Endangered species everywhere!

A photograph of 4 gray bats hanging on a cave wall.
A lovely photo of gray bats from Missouri Department of Conservation.

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week! I was at the Bat Bonanza at the US Botanic Gardens last weekend. It was so much fun! There were three of Save Lucy’s bats there doing their part to teach people about how wonderful and amazing bats are.

Recent events sent me on a quest to find bat news from Pittsburgh, PA. While there are wonderful bat projects going on in Pennsylvania, this project caught my eye, even if it's from a different PSU!

College students at Pennsylvania State University, KS, have been studying their local bats. The biology students and their professor have been monitoring a bat colony since last spring.

The students have been catching bats and documenting weight, size, and length to help them determine what bat species they are looking at. They are also checking to see if any of the bats have been infected with the fungus that causes White Nose Syndrome. They are trying to collect data about federally endangered bat species to help future scientists in their research.

The students set up video cameras outside of a bat roost and recorded bats entering and exiting the roost. They then slow the video down to see how many bats enter and exit while bats are feeding. The students also measured the temperature of the roost to study whether or not bats choose where they roost based on temperature.

If you would like to read more about their research you may find the article here.

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