rapidly. lunar or weather patterns may affect mortality risks. Ninety-two additional turbines already have been approve d Solutions will not be found until detailed observations are for the same West Virginia ridge where thousands of bats we re made, and these will re q u i re long hours of daily and nightly killed last ye a r. In fact, if all ridge-top turbines already approve d monitoring at problem sites. Night-vision and thermal-imaging a re built, the total within 50 miles of the site could reach 410 equipment, echolocation detectors and marine radar have all turbines. If local kill rates continue unabated, these turbines been identified as tools that may help in assessing problems. T h e alone could kill more than 30,000 bats in a single season! costs for appropriate technology and sufficient human re s o u rc e s To address this urgent issue, BCI hosted a planning session a re high, and the time until next August is short. It is imperative last December that brought together leaders from the Fish and that we immediately develop reliable methods for identifying Wildlife Se rvice, NREL and AWEA. The group agreed to spon- and avoiding highly sensitive locations, stop attracting bats to sor a Wind Power Generation Technical Wo rkshop to deve l o p turbines, act to reduce their vulnerability, learn to predict and an expert consensus on how to pre vent further bat deaths. respond effectively to high-risk time periods or delay furt h e r The meeting, funded by AWEA and NREL and hosted by c o n s t ruction along sensitive ridge and mountaintop areas. Gi ve n FPL Energy (America’s largest wind-power producer), was held anticipated pre s s u res, it is urgent we get a fully equipped field in Juno Beach, Florida, February 19-20. Top bat experts from team in place no later than August 1, 2004, and that is our goal. the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom developed Armed with the advice of leading experts on bats and rele- the research priorities they consider essential to preventing vant technologies, members of the Bats and Wind Energy additional bat kills. Cooperative agreed to jointly fund a Project Coordinator at Participants agreed that consistent regulatory review and BCI. Ed Arnett, a biologist of exceptionally relevant experi- financial incentives for addressing environmental concerns are ence, officially assumes that position June 15. His immediate currently inadequate. They also stressed the importance of goals include developing a project website for information developing scientifically credible mortality estimates as soon as sharing, completing guidelines for risk-assessment and mortal- possible and emphasized the vital need for greater sharing of ity studies, facilitating required peer review and communica- information. Most reports of bat mortality at turbines resulted tion, and organizing and participating in field research. from studies of the threat to birds, not bats. These mortality The new Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative has been surveys were conducted at only one- or two-week intervals and formed. Expert guidance has been obtained and priorities have paid inadequate attention to such complicating factors as the been set. But nothing can be accomplished until we make efficiency of the searchers in finding dead bats and the likeli- essential observations and find and implement solutions. hood that many bats were eaten by scavengers between sur- Cooperation in funding the required research will be the true veys. There is an immediate need to document real mortality test of our collaboration. rates and to observe how bats are interacting with turbines. Bats seem to be substantially more vulnerable to wind tur- MERLIN D.TUTTLE is Founder and President of BCI. Finding Solutions ed bats (Lasiurus borealis) were so common in the 1870s that Rnaturalist Edgar Mearns described great migrating flocks that passed overhead for days at a time. Such sights vanished long ago. But today, this forest bat faces a major new threat: It is the species most frequently killed at wind turbines. Without immediate action, the cumulative impact of thousands of additional wind turbines on ridges along the red bats’ migratory routes could prove disastrous – not only for them but for other species as well, including the endangered Indiana myotis (Myotis sodalis). Bat Conservation International plans to initiate field studies by this August to examine the problem and seek solutions, and we have committed to hiring a project coordinator. This critical work, however, will require major financial investments that exceed our current resources. Your help in any amount is urgently needed. For more information, contact Nicole Daspit, BCI’s Acting Director of Development, at [email protected] or (512) 327-9721.

Volume 22, No. 2 S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 5 B A T S by Brad Mormann, Miranda Milam and Lynn RRobbinsobbins

AKE A WINTER WALK THROUGH THE DECIDUOUS FORESTS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. NOTICE THE COUNTLESS, COLORFUL LEAVES SCATTERED LIKE A CARPET BENEATH YOUR FEET. REACH FOR ONE AS YOU IMAGINE ITS LONG FALL FROM THE CANOPY TO THE WINDSWEPT FOREST FLOOR. AT THAT POINT, YOU JUST MIGHT NOTICE TYOUR LEAF HAS A RATHER SHAGGY OUTLINE AND WHAT LOOKS VERY MUCH LIKE AN EAR. YOU WOULD PROBABLY TAKE A SURPRISED STEP BACKWARD IF YOUR OAK LEAF SUDDENLY SPREAD ITS WINGS AND FLEW OFF INTO THE DWINDLING EVENING LIGHT.

We have found that at least some eastern red bats (L a s i u ru s est management. These observations, along with our re c e n t b o re a l i s), though they often migrate long distances to avo i d re s e a rch, confirm that red bats do enter and leave leaf litter on s e ve re northern winters, may nonetheless hibernate in cool cli- the floors of forests during winter. mates and surv i ve by snuggling into the leaf litter of the fore s t The specific environmental conditions that cause red bats t o f l o o r. m ove from tree roosts to the ground, howe ve r, and what’s need- The eastern red bat is a re l a t i vely abundant species that, dur- ed for leaf-litter roosts to provide adequate winter pro t e c t i o n ing the summer, roosts in foliage throughout the eastern Un i t e d h a ve remained mostly unknown. Also unclear are the physical States and much of Canada. Because it does not hibernate in abilities that allow this species to withstand extended periods of c a ves, it has been assumed that most red bats migrated to are a s s u b f re ezing weather conditions with limited and unpre d i c t a b l e that are warm enough for them to remain active and find food. o p p o rtunities to forage for insects. Yet wildlife and forest managers from many parts of No rt h Our lab at So u t h w est Missouri State Un i v ersity in America have noted over the years that these bats are sometimes Sp r i n gfi eld explored these open questions by capturing and seen flying out of leaf litter ahead of winter burns used in for- tracking red bats in southern Missouri and studying roost selec-

B A T S 6 S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 Volume 22, No. 2 tion and roosting behavior. We also examined the eastern re d b a t’s thermore g u l a t o r y abilities and behavior under simulated winter conditions in the lab. During a series of warm December days, we captured a male red bat and tagged it with a tiny radio transmitter. Tracking this bat showed it foraging for insects each night and roosting by day in cedar trees. When a cold spell drove temperatures below fre ez- ing, howe ve r, the radio-tracking signal came not from the pre v i- ous day’s roost, but from somew h e re on the ground nearby. Fo l l owing the signal through the forest, we repeatedly circled a small area without finding the source of the signal. We finally pinpointed a spot beneath a small cedar tree. Upon re m oving a f ew fallen leaves, we found our bat deep in torpor. Torpor is a state, similar to hibernation, in which an ani- m a l’s pulse, respiration and overall metabolism are drastically C O U R T E S Y O F L Y N N R O B B I N S reduced, with a corresponding reduction in energy needs. In a large environmentally controlled chamber that simulated winter conditions, this captive We tracked this red bat and five others (all males) thro u g h- red bat moved into the leaf litter when temperatures dropped to near freezing. The laboratory out the winter to a variety of oak-dominated leaf litter. T h e permitted direct observation of the bats’ response to changing winter-like weather. depths and conditions of this litter changed daily as wind, rain, s n ow and ice shifted and packed the leaves. Some bats became During warmer periods, the bats would emerge from their totally exposed to the environment and potential predation, but g round roosts, forage for insects and spend their days in tre e no mortality occurred – perhaps because of their strikingly roosts of eastern red cedar or red or white oaks with a few per- e f f e c t i ve camouflage coloring. sistent dead leaves. Videos of this behavior show the bats slow- ly emerging from beneath the leaves and, after a visual and acoustic perusal of their immediate environment, launching t h e m s e l ves into the air. Movement of red bats f rom a tre e roost into the leaf litter usually occurred when temperatures dropped below fre ez i n g . As temperatures warmed again, some bats would return to tre e ro o s t s while others remained under the leaf litter. In t e re s t i n g l y, all of the 13 leaf-litter roosts we examined we re located on exposed southern slopes with similar ecological conditions. In the laboratory, we analyzed the physiological and behav- ioral responses of several captive red bats to simulated winter

Left: Brad Mormann and Miranda Milam strain to pinpoint the source of the signal from a radio-tagged red bat that settled into the leaf litter at their feet. The team tracked a total of six male red bats throughout the winter to a variety of forest-floor sites. When the weather warmed a bit, the bats often emerged to forage for insects.

Above: During the winter’s research, a red bat was tracked to this snowy plot, which was marked with red flags. He was found beneath the snow, burrowed under a layer of leaves that provided a stable microhabitat and protected him from the subfreezing temperatures.

Volume 22, No. 2 S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 7 B A T S conditions, including unpredictable food supplies. (These bats in the leaf litter longer than those that ate less food. we re evenly divided between males and females and behaved in The idea of bats roosting in leaf litter is hardly a mind-bog- similar fashion.) We found that, when exposed to cold temper- gling notion when you consider the numerous species of a t u res, the bats periodically and spontaneously aroused fro m wildlife – from eastern box turtles to sage grouse – that dire c t- t o r p o r, and their body temperatures fluctuated accord i n g l y. ly or indirectly use leaf litter as a barrier against harsh climatic These arousals may provide the bat with an opportunity for conditions. Leaf litter provides a buffer that reduces heat loss feeding and/or routine maintenance. and offers shelter from the chilling wind. As a result, such ro o s t s Our data also suggest that the duration and frequency of in our re s e a rch area effectively buffered bats from low ambient these arousals is highly dependent on temperature. As the mim- t e m p e r a t u res and rarely dropped below fre ezing, even when icked winter season pro g ressed and temperatures fell within each c ove red by snow and ice. i n d i v i d u a l’s enclosure, the activity level of each bat decre a s e d . These red bats feasted on the insect flights of warm, winter When temperatures reached their lowest, all bats dropped into e venings, when few other bats we re around to compete. (So m e the leaf litter at the bottom of each enclosure. Bats that con- e vening bats [Nycticeius humera l i s] we re also captured and sumed larger amounts of their food rations (mealworms) staye d tracked during the winter.) Among future re s e a rch plans, we Forest Bats in the Timberlands long-legged myotis females often appear to scholar in the university’s Department of give birth alone in hidden, solitary roosts. Forestry, is leading the tracking effort. The Searching for the A few such roosts must be in the research is supported by Bat Conservation Winema National Forest and surrounding International and the Northwest Bat long-legged private timberlands. Finding them would Cooperative, a novel organization of federal seem to demand a great deal of luck. But the and state agencies, private industries and team has a plan. The night before, the biolo- conservation organizations dedicated to the myotis in gists stayed up late to capture several bats at long-term conservation of bats in forested a watering hole. They glued tiny radio-trans- lands of the Pacific Northwest. southern Oregon mitters to the backsides of three long-legged Forests throughout the Pacific Northwest myotis and released them. Today, they must have undergone substantial changes in their detect the signals from the bat-borne trans- composition after 150 years of logging and by Michael J. Lacki mitters, then hike across rugged terrain until fire suppression. Concern about the largely they discover the roosts. unknown impacts of these changes on HE SUMMER SUN RISES EARLY on the The biologists are from the University of wildlife – particularly bats – is what brought east side of the Cascade Crest. A half- Kentucky. Michael Baker, a postdoctoral members of the cooperative together. We Tdozen biologists rise with it to prepare for the long day ahead. Their task is a daunt- ing one, for they hope to find a few very small needles in a very large haystack. Their objective is to locate bats roosting in a few trees somewhere in a great expanse of conifer forests and high prairie in southern Oregon. The biologists are exploring the roosting habits of little-studied long-legged myotis (Myotis volans), especially those of pregnant females and nursing mothers. Unlike most bats, and for reasons that are far from clear,

University of Kentucky biologists tracked long- legged myotis like this one through the forests of Oregon (far right) and Washington for three summers to determine the roosting behavior of this little-studied bat, especially that of preg- nant females and nursing mothers.

B A T S 8 S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 Volume 22, No. 2 hope to study the bats’ response to controlled fires, which dis- rupt winter torpor, eliminate roosting habitat and sometimes p rove fatal to individuals that are too deep in torpor to escape. The next time you find yourself hiking through the woods on a warm winter evening, keep your eyes peeled for a leaf that suddenly flies away – demonstrating a re m a rkable adaptation to an environment that had been considered out of bounds for winter bats. BRAD MORMANN and MIRANDA MILAM are graduate students and LYNN ROBBINS is a Professor in the Department of Biology, Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.We grate- fully acknowledge support for this project from the Missouri Department of Conservation, including access to the Drury/Mincy On a warm winter day, this red bat was radio-tracked to a roost in an oak tree. The bat, com- Conservation Area, Springfield’s Dickerson Park Zoo and the plete with radio transmitter attached, is warming itself in the sun. University’s internal support for research. hope to learn enough about how bats use ing females gather in colonies ranging from managed forests to make bat conservation a a few individuals to more than 400 to raise standard part of woodlands management. their young under large plates of exfoliating Splitting into several groups, the team bark high up on ponderosa snags. sets off, driving toward patches of high Before giving birth, however, pregnant ground, such as Horsefly Mountain. “High females behave much differently. They spend points,” as they are referred to in the field, far less time in the colonies and often roost provide a good starting spot for tracking bats alone beneath the bark of dead grand or across mountain slopes and valleys. Here white fir trees. Why such different behavior the signals from radiotagged bats are most before and after giving birth? What advan- likely to be detected without interference tage could pregnant females possibly gain from such obstructions as steep ravines and from roosting alone, unlike most other bats? rocky bluffs. We do not yet have answers, but the ques- The biologists move quickly into a tions are both intriguing and important. forested landscape dominated by tall, thick The bark of grand and white firs is much trees with yellowish to orange bark. These thinner than that of ponderosa pine. are ponderosa pines, the main source of tim- P re s u m a b l y, all else being equal, roosts in ber east of the Cascades – and the primary t rees with thinner bark should be less we l l trees used by maternity colonies of the long- insulated than those with thick bark, re s u l t- legged myotis. ing in wider temp e ra t u re fluctuations inside “ L o n g - l e g ged” is actually a bit of a mis- the roosts. The biologists are ex p l o rin g this n o m e r, since the species is more easily iden- n otion by monito ring the env i ronment inside Long-legged myotis often roost under the loose bark of t i fied as a mid-sized, brown bat with a the roosts, via temp e ra t u re data l o g ge r s dead trees. This datalogger records the temperatures an n oticeable amount of hair on the underside placed beneath the bark of pine and fir tre e s . other variables in the roost. of its wing, adjacent to the chest and The situation is complicated, howeve r, bats earlier in the summer. The other two, abdomen, and a prot ruding cart i l a ge (or ke e l ) because fir trees typically grow at lowe r, and both pregnant females, roosted separately in along the outer edge of the tail membra n e . p robably cooler, locations than pondero s a the cracks of small rocks in a boulder field. These researchers have been tracking pines. And fir trees, because of their associa- The use of rock roosts by pregnant females adult females of the species to roosts for tion with stream bot toms, account for much was somewhat unexpected and suggests three summers, two of them in the of the roosting habitat available to bats in that these pregnant bats are much more ponderosa pine forests in and around the the stream corridors (known as “ri p a ri a n flexible in their roosting behavior than previ- Wenatchee National Forest of Washington m a n a gement zones”). The imp o r tance of ously thought. state. Adult females are of special interest these zones in sustaining water quality and Tonight, someone will remain at the because pregnant and nursing bats have w i l d l i fe habitat in fo rested regions of the newly discovered tree roost to count the extremely high energy demands that require No r t h west has long been debated. There can bats at dusk and confirm whether the nurs- reliably abundant food supplies, and they be no doubt about the imp o rtance of this ing mother has led the researchers to yet have extremely narrow requirements for and similar studies of wildlife that live along another maternity site. Our knowledge about acceptable roosts. Understanding these criti- the mountain streams of this re g i o n . these bats comes slowly and with consider- cal habitat needs for pregnant and nursing Meanwhile, after hours of chasing trans- able difficulty, but by working together, we mothers is one of the most important steps mitter signals and hiking through the sum- are making steady progress. in conserving a species. mer dust and heat, the biologists finally The team found that long-legged myotis locate all three radiotagged bats. MICHAEL J. LACKI is Lead Scientist on the rarely use live trees, roosting most often by One of the three – a nursing female – Northwest Bat Cooperative study and an day in dead trees, or snags. Counts of bats chose to day-roost in a ponderosa pine snag Associate Professor in the Department of leaving snags at twilight suggest that nurs- that had not been used by any other tagged Forestry at the University of Kentucky.

Volume 22, No. 2 S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 9 B A T S DUELING IN THE DARK What moths tell bats in the

This big brown bat carries an insect that it captured with the heat of battle help of its echolocation beeps – sounds that spark unusual by Nickolay Hristov defenses among tiger moths.

s night falls and light gives way to darkness, bats and moths confuse, and sometimes thwart, an attacking bat. take wing – the moths to find a mate, the bats to find food. Using their “tymbals,” modified versions of the hard plates The night skies fill with countless, merciless dogfights between that make up the exoskeleton, these moths can direct a string predator and prey. Each side brings to bear all the weapons and of ultrasound clicks back at an echolocating bat, often holding guile that nature has given it. the bat at bay. Exactly why these clicks work against bats has The interactions between insectivorous bats and tiger not been entirely clear. Amoths are considered a classic example of the coevolution of The fact that tiger moths make sound has been known predators and prey. Moths arrived first on the evolutionary since 1864, when the French naturalist Laboulbene observed a stage, roaming the skies freely for millions of years – until bats pair of tiger moths exchanging trains of ultrasonic clicks as a became airborne and pierced the darkness with their echoloca- prelude to mating. It was not until the seminal work of tion cries. Dorothy Dunning and Kenneth Roeder a century later, how- Forced to change or die, some moths evolved ears to hear ever, that the moths’ sound production was associated with the approach of a bat, while defense against bats – a conclusion that is now generally others acquired distaste- Some tiger moths, accepted. ful chemicals that gave such as this polka dot Yet conflicting evidence from four decades of research has them a repugnant or wasp moth not explained conclusively why tiger moths generate sounds poisonous taste. Some (Syntomeida epilais), that answer echolocating bats. Three hypotheses have been respond to bat insects – the tiger echolocation calls with proposed to explain this acoustic defense: moths – combined their own ultrasonic • The jamming hypothesis: The sounds confuse the bat both approaches, then sounds, which some- by interfering with its echolocation system; added an ability to pro- time thwart the bat’s • The startle hypothesis: The sounds elicit the mam- duce sounds that attack. malian startle reflex in the bat that deters its attack long seem to enough for the moth to escape; • The acoustic aposematism (warning) hypothesis: The sounds are aposematic – an acoustic warning to the bat that the moth is toxic or distasteful. (Toxic organisms, including tiger moths, often use bright colors to notify potential visual predators that they are inedible. But colors would be of little value at night, when bats are on the hunt.) A recent study at Wake Forest University revisited the question, but this time with a twist. The experiment combined the interests and expertise of an entomologist (Professor William

B A T S 10 S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 Volume 22, No. 2 In controlled experiments, this big brown bat, its echolocation system in full cry, attacks a moth loosely tethered in a flight cage. Young bats born in captivity were used in the study, since they had never before encountered the sounds many tiger moths emit in response to bat echolocation. The sounds of both bats and moths were recorded and analyzed. E. Conner) and a bat biologist (me). sound production (S). One group was both unpalatable and Working together to unravel the mystery of the interaction, sound producing (C+S+); another was unpalatable and silent we tried to reconstruct the bat-moth interaction in the lab by (C+S-); a third was palatable and sound producing (C-S+); studying how young bats that had never encountered a tiger while the fourth was palatable and silent (C-S-). moth learn to interact with the insects. We first developed four We used young big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) that were groups of tiger moths with distinctly different combinations of born in captivity and conducted the seven-day experiment in inedibility (which we dubbed a bat chamber with sound-deadening walls. The acoustic and “chemical defense” flight behaviors of the interacting bats and moths were record- or C) and ed simultaneously by a pair of infrared-sensitive, high-speed cameras and a high-frequency bat detector. C a reful analysis of the audio and video information allowed us – for the first time – to peek into the very-detailed nature of this intriguing predator-prey interaction. Our pre- liminary results strongly suggest that the moths in our study are not interfering with these bats’ echoloca- tion beams; they are, instead, warning that they taste dreadful and are bad to eat. We had hypothesized that if the tiger moths used their answering calls to jam or startle the bats, the young bats would not be able to capture sound-producing moths and would respond the same way regardless of edibility. That did not occur among our bats and moths. If, on the other hand, the sounds warn bats of the moth’s chemical defense, we would expect the young bats initially The banded tussock moth (Halysidota tessellaris) is to capture both sets of sound-producing moths but to learn another tiger moth that talks back to bats. over time to reject those that are unpalatable. The bats should

Volume 22, No. 2 S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 11 B A T S continue to capture and eat palatable moths, even those that produce The Virginia tiger moth sound. (Spilosoma virginica) That is exactly what we found: Our bats, after first catching and tast- was part of the study of ing both palatable and unpalatable sound-producers, began avoiding the bat-moth conversation. nasty-tasting moths but kept right on eating the palatable version. It is as yet unclear whether our results can be generalized to all bat- tiger moth interactions, but they certainly suggest that the clicks of tiger moths effectively deter bat attacks only in combination with a chemical defense. That fits rather neatly with the acoustic aposematism hypothesis of warning calls. This also suggests that perhaps we should not look for an ultimate winner in this biological arms race between bats and moths. For now, at least, nature seems to have settled on a bilateral détente that benefits both sides of the conflict.

NICKOLAY HRISTOV, a native of Bulgaria, is nearing com- pletion of his Ph.D. research at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. (This work was funded by National Science Foundation grant IBN-0135825 to William E. Conner.) Amazing Diversity Different strokes for different moths? by Jesse R. Barber

he late biologist Kenneth Roeder once jokingly labeled Ttiger moths the pessimists of the insect world because of the ultrasonic curse they utter upon hearing the ominous beeps of a hunting bat’s biosonar. He may have been right about the moths’ urge to communicate. Mounting evidence (“Dueling in the Dark,” page 10) indicates a clicking tiger moth is sending the bat an ultra- sonic warning that it would make a toxic meal. The tiger moth’s noxious Jesse Barber used a black light at night to attract tiger moths and entice them into landing on an illuminated sheet in Ecuador. Then he simply plucked them off for nature is due to the many poison- experiments on the varied sounds they use in hopes of discouraging attacking bats. laden plants it consumes in an earlier life as a ravenous caterpillar.

B A T S 12 S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 Volume 22, No. 2 Tiger-moth re s e a rch stretching back five decades has the most likely strategy for interfering with the bat’s process- focused primarily on a few easily accessible species in temper- ing of enough echoes to give the moth time to escape would ate climates. But most of the more than 11,000 species of tiger be to produce more and longer sounds. Several of the species I moths are found only in the tropics. To better understand this recorded in Ecuador demonstrate this trait and provide a few diversity and its implications, I spent three weeks this past July other tantalizing clues. black-lighting for moths on the western slopes of the These same species respond poorly to stimulation by Ecuadorian Andes. Each night, I spent several hours plucking touch, but reliably respond to bat calls during the terminal moths off the sheets to which they were drawn by my irre- buzz of the final attack. James Fullard of the University of sistible ultraviolet lights. Toronto has suggested that producing sounds during this ter- I tested the moths for response to va rying levels of touch minal phase maximizes the consequences of any errors that and to a re c o rded attack sequence of bat echolocation calls. might be produced by jamming sounds. So while recent With its wings pinned back with forceps, each moth was placed research finds that echolocation jamming may not be a viable with its abdomen an inch or so (a few centimeters) from an function of tiger-moth sounds among temperate species, such ultrasound speaker. To re c o rd the moth’s response, I placed an active acoustic camouflage remains a possibility in the tropics. ultrasonic microphone close to its left tymbal – one of a pair of One of the most astonishing results of my work is the sheer the moth’s chest-mounted, sound-producing stru c t u re s . diversity of different tiger-moth calls recorded during this I recorded more than 500 individual tiger moths of about short trip to the tropics. About 25 percent of the tiger-moth 120 species. About half of them responded to varying levels of species I studied responded to bat cries. If we assume that touch, and about half of those reacted to the echolocation approximate percentage holds worldwide, than thousands of attack sequence. Some of those species produced echolocation- species of tiger moths are clicking back at attacking bats. response sounds that are several times more complex than any And they are not alone. While harvesting tiger moths for previously recorded sounds of tiger moths. recording, I noticed a faint squeaking sound from a rather This increased complexity is especially interesting when large hawk moth I had accidentally disturbed. This particular considering the possibility that tiger-moth clicks might jam moth produced sounds primarily below 15 kilohertz, outside the bat’s echolocation. Behavioral and neuro p h y s i o l o g i c a l of most bats’ best hearing range. That, however, led me to research has shown that if a tiger-moth click reaches the bat investigate hawk moths, and I quickly identified about a dozen within about 2 milliseconds before the biosonar echo returns, species that produce ultrasonic rasping sounds upon tactile or the bat’s brain response and ability to judge distance are ultrasonic stimulation. altered. Some tropical hawk-moth larvae are known to be poiso- Given the unpredictable interval of arriv- nous, so the moths may be advertising their unpalatability or ing echolocation pulses and the small time such other characteristics as large size or dangerously scales involved, however, the moth cannot spiked hind legs. produce clicks aimed at jamming a par- A more intriguing possibility is that hawk moths are ticular echolocation signal. Therefore, mimicking tiger moths, essentially stealing the bats’ k n owledge of the dangers of eating ultrasound-pro d u c i n g p re y. Consider the recent discove r y by David Yager of the Un i versity of Ma r yland that tiger beetles may be clicking back at bats by rubbing their wings together upon hearing echolocation pulses. The skies appear to be full of ultrasonic messages pro- duced by many types of insects and aimed at their bat predators. It is tempting to hypothesize that bats’ relative lack of prey discrimination on the wing has forced their prey to come up with systems that notify the bats of potentially nasty interactions. Bats clearly are faced with an incredible array of insect warning sounds. The bats’ auditory systems are faced with decoding much more than just the echoes of their biosonar.

JESSE R. BARBER is a Ph.D. candidate at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

This research was funded by a grant to J.R. Barber The author discovered that some tropical species of hawk moths also emit ultrasonic from the Richter Foundation and a grant to sounds, possibly in imitation of tiger moths’ Barber’s doctoral adviser,William E. Conner, bat defenses. from the National Science Foundation.

Volume 22, No. 2 S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 13 B A T S M E M B E R S I N A C T I O N

New Homes for Bats at a Canadian Bridge

by Vivian Birch-Jones

hen a plan to refurbish the historic bridge over the Fraser River at Lillooet, British Columbia, was W announced, I immediately thought of adding some bat houses to the project. This was, after all, an ideal site: Bats had quickly moved into a small bat house that was installed d ow n r i ver the previous summer. The Lillooet Na t u r a l i s t Society supported the idea, so I took it to the Village Council, which approved it – as long as the society paid the extra costs. Always an optimist, I committed to that without a pause. As a member of Bat Conservation International, I turned to BCI for help in overcoming the skepticism of the bridge engineer. Those concerns disappeared after consultations by phone and email with BCI Science Officer Barbara French and Bat House Project Coordinator Mark Kiser. When the request BCI member Vivian Birch-Jones won approval to install bat houses as part of a remodeling effort for a bridge (top) at Lillooet, British Columbia. Bat Conservation International lent its for bids was published in the local newspaper, ‘installing bat support and members of the local Lions Club (above) built the bat houses. The project also houses’ was included in the specifications. turned into an outstanding opportunity to educate residents of Lillooet about the value of bats. Lillooet has eight confirmed species of bats, and five of them – western small-footed myotis (Myotis ciliolabrum), a l ready a success. northern myotis (Myotis septentrionalis), fringed myotis (Myotis Bat Conservation International and the Federation of B.C. thysanodes), spotted bat (Euderma maculatum) and pallid bat Naturalists assisted the Lillooet Lions Club in building the bat (Antrozous pallidus) – are listed by British Columbia as endan- houses and provided an educational sign that celebrates the gered, threatened or at risk. This project is providing new bats and those who helped them. roosting options that help mitigate the loss of habitat due to Now we look forward to watching the evening sky at the development and timber harvesting. old bridge as summer approaches. We’ll see how long it takes Re l a t i vely little is known about our local bats, but interest in our amazing flying friends to discover this new site. That will them has certainly grown as our project provided wonderf u l be the final bat measure of success. public relations for bats, as well as opportunities for discussion and education. Since one of the biggest challenges in bat VIVIAN BIRCH-JONES is a member of Bat Conservation c o n s e rvation is a general lack of knowledge, this project is International and president of the Lillooet Naturalist Society.

B A T S 14 S P R I N G 2 0 0 4 Volume 22, No. 1 N E W S A N D N O T E S

re s e r voir near the A Chinese Fishing Bat cave. Three species of small fish were iden- by Jie Ma tified, with the fresh- water minnow (Zacco t the locally famous Bat Cave, about 60 miles (100 kilome- p l a t y p u s ) the most ters) southwest of Beijing, China, my graduate advisers and I common. This is a A finally demonstrated that Ricketti’s big-footed myo t i s four-inch (11-cen- (Myotis ricketti) is indeed a fishing bat. timeter) fish that Working toward my Ph.D. at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ swims mostly near Institute of Zoology, I planned to study the auditory system of the surface and some- Ricketti’s big-footed myotis. But Professor Shen Junxian, a noted times leaps clear of physiologist, advised me to investigate the bat’s ecological habits the water. The bats before pursuing its physiology. The bat’s hearing, he noted, would likely hunt it with likely reflect, for example, its echolocation and foraging behavior. echolocation, per- Few details of this bat’s lifeways, especially its diet, are known. Its haps by detecting large, well-developed feet and claws, however, are similar to those of p ro t r uding tips of the Mexican fishing bat (Myotis vivesi) and bulldog bat (Noctilio lep- fins or ripples pro- orinus), both of which are Latin American fishing bats. duced on the surface. To discover the bat’s diet, which I expected would be mostly M. ricketti i s insects, I visited the Bat Cave from late August to mid-Oc t o b e r found thro u g h o u t 2002. The cave was home to as many as 3,000 Ricketti’s big-footed much of China, part s m yotis, as well as bats of several other species. Once eve r y two we e k s , of Laos, Vietnam and Physical similarities to the Mexican fishing bat (above), I captured big-footed myotis in a mist net as they returned to the n o rtheast India. It s including very large feet, led researchers to suspect that c a ve after foraging. A total of 43 bats we re capture d . numbers appear to be Ricketti’s big-footed myotis in China might also catch and To get fecal samples for analysis, I held the bats in small cotton declining in China eat fish. The author confirmed it. bags overnight, then released them unharmed the next morning. because of habitat loss from polluted water, over-fishing, quarrying and Returning to Beijing, I immediately examined several samples human disturbance in its roosting and hibernating cave s . t h rough a microscope. What an exciting moment! Each sample held Understanding the bat’s diet, of course, is a crucial step in its conser- many bits of silve r - c o l o red debris – fish scales, bones and fin rays. va t i o n . Twenty-five of the 43 fecal samples contained fish parts, with 19 of them containing only fish remains. Parts from a variety of insects Professor Walter Metzner of the University of California at Los Angeles were also found, but fish were the dominant food during our study and Shuyi Zhang, Junxian Shen, Libiao Zhang, Jinshuo Zhang, Qiang Dai, period. Species-specific patterns of scales enabled us to identify the and Wendong Li of the Chinese Academy of Sciences advised and fish by comparing the scales from the samples with those caught in a worked with me on this project. BCI Member Snapshots We’re Looking for Bats’ Best Friends en Kenna, son of BCI member Janet Kenna of edicated conservationists are wo r k i n g B Dt i relessly to protect bats and their habi- Durango, Colorado, tries out a tats around the world. Bat Conserva t i o n pair of “bat ears” at a bat- I n t e rnational wants to honor them, and we hearing exhibit of the need your help. We are inviting nomina- C h i l d re n’s Museum of tions for BCI’s Distinguished Serv i c e Du r a n g o. The museum has Awa rds for 2003. Recipients may be biologists, teach e r s , p resented a hands-on exhibit park ra n gers or interp reters, landow n e r s , on bats annually for the past students – anyone who has demonstrated a f ew years. passionate commitment to conserving bats. Please send us a one-page letter about Sh a re a snapshot of your bat your nominee, his or her accomp l i s h m e n t s activities with your fellow and why that person should be re c o g n i z e d . You may nominate another person or members: Send it to Ro b e rt yo u r s e l f . Locke, Bat Conserva t i o n Address nominations to: Awards, Attn: In t e rnational, PO B ox Robert Locke, Bat Conservation 162603, Austin, TX , International, PO Box 162603, Austin, TX 78716. 78716. The deadline is September 1, 2004.

Volume 22, No. 2 S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 15 B A T S N E W S A N D N O T E S Managing Bats & Mines: A Conference in Reno bandoned mines provide critical habitat for countless bats thro u g h- A out No rth America, so understanding and protecting this habitat is a critical aspect of bat conservation. Yo u’ll find the latest re s e a rch re s u l t s and the most effective mine-management strategies for bats at a sympo- sium sponsored next spring by Bat Conservation International and the Un i versity of New Me x i c o. The three-day session – “Past, Present & Fu t u re: Ma n a g i n g Abandoned Mines and the Bats that Depend on T h e m” – will be Ma rc h 17-19, 2005, in Reno, Ne vada. It is aimed primarily at wildlife and re s o u rce managers, students, re s e a rchers, mining personnel and mineral examiners. A full program of scientific presentations will cover all aspects of the bats-and-mines issue, from history, surveying and the natural his- t o r y of bats that use mines to monitoring and options for safely closing mines while protecting bats. Gating the Pewabic Please mark your calendars. Details will be forthcoming at: Mine in Minnesota. w w w. b a t c o n . o r g . Finding the Bat Conservation International, a variety of educational mate- rials designed to enlighten young Ecuadorians about the true Bats of the Bosque nature and importance of bats. Nearly 600 schoolchildren in ats are especially feared and hated in Ecuador, where and near the Cerro Blanco forest participated in bat-education Bmyths and misinformation abound. And besides human programs. persecution, the nation’s bats face rapid loss of habitat. But Meanwhile, the team distributed 3,873 copies of educa- local biologists are trying to change that through education tional materials in the region. One of the most popular was a and research. delightful comic book called Club Quiróptero. It featured a With a grant from BCI’s Global Grassroots Conservation heroic band of bats that demonstrate their gentle nature and Fund, the team went to work during the past two years in a ecological value to a human doubter. b a rely studied coastal, dry - f o rest area called the Bosque The project is now seeking a Global Gr a s s ro o t s Protector Cerro Blanco. Dry forests are tropical regions that, Conservation Fund grant of $800 to print more copies of the because of local geography, receive far less rainfall than the rain comic book and other educational materials. forests. Ecuador’s dry forests are listed by the World Wildlife Fund as “critically endangered,” which does not bode well for To contribute to this project or to support Bat Conservation the bats that live in these habitats. International’s Global Grassroots Conservation Fund, please contact The initial work involved identifying bats that inhabit the Nicole Daspit at [email protected] or (512) 327-9721. 23.5 square miles (6,078 hectares) of the Cerro Blanco forest. By capturing and examining countless bats, the field team, led by biologists Rafael Ángel and Jaime Salas, identified 21 bat species, including the threatened little fru i t - eating bat (Artibeus fraterculus). The team searched in vain for four other species that were previously reported in the for- est, but whose original habitat has been largely replaced by farms and towns. These are the ghost bat (Diclidurus albus), smoky bat (Amorphochilus schnablii), long-tongued bat (Lonchophylla hespe- ria) and dog bat (Molossus molossus). Their cur- rent status in Ecuador is completely unknown. New data on the distribution, abundance and importance of bat species in the Cerro Blanco will be used to prepare conservation strategies for this and other dry forests in Ecuador. The project also developed, with help from

B A T S 16 S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 Volume 22, No. 2 N E W S A N D N O T E S Bat Education on the Texas Co a s t TheWish List Your help with any of these special needs will directly improve BCI’s ability to protect bats and bat habitats. To contribute or for more information, please contact Acting Development Director Nicole Daspit at (512) 327-9721 or [email protected]. The Bats of Borneo ndonesia is home to 175 species of bats, but re m a r k- Iably little is known about their conservation sta t u s . Most Indonesians re g a rd bats as either ve rmin to be era d- icated or food to be hunted without re s t riction. Give n s u ch attitudes, as well as a ch ronic lack of re s o u rces, it is h a rdly surp rising that re s e a rch institutions lack the know l- e d ge or ex p e rience for even the most basic bat re s e a rch . The Ka l i m a n tan Bat Conservation Project intends to i mp rove both public attitudes and scientific data about bats – at least in Ka l i m a n tan, which covers most of the island of Born e o . The project plans to develop educational materi a l s that dispel myths about bats, stress their ecological and economic imp o r tance and pro m ote their conservation. It will also provide Ka l i m a n tan re s e a rchers with re s o u rc e s and training in bat-survey tech n i ques and support a thor- ough assessment of bats in undisturbed fo rest on Indonesian Borneo. The Educational Biology Department of the Un i ve r s i t y of Palangka Raya, Ka l i m a n tan and the Un i versity of East A n glia in the United Kingdom seek a grant of $4,047 fro m B C I ’s Global Gra s s ro ots Conservation Fu n d . ats took center stage at the Corpus Christi (Texas) Museum of Science & History this year. With support of Bthe Friends of the Museum (plus some artwork and information from Bat Conservation International), Museum Preparator Amanda Torres and intern Valier Miller created this striking display to teach the public Battling Spam about the values of bats and to explain their importance to the region. Another exhibit, Bats of the Coastal CI saves quite a bit of money by handling email with Bend, will follow soon. Bits own mail serve r. It turns out, howeve r, that we n ow have little protection against spam – the flood of junk emails that is the bane of the computer age. Some Last Chance to Sign Up for a BCI Workshop BCI sta ffers get as many as 300 spam messages a day, and dealing with the flood greatly reduces pro d u c t i v i t y. A Only a few spaces are still open for this summer’s BCI Bat Conservation and s o ft wa re pro gram called I H AT E S PAM for Exch a n ge o ffe r s Management Workshops in Pennsylvania and Kentucky. The Pennsylvania one of the most powe rful spam blockers on the market workshop will be August 29-September 3, 2004, while the Kentucky work- and should help us get back that lost time. A site license shop is September 7-12. Tuition for each workshop is $1,195, which covers to protect 50 mailboxes is $750. Help us win the battle tuition, room and board and transportation from the assembly point. For against spam and keep our focus on bats! more information visit our website at www.batcon.org/trips/toptrips.html or contact Andy Moore at [email protected] or (512) 327-9721. Testing Bat Houses a i rchild Tropical Botanical Garden of Miami, Flori d a , Examining a captured bat Fand Bat Conservation International are joining fo rc e s at a recent workshop. to test three ex p e ri m e n t al bat houses to find the best choice for the endange red Wa g n e r ’s bonneted bat (Eumops gl a u c i n u s). Two houses of each type will be i n s tal led at the Botanical Garden, which is cove ring the cost of poles and concrete. BCI will pay for the bat hous- es, mounts and shipping. The six houses ra n ge in cost f rom $110 to $155; total cost for houses and shipping is $ 1,015. Travel for BCI sta ff re qu i res another $900, for a total project cost of $1,915. Your contribution for all or any p a r t of this imp o rtant project can make a real diffe re n c e .

Volume 22, No. 2 S U M M E R 2 0 0 4 17 B A T S An Easy Choice: Support BCI at Work

A L L I S BAT CO N S E RVAT I O N IN T E R N AT I O N A L’S P R I M A RY F U N D- FR A I S I N G S E A S O N . So this is a great time to consider supporting BCI through workplace giving, an easy route to helping bats – and often a way to multiply your support with matching funds from your employer. Federal employees, postal workers and military personnel can donate to BCI through the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) – the largest and most successful workplace drive in the United States. Donations to CFC charities are tax deductible. Check out www.charitychoices.com. Many private companies support workplace giving through Independent Charities of America (ICA). To find out if your employer participates, visit www.independentcharities.org. E a rth Sh a re of Texas re p resents BCI through payroll deductions at companies throughout Texas. For information, Contact Eart h Sh a re at e s t x @ e a r t h s h a re - t e x a s . o r g or 1-800-GREENTX . E a rth Sh a re of Texas can also tell yo u h ow to start an enviro n m e n t a l - giving program at yo u r w o rk p l a c e . And remember: at BCI, more than 84 cents of eve ry dollar is used for bat conservation re s e a rc h and education.

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PA I D P.O. Box 162603 A U S T I N , T E X A S Austin, TX 78716-2603 U.S.A. PERMIT NO. 1530 A D D R E S S S E R V I C E R E Q U E S T E D