Bats: Conservation

Summary: Bat conservation is the subject of the final episode of the series on bats. Join Kiersten as she talks about what is going on to help bats. 

 

For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean

 

Show Notes:

Books: “Bats in Question: A Smithsonian Answer Book,” by Don E. Wilson

“America’s Neighborhood Bats,” by Merlin Tuttle

“The Bats of Europe and north America,” by Wilfried Schooner and Eckard Grimmberger

“Bats: A World of Science and Mystery,” by M. Brock Fenton and Nancy B. Simmons

“The Secret Lives of Bats,” by Merlin Tuttle

Websites: Merlin Tuttle Bat Conservation: https://merlintuttle.org

Bat Conservation International: https://www.batcon.org

EUROBATS: https://unric.org

BatLife Europe: https://www.batlife-europe.info

Podcasts:

BatChat from Bat Conservation Trust in the UK

Music written and performed by Katherine Camp

 

Transcript

(Piano music plays)

Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife.

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Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. 

This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it.

Sadly, this is the last episode of bats. I’ve had a ton of fun writing and recording these episodes. One of my favorite things to talk about is bats and I absolutely love educating people about bats. The tenth thing I like about bats is the conservation plans that we have developed to help them survive everything the world throws at them.

All bats around the world are under threat. Some are classified as endangered and most populations are in decline. But there are people out there, like myself and you, fabulous listeners, that are trying to make the future of bats bright.

Some of the things bats are fighting against include habitat destruction. Forested habitats across the globe are being cut down for human use. Building houses, strip malls, converting forest to grazing land, and mining caves for minerals are all devastating threats to bat populations. Shifting temperatures is also something impacting bats. The timing of the emergence of insects with the timing of the emergence of insectivorous bats from hibernation needs to be spot on, but with the altered temperatures around the world, that timing has shifted. Insects are emerging earlier because of warming winters and the bats are missing the window. This can negatively impact bats that migrate long distances to return to nursery sites where they raise their pups. Even nectar eating bats are impacted by the warmer temperatures because plants are blooming earlier and earlier. Those that follow the blooming flowers are getting caught in end of winter freezes that they are not physiologically equipped to deal sometimes resulting in death.

Disease is another threat to bats. Currently in the United States insectivorous cave dwelling bats are combating a disease called White-nose syndrome. This disease is caused by a fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans or Pd, that loves cool, damp places. Sound like a bat hibernaculum? Exactly. The spores of the fungus get on the face of hibernating bats and digs into the skin there. It blooms into a white fluffy structure, hence the name white-nose syndrome. The fungus itself does not kill the bats, but it irritates the bats rousing hem from sleep too often during their hibernation causing dehydration resulting in death. 

We now know that this fungus came from Europe on the shoes of some spelunkers. Equipment was not cleaned properly before entering a cave here in the United States, so the spores were spread. It first appeared in caves in New York State and has now spread across all of the Eastern US and is making its way across the Midwest. It can survive in any cave that stays cooler all year round. When this arrived in 2006 it hit three species the hardest, the Little Brown Bat, Northern Long-eared Bat, and Tri-colored Bat. Their populations declined 90%. This is one of the reasons I chose the topic of my Master’s thesis.

There is very little we can do to help bats combat this disease, but there is some hope that they can survive this on their own. Bat populations in Britain and surrounding countries have been in decline for much longer than those in the United States. When White-nose syndrome was traced back to the spelunkers that had just returned from a European caving trip, scientists on both continents began to collaborate and share notes. In an effort to find a cure for W hite-nose syndrome, they discovered that the bats in England have antibodies in their system that targets Pd. The bats living in Europe today survived a previous infection of this fungus. Their populations were drastically cut, but they pulled through. Recent studies have shown that some bats in the US infected by this fungus are beginning to survive hibernation and are showing antibodies for Pd.

One type of bat has actually increased in population due to human activities and that is the Vampire bats. Because more livestock has been  introduced to South America due to increased human populations and the desire for more beef, vampire bats, especially Desmodus rotundus, the Common Vampire Bat’s populations have increased. This is the species of bat that relies on mammal blood. Yeah bats! That’s what I have to say and I’m sure you agree, but their numbers have exceeded an healthy ecosystem population. So, once again human activity has put a bat species at risk. Vampire bats have become a nuisance and are spreading diseases more readily between people and cattle. 

So extermination became the way to handle the problem, but the manner in which people where killing the vampire bats was also killing every other species of bats. It was a free for all, kill all the bats you see. Merlin Tuttle has been studying bats for over sixty years and he has been touting good PR for bats since he’s been able to take pictures of them. So he decided to jump into the trouble with vampire bats. His love of bats drove him to find a way to save all the species. To do that he knew he’d have to win over the people who lived with the vampire bats. He and a local scientist and conservationist developed away to help control the vampire bat population without impacting the other species of bats that live in the region. It’s working, people feel empowered by their options and now understand that not all bats are vampire bats. Some bats need to be protected. As hard as it is for me to support anything that kills any species of bat, I admire Merlin Tuttle’s path to conservation. Win friends, not battles. 

Both human sprawl and disease are devastating to bats, but one of the biggest threats to bats is fear. Those of you that have listened to this whole series and those of you that listened to this series because you have an interest in bats, know that fear of bats is real. I certainly understand it. These are nocturnal animals that swoop out of the dark and can frighten you. Myths abound about their behaviors and many of these myths are untrue. False information can lead to fear and fear leads to very bad things for bats. 

How can we help bats? The first thing that you can do today, is spread the truth about bats. Tell everyone you know and those you’re standing in line with at the grocery store the truth about bats. Dispelling fear goes a long way to protecting current and future bat populations. Use the information you’ve learned in the series to change people’s minds about these small creatures. 

You can also join organizations such as Merlin Tuttle Bat Conservation, or Bat Conservation International, both of these organizations are based in the United States but have programs that help bat conservation around the world. EUROBATS and BatLife Europe are two organizations that strive to protect bats and conserve vital habitat for bats in Europe. A bit of online sleuthing will help you find a bat conservation organization near you. I will also post some of my favorite books about bats, podcasts, and websites in this episodes show notes.

I can’t say how much fun this series was for me to write and post. I’m so happy you all joined me for Bats. They are such misunderstood animals and they deserve all the good PR we can give them. My tenth favorite thing about bats is all the conservation efforts we have developed to protect these amazing animals.

If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change. 

 

Join me in two weeks for the beginning of a new series about Screamers. 

 

(Piano Music plays) 

This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.