Latest Bats Stories
Annemarie Surlykke from the University of Southern Denmark is fascinated by echolocation. She really wants to know how it works. Surlykke equates the ultrasound cries that bats use for echolocation with the beam of light from a torch: you won't see much with the light from a small bulb but you could see several hundred meters with a powerful beam. Surlykke explains that it's the same with echolocating bats. Some have big powerful calls for perception over a long range, while others are said...
A nasty fungus is killing hundreds of thousands of bats in the northeastern United States, scientists said Thursday. The previously unknown fungus thrives in chilly temperatures. It's a white, powdery-looking organism found on the muzzles, ears and wings of dead and dying bats hibernating in caves in New York, Maine, Vermont and Connecticut. The study was published in the journal Nature. "Essentially, hibernating bats are getting moldy as they hang from their cave ceiling," David...
Echolocation may have evolved more than once in bats, according to new research from the University of Bristol published last week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).Professor Gareth Jones of the University of Bristol and Dr Stephen Rossiter of Queen Mary University of London, in collaboration with colleagues from East China Normal University in Shanghai, investigated the evolution of a gene called Prestin in echolocating bats "“ mammals with the most sensitive...
By Dan Vergano Biologists are stumped by a plague that has killed tens of thousands, and perhaps hundreds of thousands, of bats this year in Northeastern states. The cause of "white-nose syndrome," so named because of the white fungus that appears on bats' noses and wings, remains a mystery. And the plague is still killing bats, alarming scientists who had considered it a winter syndrome. "The surprise for us has been finding out that bats are still dying," says biologist...
Wildlife biologists say they are trying to learn why bats in the Northeast United States are dying of what's being called white-nose syndrome. Connecticut State Department of Environmental Protection biologists Jenny Dickson, Geoff Krukar and Christina Kocer say an unknown force has been driving bats to leave their caves earlier than normal in winter, The Hartford (Conn.) Courant reported Sunday. The animals then begin to starve as cold temperatures keep away their main food supply:...
MORE than 80 trees in a country park are to be felled after tests showed them to be unsafe. All of them are alongside the footpaths of Loggerheads Country Park in Denbighshire which attracts 120,000 visitors every year. Tests showed that in the largest beech tree in the park, only a tiny amount of live wood was found to be supporting the whole tree. Every effort is now being made to reduce it to a safe height rather than felling it completely. Moira Young, Denbighshire's county...
TULSA, Okla. -- A forestry specialist with the Cherokee Nation appraising timber in eastern Oklahoma uncovered a newfound colony of endangered Ozark big-eared bats. Scientists believe that only about 2,000 of the bats exist, and roughly 75 percent of those are in Oklahoma.The Oklahoma bat colony was discovered by forester Pat Gwin, who noticed the bats in a cave and thought most of them looked ordinary."But I saw this one bat that I was a little worried about maybe not being...
Latest Bats Reference Libraries
Image Caption: A stuffed Epomophorus labiatus at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Credit: David Starner/Wikipedia (CC BY 3.0) The Ethiopian epauletted fruit bat (Epomophorus labiatus) is a megabat that can be found in Kenya, Ethiopia, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Sudan, Rwanda, and Uganda, among many other areas. It prefers a habitat within arid and moist savannahs, at elevations of up to 6,561 feet above sea level. It can also be found in woodland or bushland areas....
The Indiana bat (Myotis sodalist) is a mouse-eared bat that can be found in North America. Its range primarily includes eastern and Midwestern states, but it can be found in some southern areas of the United States. During the winter, its range becomes much smaller, with most populations occurring in large clusters in only a few caves. One study conducted in 1985 suggested that an estimated 244,000 individuals of this species reside in Indiana. Its range overlaps that of the endangered gray...
The greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) can be found in Japan, Africa, Europe, China, South Asia, Korea, and Australia. It prefers a habitat in warm regions, with open scrub and trees, human settlements, and bodies of water like ponds. It will also inhabit older orchards, glades within woodlands, and permanent pastures, among other areas. Many of its roosts occur in houses in the northern areas of its range and in caves in the southern areas of its range. These bats travel to...
The large flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus) is a megabat that is can be found from the Malay Peninsula, to the Philippines in the east, with a southern range that included Timor, Java, Sumatra, and Borneo. Its other common names include the Malaysian flying fox, the greater flying fox, the Kalong, or the Kalang. This Old World bat prefers a habitat within many areas including mangrove and primary forests, as well as fruit orchards with a variety of fruits. Depending on the location in which it...
The big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) is a vesper bat that can be found in many areas including Canada, Colombia, Guatemala, Jamaica, Panama, and the United States. It can be found roosting in many areas including tree hollows, caves, barns, abandoned buildings, and window shutters. It is thought that these bats prefer to roost in natural structures like caves for the winter. During this time, the bats will hibernate, but if the weather is warm, flying about and even breeding can occur. There...
