Science Diary: Bat Count Hibernating
Music; Ambiance: bat squeaks, sound of bat collection
That’s the sound of an Indiana Bat, just waking up from its wintertime slumber only to find itself in upstate NY, which until recently wasn’t such a bad place for a bat to be. Welcome to Pulse of the Planet’s Science Diaries, a glimpse of the world of science from the inside. Indiana Bat populations have been markedly declining nationally, and until lately, increasing in New York State. These recordings were made a year ago at a cave just outside of Syracuse, NY. Wildlife biologist Al Hicks and his team were collecting Indiana bats and fitting them with radio transmitters which enable the bats to be tracked from their winter roost, in a cave, to their summer roosts.
(sound of bat tagging underneath)
“We’ll take a sample of 5 or 6 bats, 2 of those will have transmitters on them. We’re trying to see if the clusters that they are in the wintertime are associated with their summer range.”
“Ok, Robin, this is our game plan” (sound of tagging)
“In New York typically around April 15th is when the bats start to emerge from hibernation. They are hibernating in caves and mines that are generally the temperatures are 34, 36 degrees Fahrenheit and when they are hibernating, they basically turn off their metabolic switch and they allow their body temperature to drop to that of the surroundings. They’re going into the winter with a limited amount of fat supplies and they have to make that last until they emerge in the spring. But as spring approaches, they start to emerge and fly to their summer range.”
(sound of bat squeeking)
Recently, thousands of bats in NY state caves have fallen victim to an unknown disease, and so the population of NY based Indiana bats may be in greater peril than ever before. We’ll hear more in future programs.
Pulse of the Planet’s Science Diaries are made possible by the National Science Foundation.