Lost River - Karst Information Portal

2007 NSS Convention Guidebook
have long toe hairs and unkeeled calcars.
Handling bats (such as to look for these small
differences) is something that cavers should
never do unless they are also trained, licensed
wildlife professionals
with pre-exposure
rabies vaccine. In
the summer, these
two species are
rarely encountered
in caves, and then
mostly as individual
males. In the winter
they both can form
large clusters, but
Indiana bats prefer
colder, more stable
temperatures and
form denser clusters,
while little brown
bats like more humid,
even damp, roosts. If
a large, tight cluster of
bats is seen, it should
274
Myotis austroriparius (southeastern myotis),
roosting. © Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat
Conservation International.
Myotis lucifugus (little brown myotis), perched on
the cave wall. © Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation
International.
be reported. Several of the most important
hibernacula in Indiana are closed to caving
during the critical winter period, usually from
Labor Day (to account for fall swarming)
through the end of April.
Myotis sodalis (Indiana myotis), cluster hibernating, close-up. © Merlin D.
Tuttle, Bat Conservation International.