It’s official. The Northern long-eared bat is listed as an endangered species under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) Endangered Species Act. Earlier this year, the USFWS announced the proposed uplisting due to severe population declines. This uplisting would help to protect and recover this imperiled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend on.
A Northern long-eared bat is held in a gloved hand- these bats are less that 4 inches long with a wingspan of 9-10 inches.
Through the Endangered Species Act, species may be listed as either endangered or threatened. The term “Threatened” means a species is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future. The term “Endangered” means a species is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.
Story by: Alison Levine, Communications Coordinator
Bats. They can be kind of creepy. Full disclosure, when I was a kid a bat got into our house and was so disoriented at being in an alien environment that it actually flew into my shoulder. So, I’m not exactly unbiased. I’ve learned to appreciate the important roles bats play – many help keep insect populations under control, some are crucial pollinators for fruits – but I’ve never really warmed up to them before.
While there are plenty of people who share my slightly-creeped out feelings for bats, fortunately there are lot of people who love the furry little flying mammals.
CWF Biologist, and bat ambassador extraordinaire, Meghan Kolk goes out and handles bats on purpose. As part of a joint project with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Meghan and CWF Biologist Ethan Gilardi teamed up with USFWS staff to conduct bat surveys in the summer of 2018 and again this year.
The surveys are conducted at Joint Military Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in the northern part of Pine Barrens. The goal is to capture northern long-eared bats (Myotis septentrionalis), a federally threatened species, and track them back to their roost tree (ideally tracking females back to maternity roost trees) using radio transmitters.
Conserve Wildlife Foundation Biologist and 2015 Women & Wildlife Inspiration Award Winner Featured in Halloween Special of The Creature Show
by Lindsay McNamara, Communications Manager
Just in time for Halloween, learn more about New Jersey’s bat population in the latest episode of The Creature Show! In this episode, join Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s wildlife ecologist Stephanie Feigin and 2015 Women & Wildlife Inspiration Award Winner MacKenzie Hall on their journey to track the federally listed Northern long-eared bat, hear from a young bat advocate and learn more about current threats to bat populations.
The Creature Show Halloween Special offers a glimpse into the work by New Jersey’s bat biologists to protect the remaining population of these misunderstood creatures of the night. Learn how to radio track a bat, see the joy in our biologists’ faces when all of their effort in the field pays off, and listen as common myths about bats are de-bunked.
The episode is running through Halloween in the small theater downstairs at Duke Farms‘ Orientation Center (Hillsborough, New Jersey) on a continuous loop in their “bat cave.”
The Creature Show is a documentary webseries dedicated to conservation storytelling. Their stage: the wilds of New Jersey, within the nation’s most crowded state. Here they find represented all the villains of global extinction, including habitat destruction, climate change, invasive species and wildlife disease. They also find wildlife biologists and regular citizens who have devoted themselves to protecting the region’s biodiversity, no matter what the challenges may be.
