Gone Batty!
08.01.2011

Things are "batty" in Fugate Woods when the sun goes down. Two environmental biologists identified 4 species of the fragile night- flyers in a two night netting study in late July: The Big Brown Bat, Eastern Red Bat, Northern Long-Eared and Evening Bat.

Pocket nets strung across three trails yielded thrirty-three bats, each examined for maturity and gender, weight and wing-size, and a small wing biopsy taken for Illinois State Lab species verification. All were assessed as well for any indication of the White Nose Virus that is devistating bat populations throughout the Northeast. No Indiana Brown Bats were identified.

All captives were safely released to soar back into the magic of the dark woodland to dance with the fireflies.

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2011