12 minute read
Catching the Night Flyers
by Villia Struyk
Think bats are scary or dangerous? Professor of Biology Miranda Dunbar wants to change your perception. Bats are clean, social, and essential to agriculture and pest control; one can eat up to 1,200 mosquitoes an hour.* Research on bats may also unlock clues on aging, immunity, and evolution.
BUILDING A RESEARCH LABORATORY is a challenge Miranda Dunbar, professor of biology, hasn’t needed to tackle. “The world is my research lab,” says Dunbar, a field biologist who specializes in the study of bats — or more precisely, the physiological ecology of bats, “a fancy phrase that means I look at how bats adapt to different environmental pressures,” she says. There is a lot to investigate.
Dunbar collaborates with a diverse group of chiropterologists, aka bat experts.
She’s assisting researchers at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, who are studying the microbiomes found in the guts of bats. Many bat species have a very limited diet, be it one or a few types of insects, fruit, or blood (hello, vampire bat). Among the questions the team hopes to answer: how do bats get adequate nutrients?
Dunbar also is working with researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), on research related to aging in bats. The subject: the remains of a captive colony of bats thought to be the oldest in the U.S. before it died out. She and Southern students are developing ways to determine the age of the deceased bats by studying their teeth. UCLA will use technology to test their findings, and there are countless research topics to build on. “Fun fact: relative to their size, bats are one of the longest living animals on the planet. How are they doing that?” asks Dunbar.
But Dunbar’s self-described research “bread-and-butter” is thermoregulation: the ability of an organism to keep its internal temperature within certain boundaries. "I'm interested in the extremes," she says.
BATS ARE FOUND ON EVERY CONTINENT EXCEPT ANTARCTICA. Dunbar — who earned a doctorate from the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada — initially focused her research on bat species living in extremely cold environments. The ability to hibernate helps these cold-weather species to survive.
“When bats hibernate, all their physiologies slow down: heart rate, metabolism, respiratory rate, even the immune system,” says Dunbar. “This allows the animal to save very precious energy during a time when energy reserves are of utmost importance.”
Many cold-climate bat species are also known to enter a state of torpor. Think of it as a less extreme, much shorter version of hibernation. Bats might enter torpor daily to conserve energy if, for example, food was scarce.
Like hibernation, in general, torpor was long attributed to bats in cold climates. But Dunbar and a few other researchers had a unique question: Do bats respond the same way in the tropics? “It seemed counterintuitive. Why would bats in the tropics need to hibernate? . . . So, no one really had addressed that question before a few years ago,” says Dunbar.
When she and a few colleagues began researching bats in the tropics, the results were illuminating. “I almost fell out of my seat,” says Dunbar. “We have evidence now that bats in the tropics are using some of the same physiological adaptation as bats do in cold climates. It’s such a cool discovery that has opened the door to all sorts of potential research.”
TODAY, THAT RESEARCH OFTEN LEADS DUNBAR TO BELIZE. The Central American country is home to at least 75 bat species among the 1,400 found worldwide. It’s also home base for one of the field’s penultimate research events, affectionately known as the Bat-a-thon — or Brock’s Bat-a-thon, after the event’s founder Brock Fenton, a retired biologist from Western University in Ontario, Canada.
“In my world, it is a very, very big deal,” says Dunbar, of the event held annually, 16 times to date, except during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, 80 bat researchers and assistants from 50 institutions in 15 countries attended the event, which is held adjacent to the Lamanai Archaeological Reserve, once a Maya metropolis.
This is not your stereotypical scientific gathering. “’There are no papers, there are no presentations, there are no posters,”’ explains Fenton, in a 2024 interview with National Public Radio.
Instead, interaction between the researchers is the driving force. “So much happens over those few weeks,” says Dunbar. In addition to conducting research, people come to the Bat-a-thon to learn new field-biology techniques, to interview for a research position or doctoral program, or even to practice nature photography, she explains.
But working with bats is the shared theme, “and because we have these esteemed researchers from all over the world, it is hands down one of the best networking and collaborative events, period. What the Bat-a-thon has done for my professional development is unparalleled,” she says.
Dunbar is committed to sharing Belize’s research bounty with tomorrow’s scientists. Each summer, she leads a two-week international education course on field natural history in Belize’s rain forests, grassland savannas, and freshwater lagoons. The course is based at the same eco-lodge as the Bat-a-thon. (See Learning in Belize sidebar below.)
Dunbar also brings Southern students to the annual Bat-a-thon; this year, she was accompanied by Keelyn Kotecki, a graduate student majoring in biology. (Kotecki completed her degree in December.)
“My students describe the experience as living on a movie set. It just doesn’t seem real. But it is,” says Dunbar, of the Indiana Jones-esque setting.
Pressed for details, Dunbar and Kotecki elaborate. Bats are nocturnal (as are the scientists who study them), so imagine that it’s 4 p.m. when the researchers travel into the rain forest toward the ancient Maya temples. The temperature is about 98 degrees Fahrenheit and humid, but the scientists wear pants, long-sleeve shirts, and gloves for protection from the biting insects. A backpack holds water, snacks, dinner, and some basic equipment.
When they reach the designated area, the researchers set up mist nets: rectangular nets made of fine, inconspicuous threads, they’re used for the humane, live capture, and release of the bats. (All of Dunbar’s research is no kill and minimally invasive.)
For Kotecki, it’s the sounds that resonate: “One of the coolest parts of mist netting is hearing the howler monkeys overhead. It’s what I imagine dinosaurs would sound like. It sets the magical tone of the night.”
The scientists wait in anticipation. “The sun is setting and in the darkening sky you start to see these little fuzzy shapes zigzagging overhead, and you know the bats are starting to come out,” says Dunbar.
In step with Dunbar’s ongoing research, Kotecki’s work in Belize focused specifically on heterothermy in vampire bats. Her investigation entailed removing bats from the mist nets (those handling the bats receive appropriate vaccinations before traveling), recording data, including body temperature, and ultimately releasing her subjects back to the night. The research — which formed her graduate thesis — could be among the first papers to attribute torpor specifically to vampire bats.
“I formed such solid connections with the people I lived and worked with,” says Kotecki of her co-researchers in Belize. “These are people I will value as friends and hope to work with forever.”
Kotecki, who was raised in Ledyard, Conn., was always drawn to nature. “A lot of people associate Ledyard with Foxwoods Casino, but there’s also a ton of forested land,” she says. “I lived on a dirt road. I grew up hiking.”
In fourth grade, after watching a documentary on clouded leopards, she announced plans to become a zoologist. She’s worked toward that goal ever since — studying animal science in high school, volunteering at nature sites, contributing to citizen science efforts, and majoring in wildlife and conservation biology as an undergraduate at the University of Rhode Island.
There, she’d fallen under the spell of bats while studying animal behavior. She credits the research of scientist Gerald Wilkinson who has published extensively on food sharing among vampire bats. “Vampire bats will vomit blood into the mouths of other vampire bats that may be struggling to find enough food,” Kotecki explains.
Her journey to Southern began appropriately enough on a caving trip in upstate New York. She had discovered a group of cavers on Facebook and would join them occasionally to explore the stunning landscape.
On this day, she overheard several people talking about a young woman they knew who was traveling to Belize to study. “I heard Southern, and I heard bats,” said Kotecki. Several google searches and phone calls later, Kotecki was talking with Miranda Dunbar.
Much like her protégée, Dunbar has always loved nature. “From the time I was very young, all I wanted to do was go outside and chase critters. Nothing has changed except now I get paid to do so,” she says.
Dunbar also fell under the spell of bats as an undergraduate — but it was not love at first sight. “We were assigned different topics for homework. Mine was echolocation in bats, while all my friends in the class got the megafauna, the big, sexy animals: bears, lions, whales,” she says.
Dunbar was not amused. She procrastinated. She griped. “But once I read more about these animals, I was blown away by how interesting they are — and, I would argue, how important they are as a research subject.”
Since then, she’s never looked back, driven, in part, by the negativity surrounding her research subject of choice. Bats aren’t the world’s most feared animal — one study by the British Journal of Psychology gave that dubious honor to spiders. Still, bats could use a talented press agent. Pop culture tends to associate bats with vampires and rabies. Bats are nocturnal, not often viewed, and, as Dunbar notes, humans tend to be frightened by the unseen.
“When you see a story about this group of animals in the news, often it’s about something icky,” she says. “We need to do a better job of making our press stories a little more equitable by sharing some of the positive things these animals do — because the examples are endless.” ■
*EcoHealth Alliance
BAT FANS
Bats are the only mammals capable of sustained flight. But, in terms of uniqueness, that’s just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. “This is a group of animals that didn’t read the biology textbook. Think about every [biology] fun fact you’ve ever read, and you’ll find that there is a species of bats out there that does the exact opposite,” says Miranda Dunbar, professor of biology.
Dunbar and Keelyn Kotecki, M.S. ’24, share a few of the reasons they find bats fascinating.
Bats have strong intricate social bonds and exhibit altruistic behavior. Kotecki uses vampire bats to illustrate: “They will help orphaned babies. They groom each other and will feed other bats that are hungry and can’t get enough food.”
Bats are important pollinators. For example, they are the sole pollinator for the agave plant, a key ingredient in tequila.
Bats are nurturing. “We’ve found that mother bats will use an echolocation version of a lullaby to sooth their babies,” says Dunbar.
Bats consume enough pests to result in a savings of more than $3.7 billion per year on pest control.
Bats may co-parent. “We even have evidence of lactation in male bats. So, it may be that male bats are participating in levels of parental care that we don’t see in any other male species,” says Dunbar.
Bats may hold answers to treating illnesses. “Bats — much like all non-human animals — carry a unique assortment of viruses and bacteria. But they rarely get sick. Since COVID-19, a lot of research efforts are focusing on the superhuman powers of bats to withstand and be resistant to disease and illnesses,” says Dunbar.
Bats serve other medical purposes. “For example, Draculin, found in the saliva of vampire bats, is a powerful anticoagulant,” says Kotecki.
Bats are clean. In fact, many species spend hours a day grooming like a cat.
Bats are social. “They have friends. They have social groups. They even have other bats they don’t particularly care for that they avoid,” notes Dunbar.
LEARNING IN BELIZE
SINCE 2016, DUNBAR HAS LED A FIELD COURSE IN BELIZE. Running almost two-weeks long, the course is decidedly hands-on, always respecting students’ comfort levels and focusing on safety.
“I want to meet a huge diversity of interests, so generally, every day has a different theme,” says Dunbar. On “plant day,” students might learn about the trees, flowers and medicinal plants of the rain forest. Another day, students might track monkeys through the rain forest or join a long-term research project focused on a unique species of crocodile. Amid these chance-of-a-lifetime experiences, Dunbar also focuses on her personal passion.
“Of course, I also will selfishly include bats. We have a couple of nights when we go out and net for bats,” she says.
