I’ve seen a lot of great things on my Ozark vacation. A cave
(Jacob’s Cave), a place called El Taco, a wax museum, another cave (Bridal
Cave), the famed Branson Strip (basically a small Midwestern version of Vegas,
with miniature golf establishments in place of casinos), two dams (Bagnell and
Tablerock), a further other cave (Fantastic Caverns, which you ride through on
a small tram and features a short historical film shown in the cave itself),
and some of the same families in various locations.
But one of the most abiding encounters on this trip? Two
bats.
I know, big deal. Bats. You can see your share in Missouri.
In more rural locations a family might have several bats as family members. In
a small community there might be enough bats to break off and form their own
community (which I hope they call Gotham).
And I have visited 3 caves so far, so obviously I’ve seen
bats. What’s so special about these two?
Well, I never saw any bats in the caves. These two were
hanging out about twenty paces from each other.
Hanging from a concrete wall an inch or two off the ground.
Next to busy two-way traffic.
In broad daylight.
They let me walk right up to them and take their pictures.
Weird.
The scene
We went to Bagnell Dam, a place that figures in our pasts.
It’s nice enough, for a dam.
It’s
big enough on top that you drive across it, and there’s a pedestrian walkway on
the dry side (not completely dry, but you know, not the side next to the lake).
I wanted to walk out over the dam so I could get some
pictures off the edge. Traffic was constantly passing me, and one truckload of
young guys thought it would be hilarious to lay on their horn as they drove
past me. I didn’t jump, but they had a good laugh. I got some good pictures
too.
But as I walked along, I noticed a patch of something brown
on the wall of the walkway as I was crossing.
On getting closer, I was surprised by what it was.
I could have pet it.
A little farther along the walkway was another, covered in
grit from passing vehicles.
The two bats were clearly breathing, although it was breathe
in and out, wait a few seconds, then in and out again.
I was glad I ran across these little guys instead of the
family who was also at the dam. The father and his little boy were thinking
about going out on the walkway but left instead. I would hate to imagine if the
little boy had tried to pet one or pick one up.
After a late night, I called the city of Lake Ozark the next
morning to tell them about the little critters.
Me: “I want to report two bats.”
Bureaucrat: (Pause) “Well, that’s a new one.”
She couldn’t help me, since there is no Animal Control
function in the city. (“We don’t even have a dog catcher.”) So she gave me the
number to the Missouri Department of Conservation in Camdenton. They were much
more interested in my discovery.
As the woman said, “They may be
sick. We’ve been tracking something that has been making bats sick across the
state.” She promised that they would send someone out to see if the bats were
still there and make sure they were okay.
An update: on Friday, we decided we weren’t finished with
caves. This time it was Ozark Caverns, in the Lake of the Ozarks State Park. As
soon as we got there, we noticed signs:
Because we work in an office that uses “white noise”
generators to help reduce the distracting sound levels, we naturally started
trying to figure out how we might protect these bats from “White Noise.”
But it’s White Nose Syndrome, so-called because of a white
fungal infection that covers their noses, mouths, and parts of their wings. If
American bats start showing up in a cave with white patches on their noses,
it’s pretty much a done deal. The park even has a pamphlet on the disease.
Turns out, cave after cave is finding their bat population coming
down with this, caused by a fungus which is now attacking the poor things in
the caves. There is no known cure, no totally reliable prevention.
Once the fungus gets into a cave, it’s apparently there for
good.
And once the fungus gets into the American bat population of
a cave, that population may have only about three or four more years of life.
It’s only a matter of time before that entire American bat population is dead.
Inasmuch as a single bat can eat thousands of mosquitoes in a single night, that’s
pretty bad news for people wanting to visit lakes in the summer. Bats are great
at keeping flying insect populations down.
I said American bat populations, because apparently this fungal
nuisance has been around awhile in Europe, and their bats generally seem to do
fine, while American bats are dropping fast from infection. Even European bats
with the telltale white fungus on their noses and elsewhere seem to be healthy
and live out their lifespan, whereas American bats seem to have no immunity.
We were told that the only thing they’ve found which will
stop the fungus is peppermint oil. It will kill the fungus in the cave.
Unfortunately it will also “kill” the cave, since the oil will destroy its
ability to grow and regenerate the cave formations. And it still wouldn’t help
any of the bats who are already infected.
So the vacation has been very bat-centric. I hadn’t had
anything to do with bats before this week, but now it seems like I’m hip deep
in the topic. Seeing bats up close and personal was an event for me. So for the
sake of my fellow misunderstood mammals, I’m writing this. Want more
information?
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