McCarty, J. Kenneth. Bats of Jewel Cave National Monument. 57+ p.

Abstract

Throughout man's history bats have been considered a very mysterious creature, one of which little was known and whose nocturnal habits and secretive nature led to countless speculations concerning its relationship to man and his environtment. Ideas concerning these little-known winged mammals have become firmly ingrained in the folklore, art and literature of cultures the world over. The Aztec Indians deified them; to the ancient Chinese they were omens of good luck. In other cultures, including our own, their association with darkness and the cold,, hostile "underworld" has resulted in a feeling of awe -- interest and wonder becaused they are unique; fear and repulsion because they are harbingers of evil. Compounded in recent years by the discovery that bats serve as an agent in the transmission of rabies, thsi feeling has grown to the extent that most people possess a real fear of this creature and what it can do. Questions concerning bats invariably arise from visitors to the cave, and few people look beyond their initial uneasiness to see what a truly unique, interesting and valuable animal the bats really are.

Bats are mammals, and as such possess all of the typical mammalian characteristics including fur, the bearing of live young, and thr production of milk. Compared with other groups of mammals, however, certain aspects of their anatomy and physiology are divergent enough that they are placed in an order of their own -- that being the order Chiroptera. This order is further subdivided into two suborders, the Megachiroptera and the Microchiroptera. The Megachiroptera are strictly Old World in distribution, and are represented by only one family. They are separated from the other suborder mainly by the fact that their wings are less highly developed. The second digit exhibits a considerable degree of independence, and a free claw is present on both the thumb and the second digit. Further, these bats do not echolocate. Their dependence on visual orientation is reflected by their large eyes and small, rounded ears with no tragus. The suborder Microchiroptera contains fifteen families distributed throughout the Old and New Worlds. They are characterized by having the second digit of the "hands" atached to the third, and possessing a claw on only the thumb. All utilize echolocation as their principle means of orientation, and as a result have amazingly hypertrophied auditory and vocal structures, but reduced visual systems. Of the fifteen Microchiropteran families recognized, only three are found in North America (with the exception of an occasional accidental) -- Phyllostomatidae, Molossidae, and Vespertilionidae. Of these three, the range of only certain species of the Vespertionids extends far enough north such that they may be encounterd in the Black Hills. Hence, the various aspects of Chiropteran biology and ecology discussed in this paper will be in reference to the Vespertionids unless otherwise stated. Bats are by far the most abundant and diverse in the tropics and subtropivs, however, and amoung these are found numerous interesting adaptations. In hopes of attaining a more overall view, these bats are also discussed. The focus remains, none-the-less, on those bats likely to be encountered by a visitor at Jewel Cave.