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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇

@albertabats.bsky.social

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Alberta Community Bat Program (www.albertabats.ca). Promoting bat conservation, stewardship & education. A program of WCS Canada (Wildlife Conservation Society Canada). Also posting for the overall Western Bat Program (www.wcsbats.ca).

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · May 22

Wind energy is essential for a cleaner future, but at what cost to wildlife?

We have created a short 7min documentary highlighting the issues affecting migratory bats in western Canada and across North America. Solutions exist but implementation needs to be encouraged. See below for links.🦇🌎🦊🧪

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 2d

That is something we can totally agree on!

Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 2d

Completely appreciate your suggestion. The problem is sound intensity and how far the sound would need to travel to be a "warning" beacon. Physics might be the hurdle here.

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 2d

Sound is tricky. High frequencies can also attract some bat species. And sound attenuates in different conditions - esp with changes in relative humidity. And high frequency sound would have to be very loud to be detectable at long distances. Definitely looking at sight cues though!

Reposted by Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇

WCS Canada @wcscanada.org · 2d

Old-growth trees are nursery habitat for BC’s bats, but when those trees are logged, roost sites disappear.

To bridge the gap, we’ve built 185+ tree roosts structures. DNA analysis shows at least 9 bat species are already using them, many as maternity sites 🧵 @albertabats.bsky.social

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 3d

It was a good turn out! Next time - maybe better skies for watching the stars! 🙂🌟💫🔭🌌

Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 3d

Thanks for the repost! 🦇😍

Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 3d

#OctoberForBats 🦇 Together, we can make a difference for bats! This month, let's rally behind bat research and outreach programs by fundraising and spreading awareness. Every contribution, no matter how small, helps us, help bats. Learn how you can participate and donate at www.albertabats.ca 💡

Text reads Happy Bat Month! Support Bats! DIY Fundraising! for more info visit www.albertabats.ca Collage of bat images (all by Jason Headley) including top left - Long-eared myotis, top right - hoary bat held in a black gloved hand, bottom left Little Brown Myotis on a cave wall, and bottom right close up of the face of a Little Brown Myotis.

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 5d

58-60million years ago this thing lived in Columbia - with I would imagine some very present-day looking bat species! "The Bat Cave" at the Royal Ontario Museum is pretty amazing work. He's a pretty amazing sculptor!

Titanoboa is an extinct genus of very large snakes that lived in what is now La Guajira in northeastern Colombia. They could grow up to 12.8 m (42 ft) long and reach a weight of 1,135 kg (2,500 lb). Fossils of Titanoboa have been found in the Cerrejón Formation, and date to around 58 to 60 million years ago. The giant snake lived during the Middle to Late Paleocene epoch, a 10-million-year period immediately following the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.

Titanoboa inhabited the first recorded tropical forest in South America. It shared its ecosystem with large Crocodylomorpha and large turtles. The paleogeography of the Late Paleocene was a sheltered paralic (coastal) swamp area, sheltered by the emerging later Guajira hills in the west and the slowly rising present-day Serranía del Perijá in the east, with an open connection to the proto-Caribbean in the north.

The warmer climate of the Earth during the time of T. cerrejonensis allowed cold-blooded snakes to attain much larger sizes than modern snakes. Today, larger ectothermic animals are found in the tropics, where it is hottest, and smaller ones are found farther from the equator.

Photography by: Unknown, As a part of their documentary, the Smithsonian Channel asked sculptor Kevin Hockley to create a full-size replica of Titanoboa. (Robert Clark/Institute)
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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 5d

Small world! 🙂 Funny story, I helped him with his very first attempt at taxidermy with a fish! We had some old oil paints. It did not work out well! LOL! We were just kids, so that was like a hundred years ago. A long time since titanaboa - did you see that one he created? Serious talent.

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 6d

I don't think it would have got here via a specimen. I've never heard that as a theory! Oh did you work with Hockley studios? Kevin is a good friend! That's a neat connection!

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 6d

Thank you Talia! #BatsHaveFriends
Love to hear that she found one of our "bat kits" at her local library. We plan on creating more of these to share with libraries across the province!
wcscanada.org/donate/donor...

A Young Champion for Bats: Meet Talia

At just eight years old, Talia has already become a passionate advocate for one of nature’s most misunderstood animals, bats.

wcscanada.org

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 6d

Oh! I see you are a museum curator! An interesting fact about their research into the origins of white-nose syndrome...it was traced back to museum specimens of bats in Europe that had traces of a fungus almost identical to the one infecting North American bats!

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 6d

European bat populations continue to struggle though because like everywhere else, they also have to face habitat loss and insect prey declines as well as the continuing effects of climate change. #BatsNeedFriends everywhere!

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 6d

Interestingly, the bat populations in Europe were always much lower than in NAm and nobody knew why. Now we think that a white-nose syndrome-like disease swept through their bat popns a few centuries ago and what we are seeing is a slow, continual recovery of European bat popns.

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 6d

The current white-nose syndrome epidemic is in North America. But the fungal pathogen was traced back to Europe. It's unclear how it made it to NAm - but it was first detected in upper New York state in 2006.

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 6d

🦇The fungus behind white-nose syndrome continues to spread across Alberta. Our latest detection, near Fort McKay, marks the northernmost detection yet. Thank you to our partners at the Wood Buffalo Wildlife Research Institute for collecting this sample. See maps at www.cwhc-rcsf.ca/white_nose_s...

A map of the spread of Pd (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) that causes white-nose syndrome in bats, across Canada from the CWHC https://www.cwhc-rcsf.ca/white_nose_syndrome_reports_and_maps.php

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 6d

Last year we raised $4K with our October fundraiser! It was fun to see our supporter's different campaigns! One raised $$ using her streaming channel! Funds support both our research & outreach programs - and we super appreciate the support! #BatsNeedFriends

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 6d

Flying foxes feed on mostly very ripe fruit, altho some also sip nectar and pollinate trees. Your "bad boy" lives on fruit salad and sugar water. LOL! How bad could he possibly be? Awesome sighting though!

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 7d

🦇 October is Bat Month! 🦇
Start your own mini fundraiser for bats - stream, bake, craft, get creative! Fund our bat research & outreach program!
Register here via WCS Canada:
👉 www.justgiving.com/campaign/oct...

October for Bats 2025

Throughout October, join WCS Canada in a vital mission to protect one of nature’s most misunderstood and essential creatures: bats. Let's put the "fun" in fundraising and help protect these nighttime...

www.justgiving.com

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 7d

RIP Jane Goodall. A remarkable life. An inspiration to many, especially women who embarked on their own journeys in field biology and wildlife conservation upon reading about her life and her work. Indeed, we all have our part in looking after our planet. Do some good today and make a difference.

A picture of Dr Jane Goodall with a quote: "You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." - Jane Goodall

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Reposted by Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇

WCS Canada @wcscanada.org · 8d

One meaningful step is to amplify Indigenous voices who advocate and spread awareness of the day’s importance. Take time to follow, learn, reflect & carry that commitment forward beyond today. (2/2)

#TruthAndReconciliation #OrangeShirtDay #EveryChildMatters

Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 11d

Saw this. No white-nose syndrome infection yet though - but they do have the fungus that causes the disease. Usually year 2 or 3 you see sick bats and then the population crashes. Maybe we can apply the probiotic before that happens.

Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 12d

Oh yep, @calgaryresponse.bsky.social (they might even ask to use your video clip!) They have teams of volunteers that cruise downtown #YYC looking for bird strikes in the early mornings during the migration period. The hope is to identify problematic areas & advise building owners of options to help

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 12d

Feather-friendly is really effective (and there is good science behind it). The Calgary Urban Species Response Team would love to see this video. I will see if I can find a link to them, not sure if they are on Bluesky

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Alberta Community Bat Program/Western Bat Program 🦇 @albertabats.bsky.social · 16d

I little bit of you will always be on #TeamBat! 😉🦇Bats leave a lasting impression on most people!