preservation - WKTV Journal

The Grand Rapids Public Museum’s “Bats: Masters of the Night” features hands-on exhibits. (Supplied)

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

From carrying diseases to being the source of COVID, bats have gotten a bad rap.

“I think it is just popular opinion because of all the advertising around bats being spooky thieves.” said Jamie Racalla, an animal care supervisor with John Ball Zoo. “When in truth, half of them are pollinators, take care of those pesky bugs like mosquitoes, and don’t really carry all those diseases.”

Jaime Racalla is an animal care specialist at John Ball Zoo. (Supplied)

It is why such exhibits as the Grand Rapids Public Museum’s current “Bats: Masters of the Night” are so important, Racalla said, because it helps to dispel some of the myths around these very difficult to study and often misunderstood creatures.

“We really don’t know that much about bats,” said Racalla, who recently participated in a study on bats in Michigan hosted by the Detroit Zoo. “Think about when they are out, at night, which makes them difficult to study because it has to be dark.”

For a while, researchers would study bats during the day while they slept in bat houses or when they hibernated during the winter. Unfortunately, White-Nose Syndrome developed among North American bats, which is a fungus call Pseudogymnoascus destructans, that invades and ingests the skin of hibernating bats, causing them to wake up more frequently in the winter and use up their limited fat reserves. First found in North America in 2006, it is estimated that by 2012 more than 6.7 million bats in North America have died from the disease.

To help reduce the spread of the fungus, researchers have discontinued visiting bats in their homes, but instead are using sonar to help track the bat population in the United States, This past summer, Racalla drove around parts of Greater Grand Rapids using equipment to hear bat calls which helped determine what type of bats could be in the area.

Through her research, Racalla said she found several bat types such as the little brown bat, eastern red bat, big brown bat, and the silver-haired bat, all of which eat insects such as mosquitoes, beetles, flies, ants, and spiders.

Through the Grand Rapids Public Museum’s exhibit, residents can make their own discoveries about the creatures of the night. While there are blood-sucking bats — vampire bats live in Central and South America — a majority of the bats are gentle and much like the bats found in Michigan, beneficial to the ecosystem.

Bats are important to the environment in that they help to pollinate plants and eat pesky bugs such as mosquitoes. (Supplied)

Visitors can learn more about diet and flight of various bats around the world (The only place without bats are Arctic, Antarctic and a few isolated Oceanic islands). The exhibit includes lifelike models, multi-sensory interactive displays and environmentally lifelike settings. There also is a hands-on display showcasing the evening activities of bats, such as echolocation (sonar ability). In a demonstration of echolocation, visitors can use a joystick to maneuver a bat model in search of food using a laser to simulate sonar. In a visit to a bat nursery, visitors learn how caring bat mothers are by using sound to help the mother bat find her baby.

“I personally can’t wait to see the exhibit,” Racalla said. “I hope people go and it helps them have a greater understanding of just how misunderstood and unique they are.”

Also the importance of preservation of the bat community. Because of the White-Nosed Syndrome, most Michigan bat species are considered threatened or endangered. Because of state and federal productions, it is illegal to kill certain species of bats, according to the USDA Forest Service.

“Bats: Masters of the Night” will be up through January 2022 at the Grand Rapids Public Museum, 272 Pearl St. NW. Hours are 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.Monday – Friday and 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. “The Bats: Masters of the Night” is included in the museum’s general admission. General admission for Kent County residents is $5/adults, $3/seniors, and free/children 17 & under. For more information

By Hannah Brock
Capital News Services

LANSING — A species unique to the Great Lakes region once had a bounty on its head, but now experts are trying to save it.

Known as the only venomous snake in Michigan — and one of two rattlesnakes in the Great Lakes Region — the eastern massasauga rattlesnake has been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act since 2016.

Less than half of the massasauga’s historical population exists, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Why save it?

Snakes in general cause a visceral response, said Yu Man Lee, a conservation scientist at the Michigan Natural Features Inventory, a program of Michigan State University Extension.

“There’s this perceived risk (and) misunderstanding about the snake’s behavior and ecology,” Lee said.

“You know, like ‘the snake’s going to chase after me. It’s going to come after me and bite me and stuff.’ And so I think that perceived risk then gets that added layer on top of the fact that people don’t like snakes and don’t understand the value of snakes.”

But the eastern massasauga is unlikely to chase or bite people, Lee said.

There’s a reason some people don’t know Michigan is home to a venomous snake: Eastern massasaugas are docile, often hide and aren’t likely to bite unless grabbed or stepped on, she said.

A total of 848 individual reports of eastern massasaugas biting humans were made in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio between 1800 and 2015, according to a recent study published in Wilderness and Environmental Medicine. That’s about four snake bites per year. While fatalities from the bites were reported by the study, none occurred after 1935.

Lee has surveyed civilians about the eastern massasauga for more than 20 years. There is a range of those who like snakes and want to know about rattlesnakes from a safety perspective and others who think no snake is a good snake, she said.

The small, thick-bodied snake lives in wetlands in all Great Lakes states, Iowa and Ontario, but most populations are in Michigan and Ontario. Michigan is the stronghold for the species, said Dan Kennedy, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources endangered species coordinator.

Over the last two decades, the Michigan DNR has sought efforts to conserve the snake, Kennedy said. By managing state-owned land and that of private partners, the department has preserved millions of acres of land under a conservation agreement, Kennedy said.

Shaughn Galloway via U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceAn eastern massasauga rattlesnake lying in brush.

Most states had bounties on the snakes in the past, much like wolves, said Eric Hileman, a quantitative ecologist for the eastern massasauga Species Survival Plan.

“I think as years have progressed we’ve seen the consequences firsthand of when we try to remove species that we’re fearful of, and even in those cases, it comes back to bite us,” Hileman said.

Snakes like the eastern massasauga are an important part of the ecosystem. They regulate small mammal populations, which can transmit disease, Hileman said. For example, eastern massasauga eat small mammals carrying ticks, which can help ward off Lyme disease.

However, past bounties aren’t the main reason for population decline.

“I would say the biggest culprit is habitat loss, either simply by removing habitat and converting it to agriculture or urbanizing it, or sometimes in some areas, simply succession,” Hileman said.

Eastern massasaugas live in wetlands. Natural succession may lead the wetland area to turn into forest if there isn’t any fire to keep the trees down and maintain the wetland, Hileman said.

The snakes regulate their temperature with outside sources of heat. A shaded forest doesn’t suit them.

As habitat loss occurs, the massasauga’s range is divided into smaller pieces, sometimes causing the snakes to die while crossing roads, Hileman said.

Hileman has worked with massasaugas for 11 years. He’s handled over 1,000 of them with proper equipment. The vast majority didn’t strike.

“They don’t deserve the reputation that they have,” said Hileman, adding that it’s understandable to be fearful if you live in a state that doesn’t have other venomous snakes.

Some people tend to have a bias towards species that are charismatic and they tend to care more about the conservation of species that are perceived as cute, said Carrie Tansy, the deputy field supervisor for the Fish and Wildlife Service.

“It’s important to understand that native species, like massasauga, often play an important ecological role within their communities,” Tansy said.

The Fish and Wildlife Service announced Sept. 23 that it has partnered with state, federal and private agencies to carry out a final recovery plan for the eastern massasauga.

The goal is to stop species decline and ensure long-term survival by addressing habitat loss, according to the release. The plan also addresses impacts from flooding, drought, disease and intentional killing of the snakes.

“If eastern massasauga disappear, it’s one of a kind,” Hileman said. “It will never come back. So I think, from my perspective, that alone is a reason to want to work towards conservation.”

Hannah Brock reports for Great Lakes Echo.