A Lawrence High School graduate spent his summer studying bats as part of a conservation effort that could put some of the animals on the endangered species list.
Zackary Hann, who graduated in 2009 and is now a senior studying biology at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va., with two other students and a faculty advisor, studied the natural habitat of the eastern red bat, an elusive creature about the size and weight of a half dollar coin.
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“What makes it difficult to locate the red bats is that they roost in trees and, as their name suggests, they’re red,” Hann said. “With their fur coloration and their tendency to hang by one foot, they look exactly like a dead leaf.”
Hann, 20, concentrated on roosting behavior, but he gathered other data as well, including the bat’s age, gender, reproductive status, weight, forearm length and wing score.
In sites throughout West Virginia, Hann set up 6-by-9-meter nets to capture the bats. Once caught, he attached tracking devices that would bring him closer to their roosting location. But even with the device, finding the exact location of the roost was a challenge.
Information gathered on the habitat of the bat will sharpen the focus of conservation efforts, he said.
“In Virginia, very little is known about their habitat requirements. Once we do have some sort of understanding, we can then begin to better protect the species.”
Bats play an important role in natural world, where many eat up to one thousand insects an hour and others, who eat fruit and plant nectar, help pollinate plants, according to Bat Conservation International.
The study is the project of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which was petitioned to classify the animals as endangered. The listing would help protect bat habitat and start some conservation work.
In addition to habitat conservation, information gathered on the bat can be used as a springboard for scientists to launch additional studies, he said.
“They are a unique mammal that many don’t have a very good understanding of,” he said.
Han also plans to continue this kind of work in the future.
“We’re always discovering new things about the world that have a huge impact on not only our species but others as well,” he said. “Because of this, we have the ability to positively shape the world not just for humans but for other animals as well.”
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