Bat cluster (submitted by NB Museum)
If you think you have bats in your home, the New Brunswick Museum would like to hear from you.
Dr. Don McAlpine, curator of zoology, is looking to conduct skin tests on bats as part of a study.
McAlpine hopes to find out more about the White-Nose Syndrome — a type of fungus which has decimated 6 million bats across North America since 2006.
” We may want to sample some of those bats, we won’t be hurting any of the bats we are interested in the chemistry of the skin on those bats, some are more suceptible to white-nose than others and it may be related to skin chemistry,” stated McAlpine.
You may not realize you have bats in your home as you usually can’t see them until early June after the breeding season is over.
Brown Bats resting
(submitted by NB Museum)
Dr. McAlpine mentioned “Bats give birth to a single young and carry it on their back at night while out hunting, but eventually it gets too big to carry and is left alone and that is usually when you will begin hearings the baby bats little squeaks and hear it crawling around.”
He says they are looking for sites where they can get easy access to the bats hanging upside down so they can use a probe to get a skin cell sample under the wing.
McAlpine also says bats in your attic are a good thing as they eat June bugs, mosquitos, flies and moths which can damage clothing that may be stored there.
If you think you have bats and want to help with the study call Dr. McAlpine at 506-343-4432.
