 Bats
of Indiana
Indiana Bat
Indiana Bat flying near
Wyandotte Caves
(Drawing by CES Media Club)
| Scientific
Name: Myotis
sodalis Description:
About
2 inches in length, dull-gray in color
Population:
About
460,000, with the highest population of
them found in Indiana. They live from 5-10
years.
Food: Indiana bats
feed on night-flying insects. They eat
thousands a night. This gives them enough
fat to live on during hibernation in the
winter. They use echolocation
(high-pitched sounds) to locate the
insects they eat.
***CLICK
HERE TO LISTEN TO THE INDIANA BAT!***
Range:
In
summer small colonies throughout Eastern
U.S. The states they have the highest
population are Indiana, Missouri,
Kentucky, Illinois, and New York. The
colonies roost under loose bark of trees.
In winter they hibernate in seven known
caves including Wyandotte.
Reproduction:
Mating
is in October at night near or inside
cave entrances. They hibernate in
huge
clusters that may
contain 1000 or more bats. They migrate
to their roosting trees in spring
throughout summer. Each female only has
one offspring a year, however, not all of
them have any. Sometimes, if a female's
body condition is poor, she will put off
reproduction until the following year.
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The Indiana bat is
one of the most endangered species of bats in
the United States. It is estimated that about
32,000 Indiana bats
hibernate in Wyandotte Caves in the winter,
making it the third largest
hibernicula of Indiana bats in the state. This
number is far below the
estimated million Indiana bats that once
hibernated in Wyandotte.
Entrance of Big Wyandotte
Cave
The decline in
numbers of Indiana bats over the years
has put them on the endangered list by the U. S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
They are now protected. Wyandotte Caves are
closed to the public during
the bats' hibernation so they will not be
disturbed.
Close-up of sign warning
people to stay out.
(CES Media Club)
(click on it to see larger
image)
Like all hibernating bats, if they are disturbed
during
hibernation, they will burn their energy and
because there
are no insects in the winter they will starve.
That is why it is important that they are
protected.
Indiana Bat cluster
(courtesy of Dr. Clark McCreedy)
If they are found to be roosting in trees then
those trees are
also supposed to be protected. These trees are
not allowed
to be disturbed in any way.
 
This is a tree found in
Southern Indiana being used as a roosting tree
for Indiana bats.
(photographs courtesy of Dr. Clark McCreedy)
Indiana Bat using
echolocation to get a meal
(drawing by CES Media Club)
*****************
References/Resources
Drawing
of Indiana Bat
by CES Media Club
Photographs
of Indiana bat and tree
courtesy of Dr. Clark McCreedy
All other photographs belong to
CES Media Club
BOOKS:
Bats
of the United States
by
Michael J. Harvey, J. Scott Altenbach,
and Troy L. Best, Arkansas Game
& Fish Commission and the U. S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, copyright 1999
Those
Amazing Bats by
Cheryl Mays Halton
Dillon Press, New York copyright 1991
WEBSITES:
Kentucky
Bat Working Group
http://www.biology.eku.edu/bats.htm
Bat Conservation International
http://www.batcon.org
Wyandotte Caves
http://www.wyandottecaves.com
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Comments? Questions?
You can e-mail us at:
jgoble@cannelton.k12.in.us
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