Timothy Carter – Biology
It is not too often that you get to discover a new species. In 2005, we discovered the Eastern Small-Footed Bat in Illinois for the first time. While it was not a huge surprise, there had been a lot of work in the state over the years, and yet, we still had not bumped into them! Turns out there is a very good reason; Eastern Small-Footed bats behave very differently than most of the other eastern bats. Most eastern bats are found in bottomland or wetland like areas. Our new friends, these Eastern Small-Footed Bats, are found on dry rocky outcrops called pine barrens or sand-stone barrens. But that’s not the end of their incredible story. While most bats roost in hollow trees or under bark or in buildings, our Eastern Small-Footed Bats prefer to roost under rocks on the ground! As a bat biologist I can tell you it’s the craziest thing I have ever seen! Our most productive method of finding these bats is to walk around and flip rocks in the middle of the day! That is very different than using nets over streams at night to catch most other eastern bats.
Eastern Small-Footed Bats are one of the smallest bats in the US. They often weight less than 5 grams (that’s two pennies!) and are just over 3 inches long. They are truly tiny bats. Little is known about this species that can has been documented from Maine to Arkansas and Canada to Tennessee. Only a couple of biologists have focused any time studying this species anywhere in its range.
Beginning in 2011, we started studying the species to learn more about their amazing ecology. We first set out to document their distribution. Over the next few years we located them at over a dozen sites. We also established that there was a healthy population that was breeding and doing well. After getting a good handle on their distribution in southern Illinois we meet with the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board and presented our findings. Because of their limited distribution in the state and relatively small population, the Eastern Small-Footed Bat was granted Threatened status to ensure they received the protection they needed.
In 2015, we started a research project to further understand the ecology of this special bat. We use a variety of techniques to study these tiny animals. First, each animal we catch gets a tiny little bracelet that has a unique number so we can keep track of who is who. This helps us understand movement patterns and also any relationships between individuals. We have also been putting tiny radio transmitters on selected bats so that we can follow them around and try to understand how they live their lives. We have been trying to understand which rocks they like to roost under and why. Do they use any other habitats besides the loose rocks on these rocky outcrops? We wanted to understand how far they travel and why do they pick the areas they do.
So far it looks like they really like those rocky outcrops. But there are times when the bats seem to disappear and we still haven’t figured out where they go. We suspect that temperature plays a role in what habitats they choose when. We have been using tiny temperature data loggers called iButtons to record they temperatures under the rocks and in the environment to see if we can predict the movements of the bats. It has been an exciting few years studying these bats. We are looking forward to what other secrets we can uncover in the lives of these Eastern Small-Footed Bats.
Dr. Tim Carter is an Associate Professor at Ball State University. His wildlife lab conducts research on a variety of species and topics, but over the last decade much of their work has focused on bats and bat ecology.
You can read his full bio by clicking here.
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