Post by L Roebuck on Jul 4, 2006 8:18:40 GMT -5
Going to bat for one elusive mammal
Experts want to prove rare Indiana bat is rebounding
By Marni Pyke
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Monday, July 03, 2006
The tiny mother bat is angry and fearless.
Teeth bared, she squirms and fiercely pounds her wings on the large gloved hands encircling her body.
At 19 grams, she’s a healthy specimen that state biologists will record for the books.
But this bat is not the mother lode they seek.
So scientist Joyce Hofmann returns to her vigil at Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve near Darien and patiently waits for the Indiana bat.
In 1967, the species was listed as federally endangered, but Illinois Natural History Survey researchers have hopes it’s re-emerging locally.
To prove that theory, they’re scouring Cook, DuPage, Kane Lake, McHenry and Will counties for the elusive Hoosier mammal, so named because it was first discovered there.
The last time an Indiana bat was spotted in the metropolitan area was in 1928.
Currently, there are 700,000 Indiana bats in the country.
“It sounds like a lot, but there should be millions,” Hofmann says. “The numbers have steadily declined over time.”
To catch a bat
Encircling Argonne National Laboratory, Waterfall Glen is a perfect spot for bat-spying.
It’s a high-quality woodlands with a stream, Sawmill Creek, that attracts the bugs that bats thrive on.
To maximize their four-night sojourn, Hofmann and DuPage County Forest Preserve naturalists have picked a spot along the creek shaded by elms, maples and oaks. The tree canopy will keep the bats flying low, they explain.
The forest preserve is home to several bat colonies, composed of nursing moms and their pups.
As the sun goes down, Hofmann and district animal ecologist Scott Meister string across the creek two, 20-foot-tall mist nets, woven of fine nylon that will hold a recalcitrant bat until retrieval.
While some of the creatures will do an abrupt U-turn before hitting the net, others won’t be as alert, Hofmann knows from experience.
“We’ve done our work,” she says, wading ashore. “Now it’s up to the bats to cooperate.”
Indiana bats hibernate in caves or abandoned mines during the winter. That makes them vulnerable to tourism.
“If people go in there during winter, it creates a hibernation disturbance,” Meister says. “They have little fat reserves and when they’re disturbed, they wake up and start using those fat reserves early.”
Even minor changes like sealing off a cave entrance can alter the temperature and make it inhospitable to bats.
During the summer months, bats migrate to wooded areas and roost in dead trees. When trees are removed for development, it destroys their habitat even further.
The two-year survey by the Natural History Survey is funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation as required by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The federal agency mandates research projects such as this to find out if endangered species frequent locations where roads could be built. If an endangered species is found, Fish and Wildlife will work with agencies and developers to protect the habitat.
Full Article:
www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=204735
Experts want to prove rare Indiana bat is rebounding
By Marni Pyke
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Monday, July 03, 2006
The tiny mother bat is angry and fearless.
Teeth bared, she squirms and fiercely pounds her wings on the large gloved hands encircling her body.
At 19 grams, she’s a healthy specimen that state biologists will record for the books.
But this bat is not the mother lode they seek.
So scientist Joyce Hofmann returns to her vigil at Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve near Darien and patiently waits for the Indiana bat.
In 1967, the species was listed as federally endangered, but Illinois Natural History Survey researchers have hopes it’s re-emerging locally.
To prove that theory, they’re scouring Cook, DuPage, Kane Lake, McHenry and Will counties for the elusive Hoosier mammal, so named because it was first discovered there.
The last time an Indiana bat was spotted in the metropolitan area was in 1928.
Currently, there are 700,000 Indiana bats in the country.
“It sounds like a lot, but there should be millions,” Hofmann says. “The numbers have steadily declined over time.”
To catch a bat
Encircling Argonne National Laboratory, Waterfall Glen is a perfect spot for bat-spying.
It’s a high-quality woodlands with a stream, Sawmill Creek, that attracts the bugs that bats thrive on.
To maximize their four-night sojourn, Hofmann and DuPage County Forest Preserve naturalists have picked a spot along the creek shaded by elms, maples and oaks. The tree canopy will keep the bats flying low, they explain.
The forest preserve is home to several bat colonies, composed of nursing moms and their pups.
As the sun goes down, Hofmann and district animal ecologist Scott Meister string across the creek two, 20-foot-tall mist nets, woven of fine nylon that will hold a recalcitrant bat until retrieval.
While some of the creatures will do an abrupt U-turn before hitting the net, others won’t be as alert, Hofmann knows from experience.
“We’ve done our work,” she says, wading ashore. “Now it’s up to the bats to cooperate.”
Indiana bats hibernate in caves or abandoned mines during the winter. That makes them vulnerable to tourism.
“If people go in there during winter, it creates a hibernation disturbance,” Meister says. “They have little fat reserves and when they’re disturbed, they wake up and start using those fat reserves early.”
Even minor changes like sealing off a cave entrance can alter the temperature and make it inhospitable to bats.
During the summer months, bats migrate to wooded areas and roost in dead trees. When trees are removed for development, it destroys their habitat even further.
The two-year survey by the Natural History Survey is funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation as required by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The federal agency mandates research projects such as this to find out if endangered species frequent locations where roads could be built. If an endangered species is found, Fish and Wildlife will work with agencies and developers to protect the habitat.
Full Article:
www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=204735