“GREAT BAY NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, N.H. — In the twilight before moonrise, a faint shadow swooped overhead and into the surrounding bower.
Dave Yates switched off his headlamp and quietly signaled for his fellow wildlife biologists to stop. They waited a few minutes before approaching one of the large traps they had erected along a winding trail. Yates aimed his headlamp into the October night illuminating their quarry: a big brown bat.
He carefully untangled the furry creature’s wispy wings, pointy ears, and sharp teeth from what looked like a volleyball net. It was the 73d bat caught since August by Yates and his US Fish and Wildlife Service colleagues, who have been attaching special radio transmitters to the flying mammals to better understand and protect creatures that provide significant economic benefits.”
