Nature: Northern long-eared bat facing extinction in Ohio due to flourishing fungus

Sunday, April 7 was a fine day to be afield, and Shauna Weyrauch and I ventured to a remote part of western Scioto County. There we met Glenn Crisler, John Howard, Mary Johnson and a few other friends to seek fish.

For a brief period in early spring, some male fish, such as the rosyside dace, acquire brilliant breeding colors worthy of neon tetras or other aquarium fishes.

Our objective was to photograph these fish and that takes work. Tables and chairs are lugged to the streamside, as well as aquariums. Rock cobble from the stream is thoroughly cleaned and used in the tanks for authenticity. Once all is ready, fish are seined from the creek (note: a fishing license is required) and placed in the tank.

Thus, very realistic photos can be shot of the fish in their “natural” habitat. Time is of the essence in order to get piscine captives back in the stream with no harm done.

While making a trip between the vehicles and our fish operation, I noticed a bat flying about. Eastern red bat! Or so I thought. Red bats roost in trees or leaf litter, and are known to make occasional diurnal hunting forays.

I’ve seen them hunting during the day many times over the years. However, this bat had a different gestalt. At times, it passed very close to me and I could see its exceptionally large ears sticking up. Between hunting forays, which only lasted a few minutes, it would fly high aloft to cling to tree bark.

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I alerted the others – all accomplished photographers armed with camera gear – to try and get an image of the bat. Finally, in a stroke of luck, the bat landed at eye level right in front of Crisler. He was on his game and managed a few images of the bat before it darted off.

One of Crisler’s photos accompanies this column.

Upon inspection of the photo, it was obviously not a red bat and I appealed to a higher authority for an identification. Jason Whittle is a biologist with Summit (County) Metro Parks and a bat expert. I sent him the photo and soon had an answer: northern long-eared bat!

This species is similar to other bats, but Whittle pointed out a definitive field mark visible in Glenn’s image. Bats use a sonar system known as echolocation to detect prey. A hunting bat emits clicks that bounce off objects and return as an echo that is picked up by the mammal’s ears.

A specialized organ within the ear, known as a tragus, helps process incoming sound waves, and in the long-eared bat, the tragus is unique in its sharply pointed shape.

The last time I had seen a long-eared bat was in 2008 when one was captured as part of a bat-banding operation in Richland County. Much has changed regarding this bat’s status in the intervening 16 years.

A fungus (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) commonly known as white-nose syndrome, thought to be indigenous to China and Europe, first appeared in New York state in 2006 and had spread to Ohio by 2011.

The fungus flourishes in cool, damp rocky recesses and caves favored by hibernating bats, such as the long-eared bat. White-nose forms lesions on its bat host, which disrupt hibernation and stimulate activity when no food sources are available. This can lead to starvation and severe dehydration, killing the affected bat.

Affected bats often manifest fuzzy whitish growth on the muzzle, hence the fungus’s name. Few bat species have been hit harder than the northern long-eared bat. Prior to the appearance of white-nose syndrome, it was one of the most common of the 10 regularly occurring Ohio bat species.

Now, the long-eared bat is one of the rarest in Ohio and throughout much of its range. In 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed it as federally threatened due to alarming population collapses.

In 2022, the bat was reclassified as federally endangered – the rarest of the rare. Surveys in many regions have shown up to 95% decline in populations, and some long-eared bat colonies have disappeared completely.

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White-nose fungus probably was inadvertently brought to North America by spelunkers on their clothing or gear. Nearly 7 million bats have thus far perished in North America due to white-nose syndrome, with no end in sight.

Half of the 45 bat species in the U.S. are affected, but only those which winter in hibernacula suitable for the growth of the fungus. Tree bats, such as red bat and those species that are migratory, apparently remain unaffected.

Hopefully a cure will eventually be developed, before some of our most fascinating and valuable animals, and our only flying mammals, go extinct.

Naturalist Jim McCormac writes a column for The Dispatch on the first and third Sundays of the month. He also writes about nature at jim mccormac.blogspot.com.