W W W . B A T C O N . O R G S P R I N G 2 0 0 3

B AT C O N S E R VAT I O N I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Va m p i re ’s Gift

BATSBATSTracking Woodland BatsBats of Israel

W h a t ’sin a N a m e ?

180180NE W SPE C I E S O F BAT S

BATS Volume 21 , No. 1 , Sp r ing 2003

What’s in a Name?Science and Discovery Add 180 New Bat Speciesby Mark D. Engstrom and Fiona A. Reid

The Bats of IsraelConservationists Make Steady Progressby Benny Shalmon and Carmi Korine

Tracking Woodland BatsWeyerhaeuser Studies Bats in Commercial Forestsby Darren A. Miller

The Vampire’s GiftBat Saliva Yields a Promising Treatment for Stroke Vi c t i m sby Robert Locke

News and NotesNew BCI Publications, On the Horizon, A Children’s Crusade,Honors for a BCI Member, BCI Workshops

Bats Lose an Old FriendJim Cope’s Half-Century of Conservationby John B. Bowles

FEATURES

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DEPARTMENTS

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COVER PHOTOKeen’s myotis (Myotis keenii) is found along the Northwest Coast from Alaska to Washington’s PugetSound. Biologists recently reclassified it as a distinct species from the more widespread northern myotis(Myotis septentrionalis). The two had been considered members of a single species.Photo © Merlin D. Tuttle, BCI \ 846-4318

Bat Conservation Intern a t i o n a lP.O. Box 162603, Austin, Texas 78716(512) 327-9721 • Fax (512) 327-9724 www.batcon.org

Publications StaffManaging Editor: Robert LockeConsulting Editor: David BaxterPublications Designer: Elysia Wright DavisVisual Resources Manager: Kristin HayB AT S welcomes queries from writers. Send your article proposalwith a brief outline and a description of any photos to the addressabove or via e-mail to: pubs@batcon.org.

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Founder & Pre s i d e n t : Dr. Merlin D. TuttleB o a rd of Tru s t e e s :Andrew Sansom, ChairpersonJohn D. Mitchell, Vice ChairmanVerne R. Read, Chairman Emeritus Peggy Phillips, SecretaryMark T. Ritter, TreasurerJeff Acopian; Mark A. Adkins; Eugene L. Ames, Jr.; CharlesChester; Eugenio Clariond Reyes; Michael L. Cook; Robert E.Gerrie; Nancy Harte; Joan Kelleher; Travis Mathis; Scott McVay; Thomas Read; Wilhelmina E. Robertson; LeeSchmitt; Patsy Steves; Dr. Merlin D. Tuttle; Roy Vaughan;Marc Weinberger

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Scientific Advisory Board :D r. Eduard Yavrouian, A r m e n i a ; D r. Leslie S. Hall, Dr. Greg Richards, Bruce Thomson, Australia; Dr. Irina K.Rakhmatulina, Azerbaijan; Dr. Luis F. Aguirre, Bolivia; Dr.Wilson Uieda, Brazil; Dr. M. Brock Fenton, Canada; Dr. JiriGaisler, Czech Republic; Dr. Uwe Schmidt, Germany; Dr. G.Marimuthu, Dr. Shahroukh Mistry, India; Dr. Rodrigo A.Medellín, Dr. Arnulfo Moreno, Mexico; Ir. Herman Limpens,Netherlands; Dr. Armando Rodriguez-Duran, Puerto Rico;Dr. Ya-Fu Lee, Taiwan; Dr. Paul A. Racey, United Kingdom;Dr. Denny G. Constantine, Robert Currie, Dr. Theodore H.Fleming, Dr. Thomas H. K u n z, Dr. Gary F. McCracken, Dr.Don E. Wilson, United States; D r. José R. Ochoa G.,Venezuela.

B AT S (ISSN 1049-0043) is published quarterly by Bat Conservation International, Inc., a nonprofit corporation supported by tax-deductible contributions used for public education, research, and conservat ion of threatened and endangered bats. ©Bat Conservation International, 2002. All rights reserved.

Bat Conservation International is dedicated to conserving and restoring bat populations andhabitats around the world. Using non-confrontational approaches, we educate peopleabout the ecological and economic values of

bats, advance scientific knowledge about bats and the ecosys-tems that rely on them, and preserve critical bat habitatsthrough win-win solutions that benefit both humans and bats.

A subscription to BATS is included with BCI membership: Senior, Student or Educator $25; Basic $30; Friends of BCI $40;Supporting $50; Contributing $100; Patron $250; Sustaining$500; Founder’s Circle $1,000. Third-class postage paid atAustin, Texas. Send address changes to Bat ConservationInternational, P.O. Box 162603, Austin, TX 78716.

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S P R I N G 2 0 0 3 B AT S1

Discoveries using conventional meth-ods added some of these new species,but most arose from new technologiesand improvements in our approaches totaxonomy — the science of describingand classifying the many forms of life onEarth. The final tally will be hotly debat-ed, for this is a controversial undertak-ing. And we believe the actual numberof species remains vastly underestimatedfor bats, as for many other organisms.

The latest total comes from biologistNancy Simmons of the American Mu-seum of Natural History in the upcom-ing edition of Mammal Species of theWorld, edited by Don E. Wilson andDeeAnn M. R e e d e r. Simmons is pro-viding the chapter on bats, based on alengthy list of scientific publications ontaxonomic changes and on her profes-

sional judgment about the status ofsome contentious species designations.

The last complete summary of batspecies was published in 1993 by thelate Karl Ko o p m a n , who recognized 925s p e c i e s . A decade later,that number is up19 perc e n t , with 180 additional species.W h e re did all these bats come fro m ?

“ Fifty are tru ly new species discov-e red since Karl completed his manu-s c ri p t ,” Simmons say s . “Most are fro mn ew ly ex p l o red tropical re gions andSoutheast Asian islands.M a ny of them are‘ c ryptic species,’ w h i ch look ve ry mu chl i ke other [prev i o u s ly described] speciesex t e rn a l ly, but are actually diffe re n t .

“The pace of description of batspecies tru ly new to science hasremained re m a rk ably constant over thelast 100 ye a rs . Except for a dip duri n g

World War II, about 40 new species havebeen described eve ry decade. Fi f t e e nn ew species have alre a dy been descri b e dsince the beginning of the year 2000.”

Simmons says most of the newspecies on her list (130 of them) “are ani-mals that already had scientific names.M a ny of these we re named byresearchers around the end of the 18thcentury,when scientists were describingthe biological riches sent back from voy-ages of exploration around the world.Until recently, many were consideredsubspecies of [existing bat species], butnew studies have shown them to be dis-tinct species.”

This is how science moves forward:N ew paradigms are pre s e n t e d , l i ve lydebate ensues, the ideas are tested, andthe concepts refined.

by Mark D. Engstrom and Fiona A. Reid

in a Name?What’sWhat’s

Name?SCIENCE AND DISCOVERY ADD 180 NEW BAT SPECIES

Experts were telling us only a few years ago that the world was home to “almost 1,000”species of bats. Soon, those same experts will be assuring us there are 1,105 bat species.What’s going on here?

Examining a possiblenew species of thegenus Peropteryx.© BEN RINEHART

Volume 21, No. 1B AT S S P R I N G 2 0 0 32

NEW TECHNOLOGIES

The taxonomy of bats has relied his-t o ri c a l ly upon the animal’s appeara n c e :its size, c o l o r, and ex t e rnal ch a ra c t e ri s-t i c s , and its dental, c ra n i a l , and ske l e t a ls t ru c t u re . Species distinctions amongpopulations of bats with similar appear-ance we re often based on “zones of ove r-l a p ,” a reas inhabited by both gro u p s . I fd i ffe rences between the populationsremained distinct, with little or no inter-b reeding in these shared ra n ge s , t h egroups would usually be treated as dif-fe rent species.

Similar bats without zones of ove r l a pu s u a l ly re q u i red a subjective , often con-s e rva t i ve , guess about whether theywould interbreed and merge if theycame into contact. If so, they would notconstitute different species.

Things have ch a n ged dra m a t i c a l ly.Revolutionary technologies now let usexplore speciation at the genetic level.Such advanced tools as chromosomala n a lysis and DNA sequencing allowremarkably precise definitions of indi-

vidual species and reveal the branchingp a t t e rn of evo l u t i o n a ry re l a t i o n s h i p samong species. At the same time,studiesof morphology (an animal’s form andstructure) have become more innova-tive, detailed, and critically analytical.

The new tools and new understand-ing have ch a n ged our concept ofspecies. Thirty years ago, an inability tointerbreed was emphasized as the defin-ing characteristic of a distinct species.Now a species generally is considered anindependent genetic lineage with itsown evolutionary direction, a path thatis separate from other lineages.

This may seem on the surface like aminor philosophical difference, but it isleading to a sharp break from the overlyconservative view of species and towarda recognition of species as truly inde-pendent evolutionary units. This is anexciting time for biologists seeking thetrue level of biodiversity and the evolu-tionary and geographic history of batsand other organisms. And our richerunderstanding provides critical raw datafor better conservation planning.

OLD-STYLE DISCOVERIES

Despite the revolution in technology,t h e re remains ample room for old-fashioned exploration and discovery.Weknow much less about the near and farreaches of our planet than many peoplere a l i z e . M u ch remains to be learn e dabout species of bats in many parts ofLatin America, Southeast Asia, Africa, andelsewhere, especially in the tropics.

To determine the species diversity ofa new area (a critical part of any conser-vation strategy), we usually start with alist of likely species and a key or fieldguide for identifying them. But evenwith the best identification tools, not allbats are easily identified — as we foundon a recent trip to Ecuador.

“I have a bat with white wings, lookslike a Peropteryx!” Fiona called out asshe carefully untangled her small prize.We were netting bats as part of an inven-tory of mammals along a new pipelineinto the remote Yasuni National Park inEcuador. We assumed the little white-winged emballonurid (sac-winged bat)was a rare bat that we had hoped tocatch: Peropteryx leucoptera.

When Fiona examined the bat, how-ever, she found that its ears were notjoined over the crown of its head, as is

The output of an automated DNA sequencer: These DNA sequences (top) and corresponding chromatograms (bottom) are from a gene from three species of harvest mice.

This bat, found by the authors in Ecuador, appears to be a newspecies of the genus Peropteryx.

Volume 21, No. 1 S P R I N G 2 0 0 3 B AT S3

characteristic of P. leucoptera. Its earswere separate, like those of P. macrotis.But that species has black wings, not thewhitish, translucent wings of this bat.Although partial albinos can occur inmost bat species, the possibility alsoexisted that our animal might be a newspecies.

I n d e e d , additional mu s e u m - b a s e dstudy supports this possibility, and otherexamples of white-winged Peropteryxh ave been re p o rted from Pe ru andBrazil. Our bat has not yet been formallydescribed, but it probably represents aspecies that’s new not only to Ecuador,but to science.

NEW UNDERSTANDING

While species are still being discov-e red from time to time, most ch a n ges inthe species lists are less dra m a t i c . On ourEcuador survey, for ex a m p l e , we caughts eve ral free-tailed bats of the ge nu sM o l o s s u s, some of them slightly smallerthan the others .The pro bl e m : One taxo-

nomic arra n gement wo u l dcall the smaller bats M o l o s s u sc o i b e n s i s — a distinct speciesf rom the larger ones, w h i cha re cl a s s i fied as M . m o l o s s u s.H oweve r, a more conserva t i vea p p ro a ch would group themall together as a single, va ri-able species with the name M .m o l o s s u s.

In addition to determiningthe number of species at sin-gle localities, researchers andc o n s e rvationists must alsodecide if the “house bat” clas-s i fied as M . m o l o s s u s i nEcuador, at the western edgeof the Amazon Basin, is really

the same species as smaller bats inG u ya n a , at the basin’s nort h e a s t e rnf ri n ge . These interpretations matterbecause they affect our estimates oflocal diversity and our understanding ofd i ffe rences among ge o graphic are a s ,both of which are important factors inconservation planning.

A standard re fe re n c e , s u ch asSimmons’, is therefore essential. For con-servationists to make sense of inventoryd a t a , t h ey need a list of re c o g n i z e dspecies so everyone is discussing thesame animals. We also need detailedstudies of individual species, s p e c i e sgroups, and higher taxa to determinebiodiversity and areas with concentra-tions of unique species.

The southern yellow bat (Lasiurus ega), left, and western yellow bat (Lasiurus xanthinus) were considered a single species until2001. Now each is classified as a separate species.

Graduate student Jacqueline Rose Miller prepares to separateDNA segments copied by polymerase chain reaction, or PCR. (See‘Bats and Genes’ on Page 5.)

Volume 21, No. 1B AT S S P R I N G 2 0 0 34

The widespre a dbats often lumpedtogether as Molossusmolossus almost cer-tainly comprise a com-plex of several distinct(but morphologi c a l lysimilar) species. Acomplete rev i ew ofthis species complex,w h i ch ra n ges fro mMexico and the Carib-bean into SouthAmerica, is needed toresolve this taxonom-ic puzzle. S u ch areview should includegenetic data as well asdetailed morphologi-cal studies and ge o-graphic sampling.

These kinds ofstudies will incre a s ethe number of recog-nized species. Wemight find that manyof the bats in Ecuadoror Guyana are distinct

species unique to those regions, ratherthan representatives of a single, wide-s p read species. S u ch findings haveimportant implications for conservation.If 20 percent of Guya n a ’s bats areunique to that region, it becomes moreimportant to conserve key forests therethan if the area’s bats mostly are mem-bers of a ubiquitous Amazonian fauna.

Species diversity is not well docu-mented in many parts of Latin America,but even North America lacks a “final”listof species. When Roger W. Barbour andWayne H. Davis published their classictext, Bats of North America, in 1969,they described 40 species. In 2001, acommittee of BCI staff and prominentbiologists listed 45 species, adding sixspecies and subtracting one, M yo t i soccultus, from Barbour and Davis’ list.This bat was assigned to a subspecies oflittle brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus).This year, however, Myotis occultus wasreinstated following convincing new evi-dence that these bats represent a dis-tinct species, raising the total to 46.

Our latest list recognizes both an east-e rn (L a s i u rus bore a l i s) and we s t e rn

Keen’s myotis (Myotis keenii),shown here, is now considereddistinct from the more wide-spread northern myotis (Myotisseptentrionalis). They had beenclassified as a single species.

Nancy Simmons of the American Museum of Natural History is the author of the latest tallyof bat species. She’s shown here with a false vampire bat (Vampyrum spectrum) .

B AT S S P R I N G 2 0 0 3 Volume 21, No. 15

(Lasiurus blossevillii) red bat (whichhad been considered a single species);a western (Lasiurus xanthinus) andsouthern (Lasiurus ega) yellow bat (for-merly a single species); and separatesKeen’s myotis (Myotis keenii) from them o re widespread nort h e rn myo t i s(Myotis septentrionalis).

DOES IT MATTER?All these ch a n ges might seem like lit-

tle more than nitpick i n g , but they haves e rious consequences for bat conserva-t i o n . The two “ n ew ” myotis bats on thelist — A rizona myotis (M yotis occultus)and Ke e n ’s myotis — are ve ry local ind i s t ri b u t i o n , u n l i ke the species in whicht h ey had been included as subspecies. I nthe real wo r l d , subspecies may be affo rd-ed less stri n gent protection than species,so these two bats’n ew status could havea significant impact on effo rts to con-s e rve habitat in their limited ra n ge s .

So where did all those new bats comefrom? They were here all along. Speciesare natural units that exist regardless ofour ability to find, recognize, and namethem. Nancy Simmons and the manyother researchers whose work is sum-m a rized in her listing have accom-plished a critical service to batresearchers and conservationists.

Yet that total of 1,105 is hardly final.Some future edition of Mammals of theWorld will likely tell us there are manymore species of bats. The changing listreflects the progress of science, a betterunderstanding of nature, and a closerapproximation of the true measure ofbiodiversity.

Dr. MARK ENGSTROM is Senior Curator of Mammalsat the Centre for Biodiversity and ConservationBiology at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.FIONA REID writes and illustrates field guides tomammals and leads some BCI field trips and work -shops. She is a Departmental Associate at the

Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Biology.

C alipers and field guides are still essential tools for bat researchers, but for stubborn questions about species, biologists often turn to powerful new techniques that measure not the length of forearms or distance between ears,

but the fundamental patterns of chromosomes, genes, and proteins.The biological revolution of the past four decades has produced exquisite tools that

can identify important similarities and differences, even among bat populations thatlook almost identical. One of the first such techniques adopted for taxonomy wasdirect visualization (through powerful microscopes) of chromosomes, which carrymost of an organism’s genes, as well as a large load of so-called “junk” DNA.Different species often have different numbers or configurations of chromosomes,although bats frequently violate this rule of thumb.

Visualization became more powerful with the development during the 1960s and ‘70sof chromosome banding, in which chemical treatments produce patterns of light anddark bands that are unique to each chromosome. This allows researchers to charac-terize precise chromosomal differences between populations and species, and oftento determine which portions of chromosomes are shared between them — an impor-tant clue to their evolutionary links. These techniques are still often used to distinguishexternally similar bat species.

Protein electrophoresis, developed during the same time frame, is used to examinedifferences in electrical charge and size of proteins, the structures of which are deter-mined by a plant’s or animal’s genes. Proteins from the organism are placed on a geland exposed to an electrical field. Proteins move toward one electrical pole or theother depending on their electrical charge and size. Differences in protein-elec-trophoresis patterns often serve as distinct markers that can distinguish among different populations and species.

But most extraordinary of the new biological tools are the DNA technologies madepossible by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which are transforming fields rangingfrom medical diagnosis and research to criminal justice (think DNA fingerprinting).Introduced in the 1980s, PCR allows scientists — quickly, easily, and relatively inexpen-sively — to make countless copies of individual segments of DNA. It opens the door todirect analysis of the genetic code, the specific DNA sequences that make up genes.

The DNA sequences derived through PCR have been used to examine questionsranging from the origins and ancestry of bats to relationships within and among fami-lies of bats. Bat biologists are only beginning to exploit the potential of direct DNAsequencing for species studies. We can look forward to an explosion in our knowl-edge of bat diversity and our understanding of evolutionary relationships among bats.

As an example of the power of these new tools, consider fruit bats of the genusC y n o p t e r u s, which are ubiquitous in lowland environments of South and SoutheastAsia. One species, Cynopterus brachyotis, was thought to occur from India eastwardto the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, and north to the Philippines.

Protein electrophoresis and morphology studies by Darrell J. Kitchener and col-leagues at the Western Australian Museum demonstrated clearly that C. brachyotisactually is a complex of species, many of them limited to individual islands or groupsof islands in the Indonesian and Philippine archipelagos.

Our evolving picture of the C. brachyotis complex sheds light on the history of theisolation and evolution of the group, as well as identifying unique species on Borneo,the Philippines, and Wallacea — an area at the interface between Australian andAsian faunas. These findings suggest a need for more refined conservation planning inthe region. And the club of international bat species swore in three new members.

Such examples are proof that our current count of 1,105 species is but a signpostalong the way to someday discovering the true diversity of bats.

Bats and genes

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Despite its size — 8,100 square miles(21,000 square kilometers), a bit smallerthan New Jersey — Israel boasts 32species of insectivorous bats, plus thel o n g - b e l e ag u e red Egyptian fruit bat(Rousettus aegyptiacus).

Neither this rich diversity of bats norits disastrous decline was understood orappreciated until the 1970s,when it wasdocumented by biologist David Makin,an early BCI member.He and his mentor,the legendary wildlife zoologist HeinrichMendelssohn of Tel Aviv University, aredue much of the credit for initially awak-ening Israelis to the grave threats facingthese important mammals. Other youngscientists have since joined in.

But the story begins decades earlier.R e s e a rch from the 1940s to the ’60s wa sch a ra c t e rized mostly by innocent igno-rance of bats’ d i ve rsity and ri ch n e s s . B a t swe re collected for scientific re s e a rch innu m b e rs that often ignored their ab i l i t yto re c over from the resulting loss.T h eywe re often snatched indiscri m i n a t e lyf rom maternity cave s ,d owned with shot-g u n s , and snag ged in nets.

The Ministry of A gri c u l t u re , m e a n-w h i l e ,was hearing complaints of fru i t - b a td a m age to such crops as loquat, d a t e ,g u ava , and pear. The ministry ’s Depart-ment of Plant Protection and Inspectionbegan fumigating caves in 1955 with aninsecticide (since found to be carc i n o-genic) to ex t e rminate fruit bats.

Many of the fumigated caves con-t a i n e d , along with fruit bats, l a rge

Conservationists Make Steady Progress

by Benny Shalmon and Carmi Korine

Dedicated to the late Professor Heinrich Mendelssohn

The Bats ofIsrael

Adedicated corps ofbiologists and conser-vationists is pushing

Israel, despite a faltering starta half-century ago , t owa rd real progress in protecting a s u r p ri s i n g ly dive rse assem-blage of bats. Yet great chal-lenges remain.

Larger rat-tailed bats(Rhinopoma microphyllum)roost in an Israeli cave.

Volume 21, No. 1B AT S S P R I N G 2 0 0 37

colonies of insectivorous bats, which donot eat fruit but do consume great quan-tities of insects, many of them damagingagricultural pests. As often happens insuch eradication programs around theworld, not only were great numbers offruit bats killed (needlessly), but so, too,were many large colonies of purely ben-eficial insect-eating bats.

The wo rst declines came in Med-i t e rranean hab i t a t s : in Mount Carmel andN o rt h e rn Galilee. Etzba Cave at Mt.C a rmel contained thousands of insectiv-o rous bats of six species in the 1940s;bythe ‘ 7 0 s ,o n ly a few hundred bats of thre especies re m a i n e d . A 1992 surveyfound but two individuals of a sin-gle species. The Mediterra n e a nh o rseshoe bat (R h i n o l o p h u se u rya l e) and Blasius’ h o rseshoe bat(R . bl a s i i) disappeared from Mt.C a rmel in the ’50s and ’60s,G e o ff roy ’s myotis (M yotis emar -gi n a t u s) and the long-fi n ge re dmyotis (M yotis nattere ri) in the’ 7 0 s . O n ly such house- and cra ck -dwelling bats as Ku h l ’s pipistre l l e(P i p i s t rellus kuhlii) and the E u ropean free-tailed bat (Ta d a ri d at e n i o t i s) surv i ved with good popu-lations in the Mediterranean are a .

Israel enacted wildlife protec-tion laws in 1955 and 1976 to banhunting of all mammals ex c e p tthose classified as game animals orpests. The Egyptian fruit bat wasamong the latter.

M a k i n ’s 1974-76 survey reve a l e dthe ri chness of Isra e l ’s bats and doc-umented the causes of their deva s t a t i n gd e cline (see BAT S, Winter 1985). Fo rye a rs afterwa rd , he and Mendelssohn“ raised hell” in art i cl e s , l e c t u re s , ra d i oi n t e rv i ew s ,and meetings demanding pro-tection for insect-eating bats.

They achieved some success.In 1988,Makin demonstrated a safe , e ffe c t i vealternative to cave fumigation: the use ofnets to capture and remove fruit batsfrom caves. With help from the WorldConservation Union and a letter-writingcampaign by BCI members worldwide,fumigations we re halted thro u g h o u tIsrael later that year.

Our effo rts to protect Isra e l ’s fruit batsc o n t i nu e . In 1996, one of us (Carm iKo rine) surveyed the diets of fruit bats inM e d i t e rranean hab i t a t s , with results thatch a l l e n ge the still-widespread view thatthese bats are major pests and descri b eother options for controlling fru i t - b a td a m age . Bat droppings collected inC a rmel National Pa rk in 1993-95 showe dthat although fruit bats sometimes eatfour commerc i a l ly grown fruit species,t h ey also eat native plants, w h i ch dependon bats for pollination and seed dispers a l .

T h ree main methods are used now top rotect Isra e l ’s commercial orch a rd s

f rom fruit bats. E a ch has strengths andwe a k n e s s e s , and long-term studies areneeded to find the most efficient stra t e gy.

C rops are cove red with nets to ke e pbats and birds away from the fru i t . S i n c e1 9 9 0 - 9 1 , f ruit bats have been caught inmist nets set around loquat and litch iplantations during periods of high fe e d-ing activity; netted fruit bats are culled.Fru i t growe rs in nort h e rn Israel are wo rk-ing with sonic animal scares to contro lf ruit bats. Although inex p e n s i ve , t h el o n g - t e rm effe c t i veness is not yet cl e a r.

Since 1987, I s ra e l ’s Mammal Info r-mation Center has been a driving fo rc e

for bat conserva t i o n . P u blic educatione ffo rts include ra d i o , t e l ev i s i o n , a n dn ewspaper interv i ew s , the publication ofa rt i cles and booklets, and a popular batex h i b i t . B C I ’s audiovisual pro gra m , B a t s :Myth and Reality, was translated intoH e b rew and shown at sch o o l s .

Our wo rk with the Nature and Pa rk sAu t h o ri t y, m e a n w h i l e , led to new pro t e c-tion for sensitive roost sites.

The center also gathers data on batst h rough surveys and re s e a rch . The sur-veys revealed the status of Isra e l ’s 32 spe-cies of insectivo rous bats: One species isl o c a l ly ex t i n c t ; four are cri t i c a l ly endan-

ge re d ; 16 are endange re d ; eight arev u l n e rabl e ; t wo are near thre a t-e n e d ; and there is too little info r-mation to determine the status ofone species.

A burst of re s e a rch by gra d u a t estudents is spurring new conserva-tion effo rt s . Yo h ay Carmel demon-s t rated the need to protect fe e d i n gs i t e s , as well as ro o s t s , in the UpperG a l i l e e . Yom Tov and Rach e l iFeldman identified the fo ragi n ga rea and food types of bats in theDead Sea re gi o n . Asaf Tsoar mod-eled the distribution of insectivo-rous bats in Isra e l , while Ko ri n e ,B e rry Pinshow and their studentsexamined ecology and conserva-tion of bats in the Negev Desert .

I s ra e l ’s small band of batre s e a rch e rs has made pro gre s s ,b u twe must expand our effo rt s . I n-s e c t i vo rous bats face grave thre a t sf rom increasing human popula-

t i o n .We must continue documenting andi n fo rming the public of the value of ourbats and what their loss would mean fo rthe nation’s env i ro n m e n t .

BENNY SHALMON, P h . D . , wa sM a n a ger of the Mammal Info rm a t i o nCenter from 1982 to 1999, when hebecame re gional biologist for the Isra e lN a t u re and Pa rks Au t h o rity at Eilat.CARMI KORINE re c e i ved his Ph.D. f ro mTe c h n i o n - I s rael Institute of Te c h n o l o gyand is a re s e a rcher in the Ja c o bBlaustein Institute for Desert Researc hat Ben Gurion Unive rsity of the Negev.

Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) have been attacked by Israel’sorchard growers for decades. Countless beneficial insect-eating bats died in cam-paigns against these beleaguered fruit bats.

Volume 21, No. 1 S P R I N G 2 0 0 3 B AT S8

The scene was repeated 46 times inthe hot, humid summer nights of east-ern Mississippi during 2000 and 2001.Leslie We l ch , a graduate student atMississippi State University,was studyingh ow eastern red bats (L a s i u rus borealis) adapt to managed pine forests.

Most research on America’s forest-dwelling bats has involved older, unman-aged wo o d l a n d s , but many of thenation’s forests now are commerciallymanaged, with different environments

than those found in older woods.This re s e a rch , s u p p o rted by

Weyerhaeuser Company, BCI, andothers, is designed to learn howwell bats adapt to managed forests,and how those forests can best bemanaged for both timber and bats.We l ch ’s wo rk was guided byFrancisco Vilella of the Coopera t i veFish and Wi l d l i fe Research Unit inM S U ’s Department of Wi l d l i fe andFi s h e ri e s , and me, Weye r h a e u s e r ’s

by Darren A. Miller

Tra ck ing Wood l and B at s

Tra ck ing Wood l and B at s Weyerhaeuser Studies Bats in Commercial Forests

L eslie gently clipped the fur between the shoulder blades of a nervous female red bat.Afterexposing a small patch of skin, she applied a dab of surgical glue and snugged down a radiot ransmitter smaller than a shirt button. Then we

wrapped the bat in a soft cloth and let it rest for about 20minutes.When we were sure the bat was fully recovered andthe radio transmitter firmly attached, we released her to flyoff into the forest night.Thus was the little bat dispatched onher scientific mission.

Leslie Welch weighs a red bat before attaching a radio transmitter as part of her research in Mississippi.

Red bats in Mississippiroost primarily in thinnedloblolly pine plantationslike this one, where theyuse both large pine treesand small hardwoods.

© DARREN MILLER

Volume 21, No. 1B AT S S P R I N G 2 0 0 39

S o u t h e rn Wi l d l i fe Pro gram Manage r.Similar scenes we re repeated last

summer (and will be again this year), butthis time the student is Adam Miles ofthe University of Georgia, the forests arein southwest Georgia, and we are radio-tagging evening bats (Nycticeius humer -alis). Principal investigators of this con-t i nuing pro gram are my s e l f, S t eve nCastleberry of the University of Georgia,and Mike Conner of the Joseph W. JonesEcological Research Center.

When I joined Weyerhaeuser as awildlife biologist about five years ago,virtually nothing was known about batecology within managed pine forests ofthe southeastern United States, althoughbats are obviously an important compo-nent of forest ecosystems. I decided tostart collecting basic data on bats andspent several years catching them.

This wo rk documented six species ofb a t s : e a s t e rn red bat, Seminole bat(L a s i u rus seminolus) , h o a ry bat (L a s i -u rus cinere u s) , s o u t h e a s t e rn myo t i s

(M yotis austro ri p a ri u s) , evening bat,and eastern pipistrelle (P i p i s t rellus sub -fl av u s) in our managed fo rests of easternM i s s i s s i p p i . M o re than 80 percent of fe-male bats that found their way into mymist nets we re lactating, an indication ofsuccessful re p ro d u c t i o n .

The re s e a rch , although encouragi n g ,just scra t ched the surfa c e .We still needed

to examine the detailed ecology of spe-c i fic bat species, and the eastern re d

bat was the most abundant speciesI had encountere d . Despite itswide ra n ge , s u r p ri s i n g ly little is

k n own of the species’c o m p l ex role in the fo re s t

e nv i ro n m e n t . I joined fo rc e swith Vi l e l l a , we hired We l ch , a n d

the red bat project was born .By putting radio tra n s m i t t e rs on re d

bats (“Wi l d l i fe Radio,”p age 10),we coulddocument where they we re ro o s t i n g ,what habitats they we re using, and thesize of their fo raging area — at least fo rthe 10- to 14-day life of the tra n s m i t t e r.

Previous work had found that thesefoliage-roosting bats prefer large hard-wood trees, which, in industrial pineforests, occur primarily within stream-side management zones (bands of most-ly mature hardwoods maintained alongeither side of a stream). Concerns thatthis preference might limit red bat pop-ulations in managed pine forests becamea focus of our research.

But when we tracked 27 radiotaggedred bats to 141 different roost trees, wefound them to be less fastidious in roostselection than expected. Red bats roost-ed in 17 different species of trees —

including pines, which were used atleast once by 18 of the bats. The treesranged in size from just over an inch (2.5centimeters) in diameter to more than32 inches (81 centimeters).

These roost trees we re pri m a ri ly inthinned lobl o l ly pine plantations at least18 ye a rs old, but they also used roosts inother habitat types, i n cluding the stre a m-side management zones. Red bats, l i kemost fo l i age - roosting bats, ch a n ge ro o s t sf re q u e n t ly. In our study, individual batsused one to 12 roosts (with an ave rage ofabout six) during the approx i m a t e ly twoweeks they we re being tra cke d .

T h i rty percent of all roosts we reloblolly pines (67 percent of roosts usedby juvenile females, 25 percent for juve-nile males, 18 percent for adult malesand 15 percent for adult females).

The average home range of the redbats varied by gender and age,with adultmales covering 363 acres (147 hectares)and adult females 203 acres (82hectares). Juvenile males foraged over155 acres (63 hectares), while femalejuveniles used 304 acres (123 hectares)during the tracking period.

We also examined habitat pre fe r-ences, classifying the Mississippi forestsinto pine clearcut, closed canopy pine,open canopy pine, and young (less than50 years) or old hardwood habitat. Wefound the bats in our study showed nop a rticular pre fe rence and we re appare n t-ly able to fo rage successfully without con-c e n t rating on specific hab i t a t s .

Our ove rall re s u l t s , l i ke those of otherre s e a rch e rs , d e m o n s t rate that red batscan exist in a wide va riety of fo rest types

IN MI S S I S S I P P I, T H E R E S E A R C H WA S F U N D E D B Y Weyerhaeuser Company, BatConservation International, the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement(NCASI), the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and Forest and WildlifeResearch Center at Mississippi State University, and International Paper.

The Georgia project is a cooperative venture of We y e r h a e u s e r, BCI’s Bats andForest Initiative, the University of Georgia, the Joseph W. Jones EcologicalResearch Center, and NCASI. The Bats and Forests Initiative is supported, in part,by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the National Forest Foundation.

Evening bats generallyprefer to roost underloose bark and in large,dead trees, which are notcommon on managedpine forests of the South.

© MERLIN D. TUTTLE, BCI \ 831-1506

R adio transmitters, or radiotags, arepowerful tools for scientistsexploring the lifestyles of wildlife,

from bats to whales and just about allcreatures in between.

These battery-powered devices,attached in a variety of ways, transmit anelectronic beep at a certain frequency, soa researcher with an appropriate receivercan “tune in” that particular animal.

Transmitters come in all shapes andsizes. Larger animals, such as bear, deer,and bobcats, are usually fitted with trans-mitters attached to collars and poweredby batteries that last for months to years.Critters such as fish, snakes, and otters

often receive surgical implants, while wild turkeys and other birds get harnesses theywear like backpacks.

Smaller animals, including bats, typically have transmitters glued directly to their skin.For bats, these tags can weigh as little as four-tenths of a gram (barely one-sixth theweight of a penny). The glue dissolves and the tag falls off after about two weeks, whichis about how long the tiny battery lasts. On larger animals, researchers often use cottonwebbing or other biodegradable material to ensure that the transmitter eventually falls off.

Some transmitters emit a “mortality signal,” typically rapid beeping, when the transmit-ter has not moved for a significant period of time. This usually means the animal is deador the transmitter has come off. The transmitter can be retrieved, refurbished, and reused;and finding the animal’s body often allows researchers to determine the cause of death.

Some radiotags transmit data about the animal’s body temperature, heart rate, or evenif it is in light or darkness. Some large transmitters work with satellites to compute the ani-m a l ’s location, which is particularly useful with wide-ranging or migratory species such aspolar bears, whales, and peregrine falcons.

Since bats are so small and can only carry a tiny load, biologists track the bats’ loca-tions remotely, using a directional antenna. The radio signal is loudest when the antennais pointed directly at the transmitter — and the animal that carries it. The researcher cansimply follow the signal direction until locating the radio transmitter.

This, of course, works best when the animal is stationary in a moderately exposedspot, such as a bat roosting in tree foliage or under the loose bark of a tree. Homing in ona bat’s roost is tough when it is deep inside a cave or mine, which can block the signal.By monitoring signal locations at sunset and dawn, when bats are leaving or returning,these roosts can sometimes be found.

Scientists can also remotely track radiotagged animals through triangulation. Two ormore observers obtain a signal from relatively distant points and take compass bearingstoward the signal. With bearings from at least two spots, the point where the compasslines cross represents the animal’s approximate location. Taking additional readings willincrease the accuracy.

Radiotagging has greatly increased our knowledge of wildlife ecology, providing newinsights into habitat selection, survival rates, migration routes, roost and den preferences,interactions among individuals and species, and activity patterns. The still-evolving tech-nology promises more discoveries in the future.

- Darren Miller

Volume 21, No. 1 S P R I N G 2 0 0 3 B AT S10

and appare n t ly find suitable habitats ini n d u s t rial pine fo re s t s .

In Georgi a ,we shifted focus to eve n i n gb a t s ,w h i ch like to roost under loose barkand in dead tre e s . L a rge , dead tre e s , h ow-eve r, a re not usually common withins h o rt - rotation fo rests (in which fa s t - grow-ing trees are harvested and re p l a n t e deve ry 30 ye a rs or so),w h i ch are typical offo rest industry land in the South.

We chose two quite diffe rent sites fo rthis study.One was a Weyerhaeuser fo re s tof lobl o l ly pine; the other was on theJoseph W. Jones Ecological ResearchC e n t e r, w h i ch is dominated by longleafpine — the native fo rest of southwe s tG e o rgia and one of the most endange re decosystems in the wo r l d .

D u ring the fi rst field season of thist wo - year pro j e c t , we ra d i o t ag ged 53evening bats and tra cked them to 89roost tre e s .Pines we re the most fre q u e n t-ly used tre e s , at 69 perc e n t , in both are a s .In the Jones Center fo re s t , females useds n ags more often than males, a l t h o u g hs n ag use was similar for both males andfemales on Weyerhaeuser land.

Of particular interest is a colony ofabout 490 evening bats we found ro o s t-ing in a large longleaf pine snag in theJones fo re s t . We hope this ye a r ’s ro o s tdata will help cl a rify diffe rences in ro o s te c o l o gy between these two fo rest types.

In addition to documenting eve n i n gbat roost sites in the two fo rest types, wealso are using mist-net surveys and moni-t o ring bat echolocation calls to study batc o m munity stru c t u re .

We are just beginning to understandhabitat needs of bats within Southernfo re s t s , p a rt i c u l a r ly in managed pineforests. Continuing research should pro-vide some of the knowledge that man-age rs need to effe c t i ve ly incorpora t ebats into their forest-management plans.

DARREN MILLER, Ph.D., is a certified wildlife biologist andthe Southern Wildlife Program Manager for WeyerhaeuserCompany. Based in Columbus, Mississippi, he is a memberof the executive committee of the North American BatConservation Partnership.

A tiny radio transmitter lets researchers track bats to deter-mine roost sites, habitat selection, and feeding activities.

W ildlife Radio

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An enzyme originally extracted fromthe saliva of the common vampire bat(Desmodus rotundus) has shown enor-mous potential in ex p e riments withmice. It is more than 150 times morepotent at dissolving blood clots, such asthose that cause most strokes, than theonly clot-busting treatment that is cur-rently available.

M o re import a n t ly, said Dr. R o b e rtMedcalf, who led the research team atAustralia’s Monash University, the vam-pire enzyme focuses so tightly on bloodclots that it appears to do virtually noth-ing in the body except dissolve clots.That means, he said, that it could bemuch safer than drugs used today andcould be used over a much longer time.Those possibilities have yet to bedemonstrated in humans, but clinical tri-als are under way in Europe and Australiaand will begin soon in the United States.(Medcalf is not involved in the trials.)

The story was a media sensation.“Forsomeone who’s never had his name in anewspaper before,suddenly I was in justabout every newspaper in the world. Itwas kind of scary in a way,”Medcalf said.

“Of course,” he added,“it got all the pub-licity mainly because it came from thevampire bat.”

The enzyme is called Desmodusrotundus salivary plasminogen activator,or DSPA. It is genetically related to t-PA,the human “tissue-type plasminogen acti-vator” that is very widely used to dis-solve clots in heart-attack victims and isthe only approved clot-buster for useagainst ischemic stroke. Such strokes, byfar the most common type, occur whena blood clot or clogged artery keepsblood from reaching the brain.

T- PA has been proven effe c t i veagainst strokes, but only under such lim-ited circumstances that it cannot begiven to the vast majority of stroke vic-tims. In fact, t-PA can only be adminis-tered within the first three hours of thestroke’s onset. Later use can actuallyincrease brain damage. DSPA may, basedon these initial results,be given safely foran extended period after a stro keo c c u rs . C u rrent clinical trials withhuman patients are testing the effective-ness of DSPA up to nine hours afterstroke onset.

Plasminogen activators are producedby all vertebrates. (Both human t-PA,approved for use against heart attacks in1987, and DSPA are synthetic enzymescopied from the original with recombi-nant-DNA techniques.) These enzymesd i s s o l ve clots through a bioch e m i c a lchain reaction. They convert plasmino-gen, an inactive enzyme circulating inthe blood, into plasmin — the real clotbuster. Plasmin attacks fibrin, a hair-likeprotein around which blood clots form:Destroy the fibrin, the clot dissolves, andblood flow is restored.

So far, so good. Medcalf said t-PA hasbeen very effective against heart attacks.However, it works not just on the dam-aging blood clot but on the entire circu-latory system and can cause bleedingelsewhere. With heart attacks, that gen-e ra l ly is an acceptable ri s k . But fo rstrokes, if you restore blood flow but ini-tiate bleeding in the brain, you can killmore brain cells.

Several years ago, Medcalf said, scien-tists discovered some remarkable andunsuspected aspects of t-PA. Using aprocess called “knockout technology,”

by Robert Locke

THE VAMPIRE’S GIFTBAT SA L I VA YI E L D S A PRO M I S I NG TR E AT M E N T FO R ST RO K E VI C T I M S

V ampire bats are among the most reviled of nature’screatures.They really do feed on blood, and evolutionhas made them extraordinarily adept at it. Yet that

propensity, which most people hate and fear, may well pro-vide a powerful new drug that could save lives and limitbrain damage among stroke victims.

The common vampire bat is feared and despised throughout itsrange in Latin America, but it may become a hero to humanvictims of strokes.

Volume 21, No. 1 S P R I N G 2 0 0 3 B AT S12

they produced mice that had no t-PA.These mice, it turned out, “lost theirmemory. T-PA has an important role inthe brain: It promotes memory forma-tion and visual processing.”

Then, however, they found “the darkside to t-PA,”Medcalf said. Scientists usedvarious chemicals to overstimulate thebrains of normal mice, which caused thebrain cells to die. In mice without t-PA,h oweve r, ove rs t i mulation did not killbrain cells. Inject those same mice witht-PA, and the cells die.

“We repeated these experiments thatwere done in the 1990s, and it demon-strates quite clearly that t-PA promotesthis [brain-cell] death.” DSPA, the bio-chemical gift from the vampire, doesnot.“That,” Medcalf said,“is a pretty jollygood finding, actually.”

Wolf-Dieter Schleuning, chief scien-tific officer of the German biotech firmPAION GmbH in Berlin, is a co-author(with Medcalf, Gabriel Liberatore and

Andre Samson of Monashand Chris Bladin of EasternMelbourne Neuroscience atBox Hill Hospital) of theDSPA report published bythe American Heart Assoc-iation journal S t ro ke i nFebruary 2003. Schleuninghas wo rked with DSPAsince the 1980s, althoughhe notes that it was identi-fied as a plasminogen activa-tor in 1966 by Chri s t i n eH aw key of the Zoologi c a lSociety of London.

Schleuning was at Rocke-feller University in New York about 20years ago trying to genetically engineer aclone of t-PA, when a competitor beathim to it. So, he said,“I looked for alter-natives to t-PA with an improved phar-m a c o l o gical pro file and came acro s sHawkey’s work.”

Using DSPA genetic samples provided

by re s e a rcher A l e j a n d ro A l agon ofM ex i c o , he produced the syntheticenzyme and found the first strong hintsof its medical potential.

The rather amazing ability of vampirebat saliva to dissolve blood clots wasfirst noted, Schleuning said, by Brazilianre s e a rch e rs in the 1930s. “This bat,”Medcalf said,“has figured out an amazingway of handling blood. It’s a dramaticcontrast to t-PA. It really needs fibrin tobe present. If there is no blood clot, theDSPA doesn’t do anything at all.”

Once DSPA encounters fibrin, howev-er, its clot-busting ability kicks in with avengeance — far more powerfully thant-PA. Medcalf said DSPA’s activity increas-es about 13,000-fold in the presence offibrin, compared to a 72-fold increase int-PA activity.

Based on the animal experiments,DSPA is a very effective clot-buster anddoes not promote brain-cell death.Whether DSPA also limits bleeding intothe brain, however, must still be demon-s t rated in human stro ke patients,Medcalf notes.But DSPA’s ability to tight-ly target nothing except fibrin “givespeople a warm feeling that these clinicaltrials might turn out nicely.”

ROBERT LOCKE is Managing Editor of Bat

Conservation International.Dr. Robert Medcalf, at his lab in Australia’s Monash University, showed in animal experiments that a substance derived from thesaliva of the common vampire bat may be much safer and far more powerful at dissolving the blood clots that cause strokes thanthe only treatment that is currently available.

Vampire bats, like this one feeding on a chicken’s foot, do not suckblood, they lap it up with their tongues. A remarkable enzyme in theirsaliva keeps the blood flowing.

Volume 21, No. 1B AT S S P R I N G 2 0 0 313

C ontrary to popular myth, only three of more than 1,100species of bats are vampires, all live only in Latin America, andonly one feeds on the blood of mammals. Fascinating adapta-

tions — many more than just a clot-busting enzyme that may some-day save human stroke victims — equip vampire bats for theirunique lifestyle.

The common vampire (Desmodus rotundus) preys on primarilymammals,while the hairy-legged vampire (Disphylla ecaudata) andwhite-winged vampire (Diaemus youngi) feed on birds.

Often found near herds of cattle or horses, common vampires are despised throughout their range from northern Mexico to n o rt h e rn A rge n t i n a , w h e re they can stress live s t o ck and occasionally transmit disease to them. Eradication efforts are oftenindiscriminate, however, and countless beneficial bats have beendestroyed by ranchers who mistakenly assume all bats are vampires.

The common vampire is about four inches (10 centimeters) longand weighs less than two ounces (57 grams). Unlike most bats, vam-pires spend much of their time on the ground and are capable ofrunning and jumping with amazing speed and agility. With theirwings folded, they can use long, padded thumbs to scamper likefour-footed animals.

They typically land on the ground near their prey or on the animal’s back and then use their heat-sensitive nose pits to find areason the prey that have rich concentrations of blood-carrying capil-laries just beneath the skin.

Vampires have smaller and fewer teeth than other bats and usetheir razor-sharp canines to create small, crater-shaped wounds.They often soften up the skin by repeatedly licking the area beforeinflicting a quick, clean bite. Sleeping animals are usually unawarethey are providing a meal for a vampire.

Horror movies notwithstanding, common vampires do not suckblood; they lap it up with their tongues.The clot-busting substancein vampire saliva flows along the tongue and into the wound.Without the enzyme, the blood would soon clot and quit flowing;with it, a vampire can feed on a wound for up to 30 minutes, some-times consuming its weight in blood.

For an animal with such unsavory habits (at least to humans),vampires exhibit a rare and remarkable altruism, sharing regurgitat-ed blood with hungry roostmates who have failed to find food.While such acts are common between mothers and offspring ofassorted species, they are extremely rare among adult mammals.

A bat that has been unable to feed will solicit food by licking aroostmate’s body, wings, and face. If receptive, the well-fed bat willregurgitate some blood for its hungry neighbor.The system appar-ently evolved because of its reciprocity: A bat that donates foodtoday may well need a meal of its own tomorrow.

(Adapted from “Vampires: The Real Story,” by Jacqueline Belwood and Patricia Morton,in the Spring 1991 issue of BATS.)

TH E AM A Z I NG VA M P I R E

Volume 21, No. 1 B AT S S P R I N G 2 0 0 314

N E W S A N D N O T E S

TEXAS BATS

Texas is home to 32of the 46 bat

species in the UnitedStates and Texas Batsdescribes every one oft h e m , complete withcolor photos, d i ag n o s t i ccharacteristics for identification, roost-ing preferences, and range maps.

W ritten and photographed by BCIFounder and President Merlin Tu t t l e , t h i s7 1 - p age book fe a t u res ge n e ral info rm a-tion ra n ging from bat anatomy andh abits to tips for ex cluding bats fro mattics and attracting them to bat houses.It also cove rs bat-wa t ching sites in Tex a s .

Texas Bats is ava i l able for $9.95through the University of Texas Pressand direct from BCI ($8.95 for mem-bers) at www.batcon.org.

A LANDMARK BOOK

The most complete and up-to-date re s e a rch on the

e n d a n ge red Indiana bat(Myotis sodalis) ever pub-lished was re c e n t ly re-leased by BCI. The IndianaBat: Biology and Manage -ment of an EndangeredS p e c i e s p resents 27reports by 59 top batbiologists.

Although the plightof this species hasre c e i ved considerable attention inrecent years, important research oftenwent unreported, until two years ago,when BCI helped organize a first-of-its-kind conference on the Indiana bat.The

session drew about 200 profes-sionals to Lexington, Kentucky,for two days of presentations onthe status, behavior, and protec-tion of Indiana bats. T h o s ep a p e rs we re assembled intothis 265-page book, edited byAllen Kurta and Jim Kennedy.

Copies are being mailed to confer-ence attendees. The book may be pur-chased for $17, plus shipping, fromSpeleobooks (www.speleobooks.com).

Surveying Mines

Abandoned mines offer import a n troost sites for more than half the 46

bat species in the United States, a n dsealing the mines can be devastating tom a ny bats. B a t - f ri e n d ly gates can beinstalled to protect the public whilea l l owing bats unre s t ricted access. B u td e t e rmining whether bats are using am i n e , if they might be trapped by cl o-s u re ,and if a bat gate is fe a s i ble re q u i re si n t e rnal and/or ex t e rnal survey s .

Bats and Mines • EvaluatingAbandoned Mines forBats: Recommendationsfor inventory, survey, andc l o s u r e , a new brochurefrom BCI and the USDAN a t u ral Resources Con-servation Service, outlinesp ro c e d u res for mine sur-veys and provides guide-lines for determining whenbat gates are called for.

The brochure is availableonline at www.batcon.org, or by con-tacting Faith Watkins, Coordinator ofBCI’s North American Bats and MinesProject, at fwatkins@batcon.org.

Your help with any of these special needswill make BCI more effective. To make adonation or for more information, please con-tact Denise Meikel at dmeikel@batcon.org or(512) 327-9721.

Excluding vampiresRemote villages of Brazil’s Kayapó Indian

Nation are facing growing problems with vam-pire bats (Desmodus rotundus) that seriouslyexacerbated an already-negative opinion ofbats. Their response is to eradicate all bats,including mostly the beneficial species.Wildlife biologists and local volunteers areasking BCI’s Global Grassroots ConservationFund for help in developing a demonstrationproject to exclude vampire bats from homes inthe village of A’Ukre by installing screens overwindows and other openings. The group alsoplans an educational program to help protectinsect-eating bats. If the efforts are success-ful, other villages in the region will likely adoptsimilar methods. All materials must be pur-chased and transported by air into the remotevillage. The project requests $1,345.

Pictures in the DarkBats fly at night and that creates real prob-

lems for the video-recording equipment usedin fieldwork. Our results and productivitywould be greatly boosted by a supplementalinfrared light source. The difference in imagequality between infrared and other nighttimelighting is like trying to find your way on amoonless night with a match versus a flash-light. The IRLamp3 was developed by a batresearcher and built tough for reliable use inthe field. $250.

Protecting mother batsLoss of suitable maternity roosts is impli-

cated as a major threat to the southeasternmyotis (Myotis austroriparius), which hasdeclined alarmingly in many areas. One suchroost, Florida’s Withlacoochee Cave, is fre-quently subjected to illegal human activity tothe detriment of its bats. The FloridaDepartment of Forestry hopes to protect thisimportant cave with 880 feet of fencing, aswell as extensive erosion control to keep theentrance from being completely blocked by anearby mine-reclamation project. The depart-ment seeks a BCI grant of $5,000 to help covertotal project costs of $18,500.

Wish ListNew BCI Publications

Volume 21, No. 1B AT S S P R I N G 2 0 0 315

Wa s h i n g t o n , M i s s o u ri , has offi c i a l lyb e c o m e , by pro clamation of its

city council, a bat-fri e n d ly city. And thatb a re ly scra t ches the surface of what mid-d l e - s chool students at St. Francis Borgi aG rade School have accomplished whiletaking bats from a study topic to a dire c t -action cru s a d e .

It began with a visit by conservation-ist Matt Soete, who described the natureof bats for teacher Steve Murrie’s sixth-,seventh-, and eighth-grade science class-es. Soete, a woodworker, had built andinstalled bat houses along the town’sthree-mile riverfront trail as part of ane nv i ro n m e n t a l ly gentle appro a ch toinsect control.

Upon learning that bats had little incommon with their frightful mispercep-tions and were, in fact, both gentle andhighly beneficial, the students decidedto spread the word about bat conserva-tion. They’ve been educating younger ch i l d ren about bats and writing to local agencies and authorities. Theyeven “ a d o p t e d ” a bat through BatConservation International.

The effort, says Murrie, a teacher for33 years,“is an in-depth theme that fitsin perfectly with the school’s Christianmission. God made all creatures andmade them for a purpose — includingbats. Bats are misunderstood, the under-dogs of the animal kingdom. The kidshave really embraced that theme.”

Bracken Bat CaveBCI will begin accepting reservations

May 1 for this summer’s Members-OnlyNights at Bracken Bat Cave. Don’t missthis exclusive opportunity to see 20 mil-lion Mexican free-tailed bats swirl out ofthe cave and spread over Central Texas.Member nights at the San Antonio-areacave will be on the Saturdays of June 28,July 12,August 2,August 16, September 6,and September 13. July 26 is reserved forfirst-time Bracken visitors. Each night islimited to 50 visitors. Send us your name,member number, address, phone numberand email address, the number in yourparty, and your first and second choice ofdates. Email the information to brack-en@batcon.org; fax it to (512) 327-9724(Attention: Members Night Coordinator);or call BCI at (512) 327-9721.

Bat SymposiumThe 33rd A n nual North A m e ri c a n

Symposium on Bat Research, the conti-nent’s foremost gathering of bat biolo-gists, will be at the Cornhusker Hotel inLincoln, Nebraska, October 8-11, 2003.Patricia Freeman is convenor of the ses-sion and chair of the local committee.Details: www.nasbr.com.

You Can HelpBCI needs vo l u n t e e rs for a ra d i o - t e l e m e-

t ry study of endange red Mexican long-nosed bats at Big Bend National Pa rk i nWest Tex a s , June 23-Ju ly 11. We ’ll prov i d ethe fo o d , l o d gi n g , t ra i n i n g , and equipment.Expect ove rnight hours and stre nu o u sh i ke s . For info rm a t i o n , ontact A n ge l aE n g l a n d , a e n g l a n d @ b a t c o n . o rg by Ap ril 15.

The U. S . B u reau of Land Manage m e n tseeks vo l u n t e e rs for bat surveys in theru g ged G rand Staircase-Escalante Na-tional Monu m e n t of southern Utah. T h emist-netting project runs from Ju n et h rough September, and at least a two -week commitment is needed. C o n t a c t :M e l i s s a _ S i d e rs @ bl m . gov.

A Children’s Crusadeby Diane D. Jones

Among many pro j e c t s , students cre a t-ed bat trivia board games, s u ch as “ B a t -o p o ly,” and wrote and illustrated ch i l-d re n ’s books (A Week in the Life of BillyBob Bat) . Student essays touting the con-t ributions of bats to the ecosystem we rep u blished in the local new s p a p e r.

The yo u n g s t e rs wrote to members ofthe state legi s l a t u re , asking that bats benamed Missouri ’s “ o fficial flying mam-m a l ,” and they urged the MissouriD e p a rtment of Tra n s p o rtation to build itsb ri d ges with one-inch gaps undern e a t hto gi ve bats safe and inviting ro o s t s .

“We learned a lot about how muchbats really help human populations,”saidM ag gie Light, an eighth gra d e r. “ Wewanted to help other people learn aboutthem, too.”

A life-size picture of the bat the students adopted through BCI — a par-t i c u l a r ly photogenic cre a t u re called a Wa h l b e rg ’s epauleted fruit bat(Epomophorus wahlbergi) — hangs ona wall of the science lab, its endearinglychubby cheeks reminding all who passjust how unthreatening bats really are.

The young people learned ab o u tmuch more than just the benefits ofbats, Murrie says.“The kids have learnedthat there are ways to go about gettingthings done if they know how toapproach the right channels.”

Diane D. Jones is a writer in Washington, Missouri.

On the Horizon

Volume 21, No. 1 S P R I N G 2 0 0 3 B AT S16

Help us Honor the Best

Dedicated conservationists are work-ing tirelessly to protect bats and

their habitats around the world. BatC o n s e rvation International wants tohonor them, and we need your help.Wea re inviting nominations for BCIDistinguished Service Awards for 2003.

Recipients may be biologists, teach-ers, park rangers, interpreters, corpora-tions, landowners, students — anyonewho has demonstrated a passionatecommitment to conserving bats.

Please send us a one-page letterabout your nominee, his or her accom-plishments, and why that person shouldbe recognized.You may nominate anoth-er person or yourself.

Address your nomination to:Awards,Attn: Robert Locke, Bat ConservationInternational, PO Box 162603, Austin,TX 78716.The deadline for nominationsis June 1, 2003.

David Saugey (left), a U. S . Fo re s tService wildlife biologist and BCI

member since 1988, recently receivedthe Southern Regional Fo re s t e r ’sC o n s e rvation Education Awa rd . H ere c e i ved the honor from Regi o n a lFo rester Bob Ja c o b s . S a u gey, of theJe s s i ev i l l e - Winona Ranger District inArkansas, was cited for his continuouspublic education efforts on behalf offorests and wildlife, especially bats.

Honors for a BCI Member

SIGN UP FOR BCI WORKSHOPS

T ime is running out to sign up for this ye a r ’s Field Study Wo rk s h o p s , fi ve -d ay adve n t u res into the fascinating world of bats, c o n s e rvation andre s e a rch .Yo u ’ll be amazed at how mu ch yo u ’ll learn in these hands-on pro-

grams — and how mu ch fun yo u ’ll have doing it.M o re than 1,000 land manage rs , b i o l o gi s t s , e d u c a t o rs , a n i m a l - c o n t rol per-

s o n n e l , and bat enthusiasts have participated in BCI wo rk s h o p s . L e a rn speciesi d e n t i fi c a t i o n , n e t t i n g , ra d i o - t ra ck i n g , night-vision observa t i o n , and hab i t a ta s s e s s m e n t , while wo rking in ex t ra o rd i n a ry settings.

Our Pe n n s y l vania wo rk s h o p highlights eastern bats and their hab i t a t s .We ’l ln e t , t ra p , and release bats over trout streams and beaver ponds, o b s e rve endan-ge red Indiana bats swa rming at a mine entra n c e , wa t ch 20,000 little brown batsin a spectacular dawn re t u rn to their roost at a re s t o red ch u rch , and ex a m i n ethem up cl o s e .Wo rkshop co-leader, Cal Butch koski of the Pe n n s y l vania GameC o m m i s s i o n , is a leading ex p e rt on surveying and ra d i o - t ra cking Indiana bats,a swell as one of A m e ri c a ’s most successful builders of bat houses and other art i fi-cial ro o s t s . He and BCI ex p e rt Janet Ty b u rec will share a wealth of know l e d gec ove ring all aspects of bat conserva t i o n , m a n age m e n t , e d u c a t i o n , p u blic healthand nuisance issues. Home cooking is but one of many unexpected treats at his-t o ric Greene Hills Lodge , our wo rkshop headquart e rs . August 19-24.

An A r i zona wo rk s h o p in the Chiricahua Mountains emphasizes we s t e rnb a t s .The Chiricahuas offer a biodive rsity unequalled any w h e re else in Nort hA m e ri c a .You can expect to see, and even to capture and handle, as many as 18bat species in a single eve n i n g , then wa t ch endange red long-nosed bats visith u m m i n g b i rd fe e d e rs at your front door. Pa rticipants have also enjoyed spot-ting ring-tailed cats, c o a t i s , and tro g a n s .

BCI ex p e rt Janet Ty b u rec and her we l l - t rained crew will share a wealth ofk n ow l e d ge on species identification (including by echolocation calls), bat con-s e rva t i o n , m a n age m e n t , e d u c a t i o n , p u blic health and nuisance issues,a rt i ficial hab i t a t s , and mu ch more . We will stay at the A m e rican Museum ofN a t u ral History ’s famous Southwe s t e rn Research Station, w h e re you will enjoysuperb dining with re s e a rch e rs from around the wo r l d .Two sessions: M ay 22-27 and May 27-June 1.

The cost for each wo rkshop is $1,195 and includes materi a l s , m e a l s , l o d g-i n g , and tra n s p o rtation from the depart u re city.

✦ ✦ ✦

An exciting neotropical bat wo rkshop in B e l i ze is also offe red beginning Ju ly2 0 , 2 0 0 3 . Eight days and seven nights for $1,995.

✦ ✦ ✦

Visit our Web site at www.batcon.org/trips/workshops03.html for details,itineraries, and to download an application for any of these workshops. Orcontact Andy Moore at amoore@batcon.org.

17Volume 21, No. 1 S P R I N G 2 0 0 3 B AT S17

Jim Cope’s Half-Century of Conservation

Bats Lose an Old Friend

When Jim Cope discove red the fascination of bats,re s e a rchers we re chasing bats on the wing with but-t e rfly nets, bat det e c tors we re n’t even a scientifi c

d ay d ream, and computers we re the size of houses. It’s no wonder noone knew ve ry much about bats. A great deal has ch a n ged since 1948,and Cope played a part in many of the pioneering developments inre s e a rch tools and results. Bats lost a sta l wa rt friend when James B.Cope died last year at the age of 81. Born in Ithaca, New Yo r k, in 1920,and educated as an ornithologist, Cope in 1947 joined the faculty ofEarlham College in Richmond, Indiana, where he spent his career andremained as a pro fessor emeri t u s .

In a conversation not long befo re his death, Cope said he knew ve rylittle about bats when he was assigned to teach a course on mammal-o g y, so he decided to study them. In the summer of 1948, he visitedIndiana caves where bats we re known to hibernate — and fo u n dalmost no bats. Where did all the bats go? “That is what really got myi n t e rest up and raised many questions in my mind.” He spent much ofthe rest of his life seeking the answe r s .

Things qu i ckly got complicated, howeve r. The media, which hadra rely paid attention to bats, suddenly discove red them about 1953 —and the bats have never comp l etely re c ove red. Re s e a rchers re p o rt e dthat bats could carry and transmit rabies without themselves beinga ffected by the disease. (That re p o rt has long since been discounted;rabies qu i ckly kills infected bats just as it does other mammals.) But inthe 1950s, a media fi re s to rm of misinfo rmation eru pted as bats we ree rroneously branded as the major re s e rvoir of rabies infe c t i o n .

While Cope and his students we re busily trying to conduct a cen-sus of Indiana myotis (M yotis sodalis) in winter caves, others we re fra n-tically trying to kill the bats or dri ve them away. Cope perseve red, how-eve r, banding thousands of bats and eventually becoming one of thefirst to ex p e riment with radio transmitters and other methods of tra ck-ing bats along their nightly and seasonal journ eys .

C a pt u ring bats for tagging and study was a major pro b l e m .Disturbing hibernating bats in the winter was risky for the bats.

B u t t e rfly nets proved less than ideal for such a fa s t - flying, ech o l o c a t i n ganimal. A string pulled tight across a stream dropped bats as they camein for a dri n k, but then the re s e a rcher was re qu i red to splash into thewater for ret ri eva l .

Then, in the 1950s, Cope and a few colleagues tried mist nets —the gossamer nets Japanese soldiers used to catch birds for food duri n gWorld War II — and their success rates imp roved dra m a t i c a l l y.

By 1977, Cope had finally answe red at least part of his early qu e s-tion about where Indiana bats went in the summertime: They we re giv-ing birth and raising their young under the bark of dead or dying tre e s .

For bat det e c tors capable of hearing high-pitched echolocation calls,Cope and other re s e a rchers in the ‘50s and ‘60s turned to fairly simp l e ,homemade devices and ex p e rimented with det e c tors used by industryto spot leaks in high-pre s s u re steam lines. Sophisticated, tunable batd et e c tors had to await the revolution in solid-state electronics.

A round 1960, Cope and his students surveyed 190 nursery coloniesin buildings scattered around Indiana. In 1989, Cope and colleagueJohn Whita ker we re able to revisit 128 of the sites — and they fo u n dan ove rall population decline of 75 percent, even among supposedlycommon bats.

“ M a ny of the colonies we re excluded [by needlessly fri g h t e n e dbuilding owners], others we re eliminated with pesticides, and still ot h-ers we re dri ven off with naphthalene mothballs and/or burn e d ,” Copesaid. “One person even attempted to asphyxiate the bats with auto-mobile exhaust fumes.”

Others we re also re c o rding the frightful decline of the Indiana bat,mostly due to erroneous public fears. The Indiana bat was officially list-ed as endange red in 1967, and Cope was named to the first Indiana batre c ove ry team. The team’s recommendations, howeve r, we re virt u a l l yi g n o red by fe d e ral and state agencies, which seemed to re flect the pub-l i c ’s abhorrence of bats at the time. That initial re c ove ry team disband-ed soon after and was not replaced for ye a r s .

Cope lived long enough to see at least the beginnings of ch a n ge. “Itis most exciting to me to see such a turnabout of attitudes towa rd batsat all levels of societ y,” he said a few months befo re his death, “espe-cially given the hostility ... we encountered in the late 1950s.”

The creation of Bat Conservation International, Cope said, “was themost imp o rtant single act to sta rt this country, and later the wo r l d ,towa rd recognition of the ecological imp o rtance of bats and the needfor conservation of their habita t s .”

Jim Cope also made singular contributions to the public’s under-s tanding and appreciation of bats. And bat biology to d ay is ri cher fo rthose who as students learned not just know l e d ge but commitmentf rom this remarkable conserva t i o n i s t .

by John B. Bowles

COURTESY OF EARLHAM COLLEGE

P.O. Box 162603Austin, TX 78716-2603 U.S.A.

A D D R E S S S E R V I C E R E Q U E S T E D

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE PA I D

A U S T I N , T E X A SPERMIT NO. 1530

BCI EARNS TOP RATINGAMONG NONPROFITS

BAT CO N S E RVAT I O N IN T E R N AT I O N A L was awarded thetop rating of four stars by Charity Na v i g a t o r, anon-line charity watchdog whose evaluations of

2,133 of America’s largest charities constitute a “guide tointelligent giving.”

The four-star rating, Charity Navigator says, “indicatesthat your organization excels, as compared to other charities in America,” emphasizing that BCI, unlike manyn o n p rofits, devotes a ve ry healthy 86.5 percent of its operating budget to programs and services that fulfill its mission. Charity Navigator is one of the largest independent evaluators of charities in the United St a t e s .

Our heartfelt thanks go to our loyal members who, inresponse to economic hard times, gave 31 percent morethan usual in our fall giving campaign. Yet BCI is facingthe most financially stressful time in its history because ofthe falling stock market and its devastating impact onfoundation giving.

To find out how you can help, please contact BCI De velopment Di rector Denise Meikel atdmeikel@batcon.org or (512) 327-9721. To learn moreabout BCI’s efficiency, take a look at our annual re p o rtonline at www.batcon.org or ask us to mail you a copy.

How We Stack Up

BCI ranks near the top in each category of CharityNavigator’s ratings of 84 wildlife conservation organi-zations. The blue lines are the averages of the 84nonprofits. The red lines mark BCI’s score.

★★★★

BCI EARNS TOP RATINGAMONG NONPROFITS

★★★★

© MERLIN D. TUTTLE, BCI