Blue Jay, Vol.53, Issue 2
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MOVEMENT AND AGE OF MALE LITTLE BROWN BATS IN ALBERTA HUGH C. SMITH, 84 Beaverbrook Ores., St. Albert, AB. T8N 2L2 The movement of prairie bats is Bats that had been banded at a hi- poorly known. For example, in Al¬ bernaculum and recovered away berta there are three known hiber- from the banding site. Both bats nacula where Little Brown Bats were banded on the same night, 9 spend the winter months. There are September 1978, at Cadomin Cave, also a number of summer maternity Alberta. This site is located in the roosts in central Alberta.® There are, front ranges of the Canadian Rocky however, no data at present that Mountains. The first bat was recov¬ show where the summer bats at ma¬ ered 19 July 1983 at Seba Beach, ternity roosts hibernate or where the Alberta, approximately 184 km from bats that winter in the known hiber- the banding site. The other bat was nacula spend the summer.^ recovered 8 km southwest of San- gudo, Alberta on 1 August 1992, ap¬ In 1972 a program of bat banding proximately 180 km from where it was initiated by the Provincial Mu¬ was banded. The two recovery sites seum of Alberta in an attempt to are approximately 32 km from each shed some light on the movement of other and are in an east-north¬ bats in Alberta. Unfortunately, the eastern direction from Cadomin program was suspended after ap¬ Cave. Schowalter® indicated that proximately 2000 bats were banded some male Little Brown Bats return due to cancellation of the issuing of to the same summer roost in sub¬ bat bands. sequent years. If this applies to the bats that were recovered at Sangudo Smith® reported the movement of and Seba Beach it is a strong indica¬ three individual bats that were tion that some of the male bats at banded as a result of that program. Cadomin Cave are moving to the One Big Brown Bat moved a dis¬ plains of central Alberta during the tance of 176 km from point of band¬ summer. ing to point of recovery. And two Little Brown Bats had travelled 150 Another aspect of studying the km and 225 km from their banding population of a group of animals has locations. Two of these bats, one Lit¬ to do with the age of individuals that tle Brown Bat and the Big Brown Bat, make up that population. Schowal- were banded at maternity sites but ter^ reported on a method of aging their recovery was not at any hiber- individual bats by counting the dental nacula. The other Little Brown Bat annuli. Phillips et al."^ pointed out was banded during the fall migration several shortcomings this method and was recaptured at a location poses and essentially discounted it away from a maternity colony and as a means for aging bats. Banding had not yet reached a hibernation of known age individuals is another site. method for aging. When banded, the bats reported in this note were listed Recently, I received information on as adults. This was determined by the recovery of two male Little Brown the epiphyseal closure of the finger joints and by weight.®'® The Seba 53(2). June 1995 113 Beach bat weighed 10.0 g and the 1. BARCLAY, R.M.R. 1993. The biology Sangudo bat weighed 11.7 g at the of prairie bats. Pp 353-57 in Pro¬ ceedings of the third prairie time of banding. conser-vation and endangered workshop (G.L. Holroyd, H.L Dickson, Because both individuals were M. Reg- nier, H.C. Smith eds.). considered adults at the time of Natural History Occasional Paper No. 19. Provincial Museum of Alberta, banding they would have had to Edmonton, Alberta. have spent at least one winter in hi¬ bernation and at least one summer 2. KEEN, R. and H.B. HITCHCOCK. 1980. Survival and longevity of the in foraging prior to banding. There¬ Little Brown Bat {Myotis lucifugus) in fore, it is safe to assume that the southern Ontario. J. Mamm. 61:1-7. Seba Beach bat was more than five 3. KUNZ, T.H. and E.L.P. ANTHONY. years of age and the Sangudo bat 1982. Age estimation and post-natal was more than 14 years of age when growth in the bat Myotis lucifugus. J. recovered. These ages are certainly Mamm. 63:23-32. not remarkable for the Little Brown 4. PHILLIPS, C.J., B. STEINBERG, and Bat when compared to the ages re¬ T.H. KUNZ. 1982. Dentin, cementum, ported by Keen and Hitchcock.^ and age determination in bats: a These authors reported ages of 29 critical evaluation. J. Mamm. and 30 years for this species. These 63:197-207. Alberta records are still important in 5. SCHOWALTER, D.B. 1980. SWARM¬ that they show a trend to longevity in ING, reproduction, and early hiberna¬ northern plains bats. tion of Myotis lucifugus and M. voians in Alberta, Canada. J. Mamm. 61: 350-54. Even though these records indi¬ cate that some male bats that hiber¬ 6. SCHOWALTER, D.B., J.R. GUNSON, and L.D. HARDER. 1979. Life charac¬ nate in the mountains move to the teristics of Little Brown Bats {Myotis plains during the summer, there is as lucifugus) in Alberta. Can. Field-Nat. yet no indication where the summer, 93:243-51. maternity roosting females hibernate. 7. SCHOWALTER, D.B., L.D. HARDER, Also, the longevity records reported and B.H. TREICHEL. 1978. Age by Keen and Hitchcock^ are for male composition of some vespertilionid bats, as are the ages for the bats re¬ bats as determined by dental annuli. Can. J. Zool. 56:355-58. ported here. There are no records for the ages of Alberta female bats. 8. SMITH, H.C. 1979. Movement of banded bats in Alberta. Blue Jay 37:117-18. A sacred place is one where the Earth’s voice can be heard more clearly. Go to these places and listen. Once you’ve heard her, she can reach you anywhere. F. Lahrman. 1988. The sacred landscape. Celestial Arts, Berkeley, CA 114 Blue Jay .