|
|
|
Endangered Species
The Indiana Myotis
Scientific Name: Myotis Sodalis
Description
The Indiana bat was first listed as endangered in 1967 primarily due to episodes of large numbers of Indiana bat deaths caused by human  disturbance during hibernation.
Indiana bats are quite small, weighing only one-quarter of an ounce (about the weight of three pennies) although in flight they have a wingspan of 9 to 11 inches. Their fur is dark-brown to black. They hibernate during winter in caves or, occasionally, in abandoned mines. During summer they roost under the peeling bark of dead and dying trees. Indiana bats eat a variety of flying insects found along rivers or lakes and in uplands. In August the bats gather near their hibernacula, in the fall swarming period. At this time they mate and eat insects voraciously to put on fat for the winter hibernation.
Habitat
Indiana bats are found over most of the eastern half of the United States. Almost half of all Indiana bats hibernate in caves in southern Indiana. Other states within the current range of the Indiana bat include Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia. The 2009 population estimate is about 387,000 Indiana bats, less than half as many as when the species was listed as endangered in 1967.
The Indiana Bat has been found in significant numbers in some West Virginia caves. They have been identified foraging in the Blackwater Canyon.
Threats
One of the biggest and most immediate threats to Indiana Myotis is the development of industrial wind turbines along the ridges of the Allegheny Highlands. It has been found that bats often get close to the turbines, whose lights attract insects, and the wind vortex actually causes their lungs to expand and explode. Additionally, the turbines may cause problems with the bats echolocation causing them to fly into the blades.
Indiana bats are extremely vulnerable to disturbance because they hibernate in large numbers in only a few caves (the largest hibernation caves support from 20,000 to 50,000 bats). Other threats that have contributed to the species decline include commercialization of caves, loss of summer habitat, pesticides and other contaminants, and most recently, the disease white nose syndrome. |
|
|
