Bat Research in Mason Part 2

mm- about four million female bats inhabit the cave from may through september. They give birth to a single pup in june or july and nurse their young for five weeks in the warm humid cave. Gary- there are 5000 babies per square meter of cave surface, each baby with a different mother. There will be these continuous sheets of thousands of baby bats. Mm- the mothers and thier babies use unique vocal calls and glandular smell to locate each other in the roosting mayhem. Thomas- baby bats are born at a very large size to thier mother. They weigh about 25% of the mothers weight. Mm- while the mothers are out at night feeding, the babies are exposed to predators. About five percent of the babies are lost to possums, racoons, skunks. Thomas- mother bats nurse their babies until they are about ninety percent of adult size. This is like a human nursing until teen years. Mm- thermal infrared imaging helps the scientists count the bats. Researchers need to know the bat populations to compute insect consumption and the dollar value of avoided crop loss. Noa- anabat picks up bat location calls which we normally cannot hear. They are at a frequency above our hearing range. Mm- bat location calls vary by species, thus researchers determine the species by studying the frequency of the calls. Gary- these are small mammals weighing about half ounce, But they live on average ten years. Mm- tracking migrating insects at high altitude at night requires sophisticated abilities. Gary- these animal are put together pretty well with regards to their sensory aspects and central nervous activity. Mm- the 100 million bats that migrate to south central texas each summer are a natural resource worth millions of dollars to agriculture. Mm klst news.