Edith Leslie
Contributing Writer
Gray bats have become increasingly endangered throughout the years because of human disturbance in limestone caves and pollution. This disturbance has put gray bats on the endangered species list.
“The gray bat was added to the U.S. List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants on April 28, 1976,” according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.
This disturbance in their natural habitat can interfere with their hibernation and maternity period.
“Arousing bats while they are hibernating can cause them to use up a lot of energy, which lowers their energy reserves,” according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service article.
In order to help gray bats regain their population people should avoid their caves from the beginning of October to the end of March for hibernation and the beginning of October to beginning of April in order to keep the bats’ maternity roots safe.
“Severe or repeated disturbance may cause reproductive failure of an entire colony,” according to the Missouri Department of Conservation.
With gray bats being very reliant on the small numbers of limestone caves, there can be from 10 to hundreds of thousands of bats per cave. With their dependence on specific caves, disturbing even one of their caves can hurt their population.
With the population slowly regrowing, gray bats are hoped to make it off the endangered species list and onto the threatened list. This growth in their population is thanks to many conservation efforts to protect their natural habitat.
Because the bats are not completely out of the woods, making an effort to avoid caves they could be roosting in will still make a difference.
Support our Sponsors
