Issue 011 | September 2017          
Creatures of the Night Did you know that approximately one in every four species of mammals on earth is a bat species?  About 1,300 species of bats currently exist worldwide.  The Dallas/Fort Worth area is home to the Eastern Red Bat, Evening Bat, Hoary Bat, Mexican Free-tailed Bat, Silver-Haired Bat, and Tri-Colored Bat. This unique mammal's adaptations for flight and ability to echolocate make it one of nature's most fascinating creatures. 
Bat Conservation 
Austin-based Bat Conservation International  (BCI) focuses on bat conservation issues throughout the world. Their Website's "Why Bats?" section articulates how bats are "Important," "Threatened," 
"Misunderstood," "Everywhere," and "Cool!"  One BCI initiative involves protecting megapopulations of bats, including the colony at Austin's Congress Avenue Bridge.  
 
North Texas is home to
Bat World Sanctuary, an organization that rescues and rehabilitates hundreds of bats a year.  Find a bat in your yard or neighborhood?  The "Found a Bat?" Page provides guidance on helping the bat.   
Citizen Science
Recording and listening to bat calls is a primary method of monitoring bat populations.
Although specialized computer programs can help analyze audio recordings, scientists need human listeners to accurately distinguish bat calls against the backdrop of other night noises in a recording.  Bat Detective  provides an avenue for citizen scientists to help with this work. Learn more about the whys and hows of this project here.
 
 
  
In the Cave and on the Wing
Bat World Sanctuary's Batcam Webpage provides 24/7 live footage of several of their facility's bat enclosures.  The Mexican Free-tailed Bat, a species found in North Texas, is one of the occupants of the "Insect Bat Cave."  
 
Witnessing a colony of bats emerge from their roosting site can be an unforgettable experience. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Website provides a guide to top Bat Watching Sites of Texas, including the renowned Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin and Bracken Cave Preserve near San Antonio.
Access our Podcast!
We invite you to deepen your knowledge of the beautiful natural world that is all around us and to connect with passionate naturalists by listening to our bi-weekly podcast. All in the spirit of lifelong learning!
 
Featured Books 
Bats of Texas
by Loren K. Ammerman

With all new illustrations, color photographs, revised species accounts, updated maps, and a sturdy flexible binding, this new edition of the authoritative guide to bats in Texas will serve as the field guide and all-around reference of choice for amateur naturalists as well as mammalogists, wildlife biologists, and professional conservationists.
Bats of the United States and Canada
by Michael J. Harvey

Written by three of the world’s leading bat experts and featuring J. Scott Altenbach's stunning photographs, this fact-filled and easy-to-use book is the most comprehensive and up-to-date account of bats in the U.S. and Canada.
Bats : a world of science and mystery
by M. Brock Fenton

Presents a guide to what scientists know about bats, detailing their origins, evolution, diet, habitat, reproductive process, and social structure, and offers a discussion of echolocation and these mammals' role in the ecosystem
The secret lives of bats : my adventures with the world's most misunderstood mammals
by Merlin D. Tuttle

An ecologist, conservationist and wildlife photographer explains why bats are misunderstood and should not be feared, and discusses how highly intelligent they are, their social order which is similar to that of primates and how they eat crop pests and pollinate plants. 20,000 first printing.
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