DIY WITH A PURPOSE
BAT STATS
HOW TO BUILD
A BAT HOUSE KATHRYN A. KAHLER Looking for a winter activity that is interactive, educational and helps a Wisconsin threatened species? Sharpen your DIY skills with this simple guide for building a single chamber bat house that can attract as many as 50 bats and provide an alternative roost to help maintain the population. NEED FOR BAT HOUSES Four of Wisconsin’s eight bat species — little brown, big brown, northern long-eared and eastern pipistrelle — are considered threatened due to
28
wnrmag.com
white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that causes extensive mortality in cave-dwelling bats. WNS, first discovered in New York in 2006, spread across the U.S. and reached Wisconsin in 2014. The disease has caused the most precipitous decline of North American wildlife in recorded history. Hibernation surveys done in winter 2020 showed up to a 97% drop from pre-WNS numbers at some sites and total elimination at other sites where smaller populations had existed. Bats are mammals and typically have only one or two pups a year, so it can take much longer for pop-
8: Species of bats recorded in Wisconsin, all either state-threatened or on the “watch” list. 30 years: A bat’s potential lifespan. These long-lived mammals usually have only one baby per year, making them susceptible to drastic population decline from causes like white-nose syndrome. 1,000: Number of mosquitosized insects a single bat can consume in an hour. $22 billion: Pest control savings per year to North American farmers thanks to bats.
ulations to recover than for more prolific species like birds. Giving bats a helping hand provides myriad benefits for homeowners and offers advantages on a larger scale as well. Bats reduce night-flying insects and mosquitoes around your home — including species known to carry West Nile virus — and provide pest control to farmers nationwide. Bats also support the ecosystem as pollinators and plant seed dispersers. Kathryn A. Kahler is associate editor of Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine.
iSTOCK.COM/JOLLY PHOTO
Eastern pipistrelle bat
