Bats Face Scary Ecological Threats

“CAPE ELIZABETH – At ten past 8 on a recent night, the bats began to emerge from their sleeping quarters.

They would go for a drink at Great Pond before dining on the local insect population. But first, David Yates intended to snag some of them in his nets, to show them to his audience.

“It’s been a good night for bats,” said Yates, a bat biologist.

Yates was talking to 20 adults and children who assembled in the dark for the BioDiversity Research Institute’s annual bat catch. Dressed in warm clothes, carrying flashlights and reeking of bug repellent, the group hovered around Yates at his field table to see the night’s catch: 10 bats, each in a white mesh bag.”