WINNINGALLIESFOR 2009-2010 DYNAMIC PARTNERS INCLUDES NATIONAL PARKS & BCI BATSIN KENYA A NNUAL R EPORT WWW.BATCO N.ORG F A L L 2 0 1 0

BATSBATSBAT CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL THE MEMO from our EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

ime and again, Conservation International mem- can achieve. bers prove just how dedicated they are to . I’m Unfortunately, however, most thrilled to report that, thanks to our members and sup- Philippine caves are unprotected, Tporters across the country, BCI has been leading in a and many are seriously threatened. vote that could earn us $100,000 for our conservation The Philippine Department of the work with bats of the Philippines. Environment and Natural Resources Bat Conservation International’s Philippines Bats: has passed the Cave Conservation Extinction and Discovery! project was one of five con- Act, but lack of funding has delayed servation efforts selected by The Walt Disney Com- implementation. pany for funding through Disney’s Friends for New funding from Disney’s Change: Project Green. Those who go online to vote Friends for Change: Project Green at the Project Green website will decide how $250,000 would help us expand bat conserva- will be distributed. The program that gets the most tion to --a national level in the Philip- votes will receive $100,000! pines. With this money, we will work ©dave waldien, BCi / 0046872 The Philippines is one of the planet’s top five “bio- with partners to convene national fo- diversity hotspots” because of the nation’s amazing number and rums to identify and implement priority conservation actions variety of species. More than 70 species of bats inhabit the is- across the country. We will expand training to empower Filipino lands, including some of the world’s smallest and largest bats. partners to protect and conserve their bats, invest in sustainable But deforestation, development, hunting and other pressures priority conservation projects nationwide and work with local gravely threaten Philippine ecosystems, and bats face such groups and communities to identify, protect and restore key bat additional hazards as improper guano mining, mass killings and roosts and foraging habitats. overharvesting by commercial and subsistence hunters. Several We are already planning a conservation workshop in the of the islands’ bat species are critically endangered. Philippines in January 2011. And Bat Conservation Interna- Bat Conservation International began working on this tional’s first “Conservation Migration” ecotour will be in the project in the Philippines in 2006, when land-use laws threat- Philippines January 15-28. I will be leading this tour, along ened a critical cave-dwelling bat colony. Norma Monfort, with Fiona Reid, a noted bat expert and wildlife artist. We’ll whose family has owned and protected the cave and its bats for also meet a number of onsite bat biologists, including Dave generations, urgently requested BCI’s assistance. The cave Waldien, BCI’s Vice President for International Programs, who houses about 1.8 million Geoffroy’s rousette fruit bats, recog- will be working in the Philippines at the time. nized as the world’s largest colony of the species. But a BCI as- We still have a few spots left for this exciting trip, so if you’d sessment of other caves in the area revealed catastrophic declines like to join us, please contact BCI at (512) 327-9721, ext. 26, in cave-dwelling bats at those unprotected sites. or [email protected] as soon as possible. BCI and an impressive coalition of local government, aca- A big thanks to everyone who has already voted for bats at demic and non profit partners joined Norma in preserving her Disney’s Friend for Change: Project Green. You are making a stewardship of the cave. We helped launch education, conser- difference! The vote ends on November 12, so please visit the vation and research initiatives that are now blossoming into site as soon as you receive this issue of BATS and vote once a self-sustaining regional and national bat-conservation efforts. week until November 12! You can access the Disney website And Monfort Bat Cave has become a major platform for edu- right from BCI’s home page at www.batcon.org. cation and bat conservation – a testament to what one person

Nina Fascione volume 28, no. 3, fall 2010 P.O. Box 162603, Austin, Texas 78716 BATS (512) 327-9721 • Fax (512) 327-9724

FEATURES Publications Staff Director of Publications: Robert Locke Photo Editor: Meera Banta The Memo Graphic Artist: Jason Huerta Copyeditors: Angela England, Valerie Locke BATS welcomes queries from writers. Send your article proposal 2 Succeeding Together with a brief outline and a description of any photos to: BCI and the [email protected]. build on years of cooperation Members: Please send changes of address and all cor res - pondence to the address above or via e-mail to members@bat- by Robert Locke con.org. Please include your label, if possible, and allow six weeks for the change of address. Founder: Dr. Merlin D. Tuttle 6 In Search of Bat Splats Executive Director: Nina Fascione Droppings may yield genetic secrets of flying foxes Board of Trustees: John D. Mitchell, Chair by Tammy Mildenstein Bert Grantges, Secretary Marshall T. Steves, Jr., Treasurer Anne-Louise Band; Eugenio Clariond Reyes; John 8 Winning Allies for the Bats of Kenya Hayes; C. Andrew Marcus; Bettina Mathis; Gary F. Mc- by Simon Musila and Judith Mbau Cracken; Steven P. Quarles; Sandy Read; Walter C. Sedg- wick; Marc Weinberger. Honorary Trustees: Sharon R. Forsyth; Elizabeth Ames Jones; Travis Mathis; Wilhelmina Robertson; William 10 Bats & Insecticides Scanlan, Jr. Documenting toxins in the environment Verne R. Read, Chairman Emeritus Scientific Advisory Board: by Ronny Eidels Dr. Leslie S. Hall, Dr. Greg Richards, Bruce Thomson, 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; 12 Flying Under the Influence Dr. Uwe Schmidt, Germany; Dr. Ganapathy Marimuthu, by Dara Orbach Dr. Shahroukh Mistry, India; Dr. Arnulfo Moreno, Mex- ico; Ir. Herman Limpens, Netherlands; Dr. Armando Ro- NEWS & NOTES driguez-Duran, Puerto Rico; Dr. Ya-Fu Lee, Taiwan; Dr. Denny G. Constantine, Robert Currie, Dr. Theodore H. Fleming, Dr. Thomas H. Kunz, Dr. Gary F. McCracken, Dr. Don E. Wilson, United States; Dr. José R. Ochoa G., 14 Teamwork promotes bat awareness Venezuela. Really big bat houses Membership Manager: Amy McCartney BATS (ISSN 1049-0043) is published quarterly by Bat Apply for a BCI Scholarship Con ser vation International, Inc., a nonprofit corporation supported by tax-deductible contributions used for public ed- Members in Action: Smashing pennies for bats ucation, research and conservation of bats and the ecosystems BCI Member Snapshot that depend on them. © Bat Conser vation International, 2010. All rights reserved. The Wish List Bat Conservation International’s mission is to conserve the world’s bats and their ecosystems in order to ensure a healthy planet. A subscription to BATS is included with BCI membership: Senior, Student or Educator $30; Basic $35; Friends of BCI COVER PHOTO: A Marianas flying fox (Pteropus mariannus) pollinates a flower. $45; Supporting $60; Contributing $100; Patron $250; Sus- New research with this species shows that bat droppings can be a ready source taining $500; Founder’s Circle $1,000. Third-class postage paid of DNA for analysis. See Page 6. at Austin, Texas. Send address changes to Bat Conser vation In- © MERliN D. TuTTlE, BCi / 0002501 ternational, P.O. Box 162603, Austin, TX 78716. SSUCCEEDINGUCCEEDING TTOGETHEROGETHER

BCIBCI andand thethe NationalNational ParkPark ServiceService buildbuild onon yearsyears ofof cooperationcooperation

A helicopter delivered tons of materials and gear for bat- friendly gates at the Last Chance by Robert Locke Mine in the rugged Grand

Canyon National Park. ©Jason CorBett, BCi / 0047179

he Last Chance Mine held a treasure trove of copper when it The Grand Canyon National Park pilots proved remarkably opened about 1890. But hauling ore out of the Grand Canyon adept at placing tons of materials and gear exactly where they on the backs of mules proved too costly, and the mine shut downneeded to be, and the crews required just a day and a half to get Tin 1907. The spectacular canyon became a national park in the prefabricated gates in place. After months of planning and 1919, and biologists discovered a maternity colony of decades of waiting, the Last Chance Mine was gated and its bats Townsend’s big-eared bats (Corynorhinus townsendii) inside the are protected. mine in 1988. Wildlife managers recommended closing the The helicopter made for a less exhausting effort than during mine’s three openings with bat-friendly gates to protect both an earlier joint project. In 1997, Grand Canyon National Park, people and bats. And that is where things sat for two decades – BCI and other partners used rafts to ferry tons of steel and equip- until Bat Conservation International and Grand Canyon Na- ment 31 miles (50 kilometers) down the Colorado River. Then tional Park joined forces. they carried 200-pound (90-kilogram) steel bars up a near-ver- Jason Corbett, Coordinator of BCI’s Southwest Subterraneantical slope to reach Stanton’s Cave. The result was a large gate, Program, was working with Hattie Oswald of the National Park 20 feet (6 meters) across, that protects a colony of Townsend’s Service on a bat-use survey of Grand Canyon caves and mines big-eared bats. in 2008. They confirmed the importance of the Last Chance Hattie Oswald, meanwhile, notes that Corbett arranged Mine and the need for gates, just as previous biologists had. Thisdonor funding not only for the Last Chance Mine gates, but also time, though, Corbett took the idea to a valued BCI partner, for the continuing Comparative Cave and Mine Use Bat Study. Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold, Inc. The company “Neither project would have been possible without BCI’s promptly agreed to fund the project. With money in hand, support and assistance,” she said. “Jason assisted with collecting things moved quickly. the data and providing the motivation to actually get the gating But nothing is ever easy in the Grand Canyon. Two of the project going. I can’t emphasize enough how important BCI has mine entrances emerge along the side of a 300-foot (90-meter) been for these two projects.” cliff. The gating contractor, MineGates Inc., assembled an expe- The feeling is mutual – as it has been for decades. “Working rienced team and the Park Service provided a manager and other with the Park Service is a real pleasure,” Corbett said. “I’ve staff, as well as aviators and a helicopter. worked with a number of Park Service people and they are ex- In September 2009, three crews went to work on three gates. tremely committed to wildlife and conservation. Together, we

BATS 2 F A L L 2 0 1 0 Volume 28, No. 3 Partners for Bat have accomplished great things for bat conservation and I’m sure we’ll con- tinue to do so for years to come.” Conservation The National Park Service has “a broad responsibility, not only for many species of wildlife, but for all the other natural resources,” said Bert Frost, NPS Here’s a sampling of collaborations Associate Director of Natural Resource Stewardship and Science. “Bats are one between the National Park Service and of many things that we manage.” And they are becoming increasingly impor- Bat Conservation International: tant as the Park Service expands its efforts. A national park for bats (1985-88): BCI In the past, Frost said, bats were spotlighted at some parks, while “at others, Founder Merlin Tuttle and Board Chairman they were just off the radar. That is changing as we move into broader man- Verne Read visited to meet agement” both geographically and biologically. with local officials about the possibility of a na- The National Park Service instituted “Vital Signs Monitoring” several years tional park to protect flying foxes. Over the ago. The program established 32 inventory and monitoring networks that link next few years, both men testified before con- parks with similar geographic and resource characteristics. “Each of our net- gressional committees and BCI members works has identified a suite of vital signs that help us understand what is going began writing letters to Congress. A bill creat- on. Many of those networks have bats as one of their vital signs. ing the national park passed the House and “Bat Conservation International is a great partner for the Park Service,” Senate and President signed Frost said. “A lot of our goals are similar and we both understand that bats are the measure on November 1, 1988. important, not only at the local level, but at the landscape and ecosystem level.” Gating a Texas mine (1995): BCI partnered with the National Park Service and the Texas BCI’s links to the National Park Service reach back to the early 1980s and Railroad Commission to install bat-friendly a long effort to create a new national park in the U.S. territory of American gates at the abandoned Mariscal Mine on Big Samoa. Bend National Park in West Texas. The mine BCI was alerted by botanist and BCI Member Paul Cox to an alarming housed one the nation’s largest maternity decline of Samoan flying foxes (Pteropus samoensis) in 1983. Two years later, colonies of Townsend’s big-eared bats. BCI also Cox, BCI Founder Merlin Tuttle and BCI Board Chairman Verne Read and helped survey nearby Emory Cave and con- his wife, Marion, visited the South Pacific islands to discuss with local officials ducted habitat studies on the endangered the possibility of establishing a national park to protect the bats. Mexican long-nosed bat. In the next few years, Tuttle and Read testified before several congressional Formalizing the partnership (1995): BCI subcommittees as BCI members began a letter-writing campaign. President and the National Park Service signed a formal Ronald Reagan signed the bill establishing the National Park of American Memorandum of Understanding, committing to jointly develop bat-conservation and research Samoa in 1988. The park was Courtesy of minegates, inC. projects on Park Service lands across the officially created in 1993. “If United States. not for BCI’s efforts, this The bats of Mammoth Cave (1995-97): unique tropical-island park With the invitation and assistance of Rick might still be on the drawing Olson, Ecologist at Mammoth Cave National board,” Park Superintendent Park, Merlin Tuttle and Jim Kennedy of BCI Chris Stein wrote in 1997. confirmed the historic use of this popular cave BCI and the National by millions of now-endangered Indiana (Myotis Park Service signed their first sodalis) and gray myotis (M. grisescens), as well Memorandum of Under- as several other bat species.A bat-friendly gate standing in 1995, pledging was installed on a primary cave entrance. A gate in the Grand Canyon (1997): Stan- cooperation in bat research ton’s Cave in Grand Canyon National Park and conservation on national once sheltered Arizona’s largest known mater- parks nationwide. Over the nity colony of Townsend’s big-eared bats – until years, BCI and the parks have a chain-link fence spanned the entrance to collaborated on many proj- protect archaeological artifacts. The bats disap- ects, including bat and mine peared. Grand Canyon Wildlife Biologist Jim surveys, education programs Petterson proposed replacing the fence with a and the installation of bat- bat-friendly gate. BCI provided funds and ad- friendly gates on caves and vice and, with state and federal partners, the mines in Arizona, California, gate was built. Bats began returning to the cave Kentucky, North Carolina, in a matter of months. A gate for endangered bats (1998): BCI, the Texas and elsewhere. Park Service and other partners sponsored a Elaine Leslie, now De - cave-gating workshop that installed a bat- puty Chief of the NPS Bio- friendly gate to protect a colony of endan- logical Resource Division, A welder completes installation of a bat-friendly gered gray myotis at Gregory Cave in Great worked at Grand Canyon gate at Last Chance Mine in the Grand Can - Smoky Mountains National Park. during the daunting Stanton yon – a dramatic example of the collaborations Cave project. She recalls between BCI and the National Park Service.

Volume 28, No. 3 F A L L 2 0 1 0 3 BATS Continued from page 3 some 15 years ago, when the park “entered for Wildlife Program) got me a scholarship Surveying mines in the desert into dialog with BCI to, first of all, get the to go to the workshop in Arizona. Those (1999-2003): BCI and National Park staff some much-needed training.” Many workshops are great, they’re phenomenal,” Service biologists jointly surveyed more national parks, she said, were just becoming Burghardt said. “That’s what really gave me than 150 abandoned mines in the aware of bats, but “we knew very little a strong background in bats – the founda- Joshua Tree and Death Valley National Parks and the Mojave National Monu- about species distribution and abundance. tion that I still use today. For a geologist, I ment. Bat-friendly gates and other (After training), we started collaborative ef- do a lot of biology.” measures were undertaken to protect forts on inventory and monitoring of bats, The AML program evaluates aban- the bats at many of the sites. and also looking at what we could do to doned-mine sites for human safety and use Bats in Death Valley (2003):BCI and better protect bats throughout the park.” by bats, which often roost in old mines. partners sponsored a gating workshop Training has been a big part of BCI’s ties “We’re doing a federal Recovery Act project at Death Valley National Park. Partici- to the Park Service. More than 60 Park now with 147 abandoned mine sites in 17 pants built a new gate to replace two Service biologists, rangers and other staffers states, and a lot of those involve bat-com- earlier versions that were blamed in have attended BCI’s Bat Conservation and patible closures. That’s when BCI’s expert- part for the decline of a maternity Management Workshops. BCI has held a ise is very valuable,” Burghardt said. “I colony of Townsend’s big-eared bats in number of the workshops at Mammoth really lean on Jason Corbett and (Cave and the cave. Subsequent monitoring found a 275 percent increase in the number Cave National Park in Kentucky and Lava Mine Resources Specialist) Jim Kennedy of bats. Beds National Monument in California. and their expertise in making decisions on Artificial trees at Mammoth (2004): Among workshop graduates is John closures and materials.” BCI tested two innovative artificial Burghardt, Coordinator of the NPS Aban- Kennedy helped survey 72 old mines on roosts for Rafinesque’s big-eared bats doned Mine Lands (AML) Program. After the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monu- (Corynorhinus rafinesquii) at Mammoth joining the Park Service in Colorado, the ment in 2009, recommending bat-friendly Cave National Park. The structures, geologist was asked in 1992 to work with closures for 15 of them. The Park Service built of cinder blocks, are designed to the Colorado Division of Wildlife’s Bats assigned elite, armed park rangers to accom- mimic hollow trees the species uses for and Inactive Mines Program. He soon pany the biologists into the Arizona border roosts. Bats began moving into the arti- began proposing mine-gating projects for area, which is known more for its drug- ficial roosts within a few months. the national parks in the West. “Dan Taylor smuggling routes than its bat populations. Bear Gulch Cave gets a gate (2004): A popular tourist cave at Pinnacles Na- of BCI (now Coordinator of BCI’s Water Corbett, meanwhile, is surveying tional Monument in Central California, Bear Gulch Cave is used by a maternity colony of Townsend’s big-eared bats. The Park Service, assisted by BCI, in- stalled several gates to allow visitors to enter some areas of the cave for part of the year without disturbing the bat colony. The cave is closed while pups are being raised. Stalking bats in the desert (2009): The National Park Service provided funds, expertise and protection as BCI and partners hiked through the Arizona desert near the U.S./Mexico border to assess 72 abandoned mines on the sprawling Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Designing gates for endangered bats (2008-09): The long-abandoned State of Texas Mine at Coronado Na- tional Memorial in Arizona houses a seasonal colony of up to 30,000 endan- gered lesser long-nosed bats (Leptonyc- teris yerbabuenae), but existing gates are inadequate. In 2008, BCI and the Park Service conducted a series of tests to determine the most efficient gate de- sign for this important site. ©Jason CorBett, BCi / 0045644

Biological Technician Hattie Oswald of the National Park Service ascends from an old mine in Arizona during a joint BCI/NPS bats and mines survey.

BATS 4 F A L L 2 0 1 0 Volume 28, No. 3 John Burghardt, Coordinator of the NPS Abandoned Mine Lands Program (left), and colleagues survey an abandoned mine at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Utah during a project in which BCI participated in 2000.

©sheryl duCummon, BCi / 9162201 mines, many of them on Park Service lands, throughout the monitoring decontamination of gear – and education, of course. Western states. I really see education as one of our major roles. Mammoth Cave, And just as BCI has occasionally arranged funding for proj- for instance, gets 400,000 visitors a year, and we are able to ed- ects on Park Service lands, the Park Service often returns the ucate those people.” favor. Raymond Skiles is Wildlife Biologist at Big Bend National The Park Service joined BCI and others in cosponsoring a Park in West Texas, where Emory Cave provides a critical roost major WNS science conference to set research and management for endangered Mexican long-nosed bats (Leptonycteris nivalis). priorities. And, Castle said, “We recently put on a ‘webinar’ for These pollinating bats spend winters in Mexico, then follow government people that included information on surveillance and “nectar corridors” of blooming agave plants up to the southern monitoring techniques, and Mylea Bayless (WNS Emergency Re- fringes of West Texas and New Mexico for the summer. sponse Coordinator) was one of our guest speakers. We wanted “We’ve been able to provide NPS funding for the last two to get that expertise and that connection with BCI.” years to help Christa Weise (Coordinator of BCI’s Latin America Peter Dratch, NPS Endangered Species Specialist, said he at- and the Caribbean Program) work in northern Mexico, trying tended a BCI workshop some years ago. “I went to ‘bat camp’ to find additional roosts for nivalis and to document its habitat,” and it was really great. It still has a big impression on me in terms Skiles said. Such efforts are important as the Park Service takes of widening my view of bats. a broader view of conservation realities: “In order to protect the “Most of these parks are responsible for preserving multiple park’s resources, we have to work beyond the boundaries of the resources, so it’s not just going to be about bats,” he said. “But park and even the nation.” we are trying to give the public an appreciation of how important Burghardt notes that in these days when White-nose Syn- these bats are. It often starts with an individual (park staffer) who drome is threatening to sweep into the West, he and Corbett champions bats at a park, then we do everything we can to give often work together to ensure that bat and mine inventories do those champions some support.” not endanger bats or risk introducing this devastating disease. BCI faces many bat-conservation challenges in the United The Park Service established a White-nose Syndrome Work- States and around the world, but with partners like the National ing Group in March 2009. “In putting this group together,” said Park Service, none are insurmountable. leader Kevin Castle, “I tried to pull in Park Service ecologists from all across the country. We have been proactive on this issue. ROBERT LOCKE is Director of Publications at Bat Conservation We have parks that have closed cave access, and others that are International.

Volume 28, No. 3 F A L L 2 0 1 0 5 BATS IINN SSEARCHEARCH OFOF BBATAT SSPLATSPLATS DroppingsDroppings maymay yieldyield geneticgenetic secretssecrets ofof flyingflying foxesfoxes

Courtesy of apolinario Carino Courtesy of tammy mildenstein

by Tammy Mildenstein

t is dusk in the South Pacific. Flying foxes rise into the pink-orange sky and cruise above the forest canopy in search of food. As the forest settles into nighttime mode, daytime distractions drift away. The temperature falls (at least a bit), the flies go to sleep, and I Ihave a quiet moment to reflect on why I am here in the Mariana Islands, preparing to crawl around collecting bat feces. Later, in a DNA-analysis lab, I’ll use these samples to develop a much-needed method for understanding flying foxes without having to capture or handle these magnificent but threatened bats. I have been studying fruit bats, primarily the large flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus) and golden-capped fruit bat (Acerodon jubatus), in the Philippines since 1997. I recently ex- panded my research to include the Marianas flying fox (Pteropus mariannus). Like most endangered flying foxes, the species I study are found on islands in Southeast Asia and (Top photo)Tammy Mildenstein collects fruit- the South Pacific, where travel is difficult and research is rare. bat splats from plastic sheets under tree In the Philippines, I spent years collecting population and distribution data on the roosts during her research. (Inset) Bat splats remaining colonies of the largest bats in the world. Interpreting the data is tricky, however, on understory leaves in the Mariana Islands. because we lack basic information about the bats’ population structure. Conserving these flying foxes requires answers to two crucial questions: Are colonies of a flying fox species on scattered islands connected or are they isolated populations? And how small can these colonies get before their survival is put at imminent risk? We can’t resolve these questions yet, but we have taken a giant step toward answering them. Historically, the answer to the first question seems simple: The mere fact that colonies exist on a number of islands across an archipelago, such as the Philippines or the Marianas, suggests they are all part of a con- nected “metapopulation.” Over many years, there probably was enough movement among the islands for the scattered colonies to remain part of the same species. But how has the introduction of people changed the rules? Are migrations more dangerous now because of hunting pressure or limited habitat? Documenting the connections among populations will help managers understand the new dynamic and identify islands on which conservation efforts should focus.

BATS 6 F A L L 2 0 1 0 Volume 28, No. 3 The second question, on population size, is especially critical. often segregated in the roosts. Flying fox colonies in the Philippines once numbered in the hun- I delivered the samples to the genetics lab at the University dreds of thousands and were found on every major island. Now of Montana, where my colleagues spent the past year tweaking few colonies remain, and they are mere shadows of historic sizes their fecal DNA-extraction kits to obtain and analyze fruit-bat – often fewer than 5,000 individuals. DNA from the tiny splats. When wildlife populations fall below a certain threshold, they The news came in an email in May: the process works! can enter a negative-feedback loop. They become susceptible to Much remains to be done, of course, as we optimize the pro- chance genetic or environmental impacts, which shrink the pop- tocol for using fruit-bat splats as a source of genetic material. ulation further and increase susceptibility even more, and so on Our success came with mitochondrial DNA, which is useful for in what biologists call an “extinction vortex.” That frightening such basic issues as identifying species. Mitochondria are energy- name fits the consequences. producing structures outside the cell’s nucleus and the small Virtually any species can collapse into an extinction vortex, strands of DNA they contain are distinct from nuclear DNA, but the threshold varies by species and ecosystem. In the Philip- which comprises the chromosomes. pines, we know that most flying fox populations are small. But We plan to develop procedures for finding and using nuclear we don’t know if these populations have fallen so far that they DNA, which provides much finer detail, including identifying could face an impending crash. In the Mariana Islands, popula- individual bats. We also hope to learn exactly what’s required for tions are even smaller, but they are a different species. Are these good samples with current analytical tools. But we have cleared numbers similar to historic populations? Might some island our biggest hurdle by demonstrating that bat splats can be used colonies already face becoming too small? Effective conservation for DNA analyses. Now we can begin answering critical ques- and management depends on answering these questions. tions about the conservation of flying foxes. Genetic analysis is used on some species to explore critical It is dark in the forest and most of the bats have left the trees. conservation issues. But I had sworn off using genetics with fruit I put on my headlamp and follow my trail markers to the roost bats because it traditionally required tissue samples, which means where I spread plastic sheets the night before. I scrape a day’s capturing bats. From earlier fieldwork, I have the scars to prove worth of bat splats into small paper bags and encase each one in how difficult it is to catch even one flying fox, let alone the num- a plastic wrap. Scraping splats may sound less glamorous than bers required to answer population-level questions. capturing bats, but I find it exciting. These little droppings may Plus, capture clearly causes stress among these large bats. It hold answers that can help us save these remarkable bats from had been suggested that I pay hunters to collect bats for research, slipping away forever. but paying for dead bats was certainly not the message I wanted TAMMY MILDENSTEIN is a Ph.D. candidate at the University to send to local communities. of Montana. Her research is on flying fox in the Philippines I had been working on fruit-bat research and conservation and how managers can monitor these species’ population sizes. She in the Philippines for more than nine years before I realized what is a lead author on the revision of the IUCN’s 1992 Old World now seems obvious: fecal samples might provide flying fox DNA Fruit Bats: An Action Plan for their Conservation. without putting the bats at risk. (Fruit-bat poop, by the way, is not considered guano and has no generally accepted name. “Splat,” a term occasionally found in scientific literature, seems quite descriptive, so I am using it.) Splats are easy to collect and do not require capturing, han- dling or harming flying foxes. The promise of splats as a benign source of flying fox DNA was exciting, so I applied for – and re- ceived – a Bat Conservation International Student Research Scholarship to give it a try. But implementing a new idea is rarely easy. Although genetic- research labs had been using fecal samples to extract DNA (from cells sloughed off the intestines) for scores of species, many of my academic advisors were skeptical that the process would work for flying foxes. They noted that food passes quickly through the guts of these bats and the amount of feces is small, so the chance of finding sufficient intestinal cells seemed unlikely. As I was becoming discouraged, however, a mentor suggested I contact bat biologist Gary McCracken, a well-known geneticist and now a BCI Board Member. McCracken assured me that the idea could work and said he had done it in unpublished lab ex- periments a few years earlier. So on my next trip to the Philippines, I collected splats from two flying fox species by spreading plastic sheets under roost trees that contained only the targeted species. Flying fox colonies in ©merlin d. tuttle, BCi / 5033102 the Philippines may contain several species of bats, but they are This Marianas flying fox is eating fruit from a cycad tree.

Volume 28, No. 3 F A L L 2 0 1 0 7 BATS WWINNINGINNING AALLIESLLIES FORFOR THE THE BBATSATS OFOF KKENYAENYA

by Simon Musila and Judith Mbau

enya is home to more than 100 bat species, but these invaluable animals face an array of threats from human settlement and charcoal burning to witch doctors and agriculture. And there are few human allies willing to protect these little-known Kand often-misunderstood animals in Kenya. With the support of a BCI Global Grassroots Conservation Fund grant, we have begun an effort to educate local people along the Kenyan coast about the importance of the flying mammals and to provide skills that will empower them to conserve their bats. Bats are found throughout Kenya, but most of their major roosts are outside the 10 percent of the nation’s land that is designated as na- tional parks and forest reserves. Beyond the protected areas, the good- will of villages and towns is critical to any bat-conservation effort. Communities that become engaged in protecting bats and their habi- tats can make a great difference. The two of us, both from the National Museums of Kenya, visited four sites along the coast to sample bat diversity and interview local residents about their knowledge and attitudes about bats and how the communities interact with bats. We educated almost everyone we met about the benefits of bats in Courtesy of simon musila the region. By the end of October 2009, we had met with more than (Top photo) Judith Mbau educates villagers at Mrima 300 individuals from four villages and completed 176 questionnaires. (Kenya) about bats and their benefits. (Above) Workshop This information guided our planning for a December 2009 bat- participants gather after a bat-awareness session.

BATS 8 F A L L 2 0 1 0 Volume 28, No. 3 awareness workshop at the Fort Jesus Museum in Mombasa, participants produced a list of significant bat-roosting sites based Kenya’s second-largest city. on their personal knowledge of the coastal region. We found that villagers generally realized that bats provided Bat colonies are very poorly mapped in Kenya, so we (Musila such important ecosystem services as eating insects, seed disper- and Mbau) subsequently visited most of the 39 sites listed to as- sal and pollinating plants, although many were uncertain sess their status and identify high-priority roosts for conservation whether bats are mammals, birds or just vaguely strange crea- efforts. Kenya’s coastal strip is rich in bat roosts, with a number tures. The people’s perceptions of bats were overwhelmingly of caves, as well as roosts in trees, especially mango and baobab negative. Many considered them to be messengers of evil, trees in the villages, towns and in Mombasa City. Bats also were ghosts, bad omens or tools used by witch doctors to cast spells. also reported roosting in many bridges and buildings, especially Such attitudes lead to direct killing of bats, the felling of mango abandoned structures. The workshop chose two people as point- trees used as roosts, and attacking roosting bats with slingshots. persons for continual mapping of additional bat roosts as they are Kenya’s coastal bats also suffer from frequent loss of habitat identified along the south and north coast in Kenya. as forests are cleared for farming and human settlements, while This initial step toward bat conservation along coastal Kenya bat caves are often overused for tourism and cultural cere- is, admittedly, modest. Yet there is reason for optimism. After monies, and by witch doctors as sites for consultations with local our workshop and related outreach efforts, most people in our residents. survey indicated that they would react positively upon seeing a Our workshop plans took on the goal of empowering local bat. And most said that gaining better knowledge, protecting communities with real knowledge regarding bats. We invited bat habitats, preventing disturbances and killing, and even residents of coastal communities who have demonstrated an in- building bat houses were important for saving the declining bat terest in conservation through community-based organizations, populations. They were also very willing to share the informa- primarily those involved in protecting “Important Bird Areas” tion with others. – people who will share what they learn at our workshop with That is not the same thing as actually taking such steps. We their neighbors and become active in bat conservation. could not ascertain their interest in implementing bat conser- We prepared posters about bat species and their roles in the vation, although the possibility for change through continuous environment, and provided a booklet on bat identification that bat-awareness education seems clear. We hope to continue and was prepared by Bat Conservation International for a 2001 proj- expand this effort into the future by introducing bat houses, ect in Kenya. PowerPoint presentations were prepared to discuss which do not yet exist in Kenya, to address the declining avail- bat biology, ecological roles of bats and their conservation. ability of natural roosts along the Kenyan coast. We used taxidermy bat specimens from the National Muse- ums of Kenya to demonstrate bat diversity, handling and iden- Simon Musila and Judith Mbau are staff members of the Mam- tification. Bat-capturing equipment was demonstrated, and malogy Section of the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi.

Courtesy of simon musila Courtesy of simon musila (Left) Educators surveyed Kikambala Barn Owl Cave, which hosts a bat colony along Kenya’s north coast. The site is managed by a local community group. (Right) A traditional witch uses Vipingo Cave as a consult- ing site – a frequent challenge for those trying to conserve cave bats in Kenya.

Volume 28, No. 3 F A L L 2 0 1 0 9 BATS BATS & INSECTICIDES Documenting toxins in the environment

Courtesy of ami eidels

by Ronny Eidels Courtesy of ami eidels

at populations around North America are declining year after year. Many of the reasons for these declines are well documented: widespread habitat loss, disturbance during winter hibernation and Bnow White-nose Syndrome all take staggering tolls. But other likely causes remain a mystery, or at most, unconvicted suspects. Insecticides are often mentioned as potential culprits, but the evidence is lacking. This study, supported in part by BCI’s North American Bat Con- servation Fund, is the first step in an investigation of the impacts of insecticides on bats. Its objective was to identify the insecticides to which bats are exposed and to focus further research on these specific chemicals. First we searched the scientific literature for relevant data. In a 2002 BCI publication, The Indiana Bat, Thomas O’Shea and Donald Clark reported the presence of high levels of organochlorine insecti- cides in bat carcasses, brains and guano from Indiana and Missouri. “The role of environmental toxins in the decline of bats remains un- (Top photo) Captive big brown bats are used in some of clear,” they wrote. “However, existing data suggest that they may be Ronny Eidels’ research. (Above) A young visitor, Eidels’ daugh- an important contributor to this decline.” ter Shany, watches her mom feed a bat during the study. And that was pretty much it for the past 20 years. In seeking ad- ditional information, we contacted Daniel W. Sparks, a toxicant specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He quickly joined our effort. Sparks and John Whitaker, Director of the Indiana State University Center for North American Bat Research and Conservation, where I was a post-doctoral fellow, came up with an idea that got the project moving. We would use bats submitted by the public for rabies testing as sentinels to identify insecticides in bats. Only about 5 percent of those bats are rabid, and the state rabies-testing lab regularly sends nonrabid bat carcasses to our center for use in research.

BATS 10 F A L L 2 0 1 0 Volume 28, No. 3 Courtesy of linda Castor ©merlin d. tuttle, BCi / 8091407 (Left) Ronny Eidels at work in her lab at Indiana State University. The state Department of Health sent the lab the bodies of bats that were tested for rabies but found not to be infected. (Right) An eastern red bat such as this one was among those found to contain insecticide residues. We sent nine of those bodies to a laboratory to be tested. tions of these chemicals that were applied years ago but still per- Organochlorines (long-lived insecticides such as DDT and re- sist in the environment. We believe that the effects of chronic lated insecticides) were detected in all nine bats. Widely used exposure of bats to organochlorines should be studied. organophosphate pesticides, which have largely replaced Organophosphates, primarily diazinon, were detected in 10 organochlorines, were found in three. of the bats. Diazinon is used to control a wide range of insect Then we faced a major challenge: to identify insecticides in pests, and research indicates considerable variation in susceptibil- tissue samples, you must specify exactly which of the hundreds ity to its toxic effects. An EPA assessment in 2002 concluded that of different insecticides you are looking for. These chemical diazinon posed unacceptable risks to birds and other wildlife, but analyses are time-consuming and expensive, and trying to test there is no information on its effects on bats. Finding diazinon many bats for everything is simply impractical. We had no cur- in these samples is surprising because studies suggest it does not rent data on all of the insecticides being used in Indiana, so our accumulate in living tissue. Therefore, its presence in these bats only choice was a broad preliminary study to determine the implies that they were exposed shortly before their deaths. It does most likely and important targets. We decided to use non-rabid not, however, confirm any clinical impact on the bats. bats from the rabies lab for this initial study. Our study also found residues of pyrethroid insecticides in These bats clearly would not be representative of free-rang- five of the samples, and of the carbamate insecticide carbaryl in ing populations, since they were submitted for rabies testing one, a female eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis). precisely because they were grounded or otherwise weakened. We found no significant geographical or gender differences Although this sample offers scant evidence about the insecti- in exposure. These results should, however, be interpreted cau- cide-exposure rate among wild bats, we would be examining tiously because of the small sample size. bats that are more likely to have been affected by insecticides Nonetheless, the presence of insecticides in all 40 of our and should be able to identify critical insecticide groups. sampled bats raises the disturbing possibility that environmental We decided to test 40 bats from a typical Midwest mix of toxins could have an important role in the health of bat popu- urban and agricultural land use (Lake, Porter and LaPorte coun- lations. Our research on the prevalence and impacts of these ties in Indiana). For three years, Louis Douglas of the state rabies chemicals continues. lab forwarded to Indiana State University all the bats that tested negative for rabies. We went through hundreds of those frozen RONNY EIDELS is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for North bats before finding 40 (35 of them big brown bats [Eptesicus American Bat Research and Conservation, Department of Biology, fuscus]) from the appropriate region to send to Michael Lydy of Indiana State University. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale for chemical analyses. Thirty-nine of the 40 bats contained detectable concentra- Acknowledgments: tions of organochlorine insecticides. This suggests that even This study was supported by the U. S. Environmental Protec- today, decades after federal restrictions on the use of these in- tion Agency, Great Lakes National Program Office and Bat secticides, bats are still being exposed to them in the Indiana re- Conservation International. The author thanks John Whitaker, gion. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tightly Michael Lydy, Daniel Sparks, Louis Douglas, Ami Eidels, restricted most organochlorine pesticides in the 1970s and early Charles Sprague, Vergel Santos, Diana Hews and Diane Hen- ’80s; their presence in these bats likely results from accumula- shel for their assistance.

Volume 28, No. 3 F A L L 2 0 1 0 11 BATS FFLYINGLYING UUNDERNDER Courtesy of dara orBaCh THETHE IINFLUENCENFLUENCE

by Dara Orbach

any fruit-eating bats may drink alcohol almost daily. And, just as with humans, overindulging can be hazardous to their health: inebriated bats

could have a much tougher time avoiding predators. Bats get their alcohol Courtesy of dara orBaCh Mdirectly from fleshy fruit, such as dates and figs, that produce ethanol as This obstacle course made of dangling chains – located they ripen. in an outdoor flight case (inset) – allowed researchers to Courtesy of nina veselka Research test the effects of alcohol on bats’ flying abilities. suggests that fruit-eating bats use highly developed senses of smell and taste to determine when fruits con- tain especially high levels of alcohol. Bats may avoid intoxication by choosing fruits with rela- tively low alcohol content. But when food is in short supply, they can’t afford to be picky and are more likely to consume high-alcohol fruits despite the consequences. Intoxicated bats don’t have the luxury of a designated driver to get them safely home at the end of a boozy night. They can literally hang tight until they sober up, exposing themselves as easy targets for predators – or they can at- tempt to fly home. Bats “flying under the in- fluence” risk colliding with or impaling themselves on fences, branches, buildings, etc. This yellow-shouldered bat (Sturnira lilium) gets a drink of Either option can be dangerous, even poten- sugar-water spiked with 1.5% alcohol before being released tially lethal. to fly through an obstacle course. I went to Belize in 2009 to study how alcohol

BATS 12 F A L L 2 0 1 0 Volume 28, No. 3 affects the flight performance and behavior of bats. I collaborated The ability to consume alcohol without showing signs of intox- with Brock Fenton (University of Western Ontario), Nina Veselka ication would confer foraging advantages. Over evolutionary (University of Western Ontario), Yvonne Dzal (University of time, bats with greater tolerances for alcohol-rich fruit could Regina), Louis Lazure (University of Western Ontario) and a have access to more food than rivals that cannot “hold their team of dedicated graduate and undergraduate field assistants to drink.” conduct an obstacle-avoidance experiment on wild fruit bats. We built an obstacle course for bats – three rows of plastic DARA ORBACH recently completed her Master’s degree in biology chains suspended from the ceiling of an outdoor flight cage, and at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. captured bats of six species. We randomly assigned the bats to She gratefully acknowledges the benefits from working on this topic one of two groups, then fed one group plain sugar-water, and in the laboratories of Berry Pinshow and Carmi Korine at Ben the other sugar-water spiked with 1.5% alcohol. Then we com- Gurion University of the Negev’s Mitrani Department of Desert pared the performance of sober and inebriated bats as they flew Ecology. through the obstacle course. Before we released the bats in the flight cage, Courtesy of BroCk fenton we first weighed them, fed them and tested their blood-alcohol concentrations. In humans, the effects of alcohol can be determined in part by body mass. Accordingly, we calculated how much alcoholic sugar-water to feed the bats based on their weights. Each bat was fed an ap- propriate volume to achieve a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.11 (well beyond the typical legal driving limit for humans of 0.08), or the same volume of plain sugar-water. For the most part, our bats loved the sugar- water, even when it contained alcohol. They guzzled it as fast as we could administer it from the syringes. We confirmed blood-alcohol levels in saliva, then freed the bats to fly individually through the obstacle course while videotaping the flights and recording their echolocation pulses with ultrasonic microphones. These frugivorous bats of Belize seem to demonstrate a high tolerance for alcohol. Bats in the test group did not “slur their speech” as we had expected, suggesting that alcohol con- sumption did not affect the bats’ ability to echolocate. We were also surprised to find that consuming alcohol did not affect their maneu- verability, willingness to fly or flying time through the obstacles. Our findings contrast with those of Fran- cisco Sanchez and colleagues, who report evi- dence that frugivorous bats in Israel display overt signs of intoxication. We also observed species-specific differ- ences in blood-alcohol concentrations. Per- haps, like people, some bats handle their liquor better than others. In tropical regions such as Belize, where fruits ferment quickly, bats may regularly en- Fruit bats in Belize, such as this Sowell’s short-tailed bat (Carollia sowelli), often counter alcohol while foraging and thus de- consume alcohol that is produced naturally in ripening fruit. The author’s research velop a tolerance for high concentrations of it. suggests these bats may have evolved a high tolerance for alcohol.

Volume 28, No. 3 F A L L 2 0 1 0 13 BATS NEWS AND NOTES Teamwork promotes bat awareness

wo groups of Lubbock, Texas, students and their teachers Wallace if his students might be interested in building a bat Tcame together for a unique educational lesson in bats and house for the exercise. With BCI website-guidance in hand, they bat houses – and in the value of combining varied skills to pro- built not one, but 18 bat houses – large, three-chambered units duce results. The two classes are part of the school district’s with air vents and textured interiors. A local Home Depot man- Byron Martin Advanced Technology Center, which provides ca- ager donated primer and paint and the completed houses were reer-oriented courses in technological fields. delivered to the GIS students. “I try to design projects that are real-world and relevant for my students,” Carpenter said. “I believe this makes their learn- ing more meaningful, especially when they can apply the skills they learn in class.” So she posed a basic geographic question to her students: Which of the Lubbock Independent School District’s 53 cam- puses were most suitable for bat houses? The students discussed the requirements for successful installations and began collecting data and adding layers of information to their maps. Because water is a key factor for successful bat houses, they imported a water-body layer, along with other data, atop their map of schools. Spatial analysis identified 11 campuses within an acceptable 0.4 mile (0.6 kilometer) of at least a small body of water. The students contacted the principals of the 11 schools, ex- Courtesy of penny Carpenter plained their project and why each campus was a good choice, The project began when Penny Carpenter, who teaches ge- and requested permission to install a bat house. Unfortunately, ographic information systems (a powerful blend of mapping, the school district ultimately decided against placing bat houses statistical analysis and database technologies), asked her students at schools. So the students agreed to make bat houses available to research the benefits of bats and the threats they face. The to a science teacher at each school as educational tools for teach- goal was to help students understand spatial relationships and ing bat awareness. to promote environmental awareness. The young people learned The remaining houses are being donated to such public sites that bats, which benefit humans by consuming countless insect as the South Plains Food Bank’s farm and orchard. One was pests, suffer from a continuing loss of habitat. also given to the Lubbock Lake Landmark State Historical Park At Bat Conservation International’s website, the students for educational activities. also discovered an idea that was new to most of them: bat The students were a bit disappointed that the houses weren’t houses. They found the notion of attracting bats to a bat house installed at schools, but they were nonetheless delighted with intriguing and gathered BCI information about bat-house de- what they had learned about bats and that their efforts taught sign and tips for attracting bats. the importance of bats to many adults and students in their Then Carpenter asked building-trades teacher Dewayne city’s schools.

Clunkers for Bats That old car that’s cluttering up your driveway can help bats. Just donate it to Bat Conservation International, and we’ll haul it away from anywhere in the United States, whether it runs or not. The same goes for trucks, vans, motorcycles, boats and airplanes. BCI gets the proceeds to help protect bats and their habitats. Call us toll-free today, at 1-877-BATS-123. We’ll pick up your vehicle, and you’ll receive a receipt for your tax-deductible donation – plus the satisfaction of helping to make a difference for bats.

BATS 14 F A L L 2 0 1 0 Volume 28, No. 3 NEWS AND NOTES Really big bat houses

Courtesy of Cori lausen ommunity bat houses and builder made several Cbased on BCI’s architect- modifications to the plans to designed plans have been built improve construction and at opposite ends of North accommodate Canadian wea - America, as conservation or- ther conditions. ganizations seek refuges for The second community thousands of displaced bats. bat house, built at a 4-H Club One of the big “bat condos,” camp near Pensacola, in the which can house up to 30,000 Florida panhandle, was de- bats, was built in British Co- signed as the focal point of an lumbia in western Canada and education program to teach the other in Florida in the youngsters about the impor-

southeastern United States. Courtesy of holly oBer tance of bats, said ecologist The Canadian condo went Florida Canada Holly Ober of the University up at the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area, where a of Florida. It was supported by the Florida and Escambia battered old barn had become a safety hazard and was scheduled County 4-H Foundations. for demolition, reports Richard Dalon, manager of the site. The Ober, a leader of the project, said the house is located in a barn was a maternity roost for thousands of little brown myotis rapidly urbanizing area that now offers a mix of urban, agricul- (Myotis lucifugus) and Yuma myotis (M. yumanensis). tural and fragmented forest habitats. A large pond is nearby. Dalon said the Province of British Columbia paid for con- The bat house is expected to attract several bat species, primarily struction of the bat condo, which is roughly 10 feet (3 meters) Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis). square and mounted on utility poles. This first community bat “We used blueprints provided by BCI to build the house house in western Canada was built by contractor Paul Van and modified them slightly to ensure the house would be hur- Deursen from plans biologist Cori Lausen obtained free from ricane-proof,” Ober said. Construction was done by carpentry BCI. students from Pensacola Junior College. Some bats took up residence this past summer and Dalon is Plans for this community bat house (including information working with Lausen and Creston Valley Biologist Marc-Andre on modifications by these two teams) are available without charge Beaucher to monitor the bats’ use of the condo. The biologists from BCI. Visit www.batcon.org and click the “Get Involved” tab.

Volume 28, No. 3 F A L L 2 0 1 0 15 BATS NEWS AND NOTES Apply for a BCI Scholarship

at Conservation International has awarded 291 scholarships With matching funds Bsince 1990 to support important bat research in 59 coun- from other conservation tries. And we’re still going strong. Online applications are now organizations, govern- being accepted for the 2011 Student Research Scholarships. The ment agencies and pri- deadline for receipt is December 15, 2010. vate foundations, the These scholarships, of up to $5,000 each, help promising $724,250 that BCI has young scientists at universities around the world conduct re- invested in these scholar- search that contributes to the knowledge needed to conserve ships has helped generate bats and their habitats. a total of $5.7 million in Qualified research should address at least one of these issues: conservation-related re- answering ecological or behavioral questions that are essential search worldwide. to conservation or management; resolving an economic prob- The BCI awards in- lem that will improve support for conservation; or documenting clude about 10 Bats in Courtesy of amanda wendt key ecological or economic roles of bats. Students in degree- International Forestry Scholarships, which have been supported granting programs at any university are eligible to apply. since 2005 by BCI’s invaluable partner, U.S. Forest Service In- Scholarship applications must be completed online at BCI’s ternational Programs. These scholarships support research con- website (www.batcon.org/scholarships). (More information is ducted in developing countries. Students from any university available at the website.) Applications are judged by a panel of are eligible for these awards, and all qualified applicants are au- non-BCI scientists, and awards are announced in March. tomatically considered. BCI provided 17 scholarships for the 2010-11 academic year. Among them were: •Jorge Ayala (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Méx- •Gabriel Reyes (Humboldt State University, United ico) Physiological constraints on the geographical dis- States) Social calls in the migratory hoary bat, USA. tribution of nectar-feeding bats, Mexico. •Alona Gukasova (Saint Petersburg State University, •Corneile Minnaar (University of Pretoria, South Africa) Russia) A new system of summer bat-population mon- Artificial lighting and insectivorous bats, South Africa. itoring on nature reserves, Ukraine.

M E M B E R S I N AC T I O N Smashing pennies for bats

rystal Cave in western Wisconsin offers a dramatic geolog- from disturbance, and Jean notes that throughout the year, “we Cical display that draws more than 20,000 visitors a year, plus do not allow anyone to disturb the bats in any way.” And, she another 12,000 or so youngsters on educational visits. The pri- says, “Education about the behavior, benefits and conservation vately owned cave also provides a winter home for hundreds of needs of bats is a big part of any visit to this cave. We felt it is bats of several species. important to make sure everyone understands the problems bats And thanks to BCI Members Blaze and Jean Cunningham, now face” because of White-nose Syndrome. who own the cave, many of those human visitors make a small “Pressing a penny,” Jean says, “is an easy, inexpensive and donation to BCI’s White-nose Syndrome Emergency Response fun way for our visitors to get involved in the donation process. Fund. The vehicle for these donations is the Some people just hand over money and tell cave’s popular “penny press” that produces us they ‘don’t want the penny, but make souvenir tokens. Tourists insert a penny and sure the bats get this donation.’” two quarters, and the machine smashes the BCI also gets penny-press donations penny into a thin oval and imprints it with from Talking Rocks Cavern in Missouri and a cartoon caveman and the name of the Raccoon Mountain Caverns & Camp- cave. For three months out of the year, those ground in Tennessee, with a similar dona- two quarters go to BCI. tion plan to begin soon at Natural Bridge The Cunninghams, members since Caverns in Texas. Friends like these help about 1997, close the cave from November BCI protect bats and their habitats. Your through March to protect hibernating bats support can make a difference.

Courtesy of Crystal Cave

BATS 16 F A L L 2 0 1 0 Volume 28, No. 3 NEWS AND NOTES Courtesy of nelson rivera 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, contact BCI’s Department of Develop ment at (512) 327-9721 or [email protected].

Safety for Underground Surveys

Surveying caves and abandoned mines for bats can be hazardous, so BCI biologists carry an MSA Solaris multi-gas meter when they go underground. The unit, which monitors the atmosphere for dan- gerous gases and for depleted oxygen, is essential for safety while examining old mines. The oxygen sensor recently failed on one of our multi-gas me- ters, however. A replacement sensor and factory re- furbishing will cost approximately $350. This critical unit must be repaired before mine assess- ments resume this winter. Among some 1.8 million Geoffroy’s rousette fruit bats (Rousettus amplexicaudatus) at Monfort Bat Cave in the Philippines is this rare Bats and Wind in Ukraine albino. The bats are recognized by Guiness World Records as the species’ largest colony, and Monfort, with support from BCI, has Southern Ukraine is a key migration route for become a powerful voice for bat conservation in the Philippines. Eastern European bats: hundreds of thousands of You can help these bats. BCI’s Philippines Bats: Extinction and them pass through as they move between hiberna- tion and breeding sites in Ukraine, Russia and Be- Discovery! program is in the running for an award of up to larus. The prairie region is also being considered for $100,000 from Disney’s Friends for Change: Project Green. The wind energy, a growing industry in Ukraine. Mixing amount depends on how many votes are cast for each of five com- wind turbines and migrations could mean a major peting programs. The deadline is Nov. 12. new threat for bats. Research is desperately needed For a direct link to the online ballot, visit BCI’s website at to document the potential impact at various sites to help protect bats from the fatalities confirmed at www.batcon.org wind-energy sites in the United States and else- where. Biologist Anton Vlaschenko of Kharkov Na- BCI Member Snapshot tional University, a 2006 BCI Scholar, proposes a pilot project to examine details of the bat migration CI Member Betty Jean and estimate the likely impacts of wind power. He BJordan of Monticello, requests a BCI Global Grassroots Conservation Georgia, has a retired racing Funds grant of $2,530 for this vital study. greyhound named Cosmo that is a bit of a kleptoma- Watching Bracken’s Bats niac. “Fortunately,” she says, “Cosmo doesn’t Watching millions of Mexican free-tailed bats chew on anything he come swirling out of BCI’s Bracken Bat Cave is an steals, he just likes to col- extraordinary event. And the experience becomes lect stuff. And he is ob- even more dramatic when guests can get an up- sessed with my stuffed close look at nature in action: the individual ani- vampire bat,” which re- mals that make up the emerging vortex of wing-flapping bats, the coachwhip snakes that sides on a bedroom windowsill. If the door spring from the surrounding rocks to snag a meal, is left open, Jordan says, Cosmo is almost certain to show up and the circling hawks and owls that swoop sud- with the bat. In fact, “sometimes Cosmo stands and stares at the closed denly toward unlucky bats. There’s a lot of action bedroom door and I can almost hear the cogs in his brain turning as he around the mouth of the cave each summer thinks, “Bat, bat, bat.” evening, but you need binoculars to see it well. We’d like to provide a dozen Nikon 10x50 binocu- Share a snapshot of your bat activities with fellow members: Email it to lars to enhance the experience for Bracken visitors. [email protected] or mail it to Snapshot, Bat Conservation International, Each one costs about $95. PO Box 162603, Austin, TX 78716.

Volume 28, No. 3 F A L L 2 0 1 0 17 BATS NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID AUSTIN, TEXAS P.O. Box 162603 PERMIT NO. 1530 Austin, TX 78716-2603 U.S.A.

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED