BATS OF TENNESSEE AND THE WORLD

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BATS OF TENNESSEE AND THE
WORLD What are bats? Do they serve a purpose in
this world? Bats are some of the most
fascinating, beneficial and likable animals. Yet
they are often feared and persecuted. Bats are
mammals like you and me. They are not rodents,
reptiles or birds. They give live birth, they
have hair on their bodies and they nurse their
young. Bats were thought to have evolved from
tree dwelling shrew-like ancestors. Many people
have assumed that bats are blind. However, they
do have eyes and see relatively well, so they
will not fly in your hair.. Nor will they suck
your blood. You have probably heard people say
Your driving me batty. Bats dont cause people
to go insane. Bats do not have any more incidence
of rabies than any other animal. In China, the
word bat is Fu, which means good luck and
happiness. There are nearly one thousand species
of bats that amount to approximately a quarter of
all mammal species. They are found everywhere
except extreme desert and polar regions. There
are some forty species that live in the United
States and Canada. Worldwide, bats are the major
predators of night flying insects, including
mosquitoes and numerous pests. Although seventy
percent of bats eat insects, many of the tropical
species feed exclusively on fruit or nectar.
There are about fourteen species of bats that
reside in Tennessee. Lets take a look at some of
them.

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One of our most common bats is the Big Brown Bat.
They live in buildings nearly everywhere. People
who find these bats often panic assuming them to
be dangerous and rabid. However, less than half
of one per cent are carriers of rabies. Rabid
bats are rarely aggressive. The only way to
contract it is by picking up a sick or injured
bat on the ground. The best thing to do is to
leave it alone.
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The largest bat in Tennessee is the Hoary Bat.
They have 16 wingspans and with their long silky
fur are among the most handsomely colored bats.
These bats never use caves, but choose to reside
in trees, especially evergreens, using the
foliage and cavities for hibernation. They feed
on moths and the female usually gives birth to
twins in May through July.
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The Red Bat roosts in deciduous trees, usually in
the the foliage and under the bark. They can give
birth to twins, triplets and even quadruplets.
They have long angora like bright orange to
yellowish brown fur. They are solitary bats and
they are only together during fall mating season.
They are adapted well to surviving low
temperatures by hibernating in tree hollows as
far north as Ohio. They often arouse and feed in
January during 50-60 degree days. These bats have
also been clocked at 40 mph.
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The Evening Bat is another common inhabitant of
buildings. It is also found roosting behind loose
bark, tree hollows and even spanish moss. Females
usually give birth to one young. This is a small
brown bat that lacks distinctive characteristics.
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The Silver Haired Bats also roost in bark
crevices and small tree hollows where their
coloration provides camouflage from enemies. They
travel south for the winter. They are slow fliers
and usually feed on a wide variety of insects
found over clearings and ponds. This is one of
the most abundant bats in April. The female gives
birth to twins in June or July.
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This is Hubbards Cave located in Tennessee where
bats from much of the southeast United States
seek shelter. Most American bats must find
shelter in a cave or an abandoned mine before
winter sets in. They hibernate until spring on
stored fat reserves.
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Protection of essential caves is vital to bat
conservation in many places.
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An enormous gate was built at Hubbards Cave to
protect its bats from human disturbance and
vandalism. This permanent protection was gained
through a joint effort of several agencies.
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Each type of bat has its own unique requirements
for living space. This is a Rafinisques
Big-Eared Bat. It once formed colonies in the
entrances of many southeastern caves. Therefore,
they were exceptionally vulnerable to
disturbance. There is only one cave-dwelling
colony still existing.
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Bats are very beneficial to humans
because they consume large amounts of insects in
a single night. These are southeastern bats
returning to a cave. Mouse-eared bats like these
eat up to 600 insects per hour or over 3,000
insects in one night per bat. Most experts agree
many bats eat one-fourth to one-half their weight
in insects each night.
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The most often encountered bat species in caves
is the hibernating Pipistrelle. It is covered
with condensed moisture droplets in this picture.
Theses small bats are solitary hibernators. They
are yellow to drab brown in color and one of the
smallest eastern bats. Females give birth to two
young born in May or June. They can live in
caves, tunnels, rock crevices, buildings, and
wooded areas near water. This bat has a slow
erratic flight. All hibernating bats are
extremely vulnerable to human disturbance.
Thousands die each winter when visits by amateur
cavers force them to awaken and waste their
stored fat reserves which are needed to keep them
alive until spring. A hibernating bat can survive
on a few grams of fat for the 5-6 month
hibernation period. Bats lose one-fourth to
one-half their pre-hibernation weight during
hibernation. The temperatures of bats fluctuates
from 100 degrees F when active to 40-60 degrees F
in hibernation. Their heart rate ranges from
1,000 beats per minute when active to 12 beats
per minute in hibernation.
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This endangered Gray Bat lives in caves year
round and therefore is especially vulnerable.
These hibernate in nine critically important
caves that house 95 of the species population in
winter.
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They choose hibernating sites where the
temperatures are between 42-52 degrees F. They
forage over water along rivers or lakes within 15
feet of the water surface. Mayflies are a major
item of their diet. Their average lifespan is
14-15 years.
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Gray bat sanctuarys have helped re-establish
hundreds of thousands of bats. This one is
located on the Norris Dam Reservation.
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The Indiana bats were once abundant through out
much of eastern North America. They are now
endangered and government surveys document a 55
decline in just eight years. They typically spend
the winters in just a few caves, usually packed
into dense clusters. 85 hibernate in six
locations. Females give birth to one pup in June,
usually under loose bark of trees, especially
shagbark hickories found along stream banks.
These bats primarily feed on moths. Their
longevity record is 13 years and 10 months.
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The most abundant and widespread species is the
Little Brown Bat. Like most other bats they hunt
flying prey by navigating with pulses of sound
emitted through the mouth. Their sensitive ears
hear the echoes reflected from even tiny insects.
Using their sonar high frequency sounds, some
that are emitted at 500 per second, bats can
detect obstacles as fine as a human hair in total
darkness. These bats are often found in buildings
and this is the most common bat found near
peoples homes. They also live near water where
they eat aquatic insects and mosquitoes. The
female gives birth to one pup in June or July.
They select roosting sites with high stable
temperatures as high as 129 degrees F have been
reported. They spend their winters hibernating in
caves. Young learn to fly in three weeks. Nursery
colonies often include 300-800 individuals. This
is the worlds longest lived mammal for its size
sometimes exceeding 32 years. This is a small
dark brown bat with inconspicuous markings, small
ears and eyes.
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This is the Mexican Free-Tailed Bat. Worldwide,
there are more than ninety species of free-tailed
bats. Most occur in tropical and subtropical
climates, while six occur in the United States.
They are easily recognized because at least
one-third of their tail protrudes beyond the
membrane that connects the legs and tail, hence
the name free tail. In other bats, the tail is
almost entirely enclosed in the membrane.
Free-tails lack distinctive markings and sure
gray, brown, or russet and have large rounded
ears. Most Mexican Free-tails live in about
twelve caves in the United States where they form
the largest colonies of any warm blooded animal.
They consume enormous quantities of insects
mainly moths.
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More than a million live under the Congress
Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas making that the
largest urban bat colony in the world. They mate
in Feb.-March and give birth to one young pup.
Densities sometimes are 500 per sq. ft. in caves.
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Mothers identify their pups by voice and smell.
The young drink 30 of their body weight in milk
daily and fly in about five weeks. Most
free-tails remain active year round by flying
south into Mexico and Central America for the
winter often in large flocks.
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Americas largest bat colonies live in caves.
Bracken Cave in central Texas is the summer home
of twenty million Mexican Free-tailed bats.
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Thousands of square feet of cave walls are
covered by literally 240 tons of roosting bats
up to 500 per sq. foot. Bats gather here to rear
their young in what is known as a nursery colony.
A mother Free-tailed gives birth to one pup a
year and quickly learns to recognize its voice
and scent. She remembers her own pups exact
location and voice even though it is packed among
millions of others. The babies survival depends
on her finding and nursing it several times a day.
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Babies grow rapidly and learn to fly and navigate
in 4-5 weeks. This is an incredible achievement
considering that it is accomplished in a traffic
jam where several potential collisions must be
avoided each second. Young bats that survive
predators, such as snakes and owls who wait at
cave entrances, may live up to 30 years or more.
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Now we are ready for the bats of the world. This
is the Pallid Bat of extreme southwest U.S. and
Mexico. They feed on grasshoppers, crickets,
beetles and scorpions.
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Here you see it eating a scorpion. Makes me
hungry, how about you.
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Only two nursery colonies of Long-nosed Bats
remain in the United States.
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Some of the wests most famous cacti, such as
organ pipe and saguaro and agave have flowers
that open up at night that are pollinated by the
endangered Long-nosed Bat. Loss of these plants
and cacti endanger other plants and animals that
depend upon their survival.
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This African Heart-nosed Bat is about to catch a
beetle.
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A few bats are carnivorous. This fishermans Bat
uses its large feet and claws to snatch minnows.
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This carnivorous frog eating Bat uses frog mating
calls to identify and locate its prey.
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Common Vampire Bats live only in parts of Latin
America and drink blood from birds, cattle and
other animals. They do this by making a small
incision and lapping, not sucking the blood out.
An anticoagulant from vampire bat saliva may soon
be used to treat patients. This substance thins
blood causing it to flow more freely.
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Hundreds of kinds of fruit and nectar eating bats
pollinate flowers and disperse seeds. This
Hammer-Headed Bat is eating a rose-apple. Bats
activities are vital to rain forests and to many
of the worlds economically important plants. Some
of these include
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Wahlbergs Epauletted Fruit Bat seen here with
full cheek pouches.
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A Gambian Epauletted Fruit Bat that pollinates
the famous African Baobab tree and disperses
thousands of mango seeds.
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This is the worlds smallest mammal, the Bumble
Bee Bat of Thailand. It weighs less than a penny.
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A Giant Leaf-Nosed Bat.
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This is a Heart-nosed Bat, both use their special
flaps and nose leaves to help them detect
obstacles.
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This is a Long-eared Bat
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And this is a Dobsons Horseshoe Bat.
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Spotted Bats have enormous pink ears that can be
rolled up during sleep.
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Chapins Free-tailed Bat has the ability to
inflate its crest.
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The Mexican Long-tongued Bat has a very narrow
head for pollinating flowers.
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This yellow-winged Bat is from Africa.
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Greater Horseshoe Bats are now extinct in many
areas where they were once common.
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This dwarf Epauletted Fruit Bat may eat 2.5 times
its body weight in fig tree seeds in a single
night.
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It and the Gambian Epauletted Fruit Bat help to
disperse the seeds of the fig tree over many
kilometers.
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The Jamaican fruit-eating bat disperses Jamaica's
most valued export crop the Allspice berry.
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It also helps in propagating the almond and balsa
wood harvests which continue to rely on bats for
pollination.
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Short-nosed fruit Bats from Thailand pollinate
wild banana flowers. Although cultivated bananas
do not produce seeds or need pollination, wild
ancestral varieties continue to rely on bats.
These plants are sometimes the only source of
genetic material required to combat disease or
improve the production of crops.
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Lyles Flying Foxes are the largest bats in the
world with a wingspan of 3-6 feet.
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They are found from Asia to Africa and the South
Pacific.
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Their numbers are declining rapidly decimated by
poorly informed fruit growers, gouts and market
hunters who slaughter tens of thousands for
restaurant delicacies and aphrodisiac potions.
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Loss of such bats could have disastrous even
irreversible consequences.
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The Asian Flying Fox pollinates the Durian fruit
whose annual harvest is valued at 112 million
dollars.
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And this is the Indian Flying Fox.
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You may not want bats living in your attics, but
please dont kill them. The best way to get rid
of them is by plugging their entry holes after
their twilight departure to feed. Another way is
to drape a net a foot away but hanging over the
holes. This will allow them to escape, but will
not allow them to return. Evictions should not be
made from early to mid-summer, when flightless
young may be trapped inside without their mothers
and starve.
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There are many bat dependent fruits and products
that play a huge role in our lives. They include
plantain, bananas, mangos, guavas, breadfruit,
avocados, dates, figs and many more. The balsa
wood that is used for crafts and fishing lures,
kapok fiber found in life jackets, rope fibers,
carob for drinks and candy and agave juice for
tequila liquor are also bat dependent. Over 300
plants depend on bats for pollination and those
plants produce 450 economically important
products.
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Countless tons of bat droppings called guano
continues to be mined as one of the worlds most
valued fertilizers. Bat guano is so rich in
nutrients that a single tablespoon full can
contain hundreds of species of bacteria of great
potential value. Recent tests show that some of
these produce enzymes that can be used to
detoxify industrial wastes. Bacteria from bat
guano may soon be used to produce detergents,
gasohol and antibiotics. For you ladies in the
crowd, bat guano is even used to make some kinds
of make-up.
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Bats themselves often serve as model animals for
medical research. They have contributed to the
development of navigational aids for the blind,
birth control, artificial insemination
techniques, vaccine production, drug testing and
even to a better understanding of low temperature
surgical procedures.
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How many bats can we lose before their numbers
become too few to service the rainforests and
other ecosystems. Bats are a vital resource, but
their survival and health of environments depends
on us. We all must share in the responsibility.
When we put myths and superstitions aside, bats
can be appreciated as fascinating and highly
beneficial creatures.
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Though much remains to be done, the success of
recent conservation efforts holds promise for the
future. So, you might be saying what can I do to
help? One of the easiest low-cost things to do is
to build and place bat boxes near your home. This
will provide the bats a nice safe place to roost,
while providing you with the enjoyment of having
less bothersome insects and being able to view
in your own backyard, these mysterious creatures
of the night.
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We will now adjourn out the backdoor and watch
our brown bats exit from their maternal roosting
colonies to forage for insects. Thank you and we
hope you enjoyed the slide program.