A biologist just found ‘Holy Grail’ of bat research in desolate Nevada valley

Benjamin Spillman | Reno Gazette-Journal

Christy Klinger has seen a lot of bats during her 18 years with the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

But it wasn’t until last week that she found a couple of the flying, furry mammals that left her ecstatic and in disbelief of what she was seeing.

It happened just after midnight at a place called Lockes Ranch in the remote Railroad Valley, about 300 miles east of Reno.

That’s where Klinger and a small group of bat experts captured not one but two spotted bats, one of the rarest feats in the world of bat research.

“When you see one captured in the net and you walk up to the net you know immediately what you have,” said Klinger, who was still stoked about the find a week later. “It is like the Holy Grail of bats for us.”

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The bats are distinctive for their large, pink ears that inflate with blood and unfurl when they're active and, of course, the jet-black fur on their backs marked with three distinctive white spots, one on each shoulder and another on the rump.

Researchers don’t know how often spotted bats occur in nature but it’s very rare they turn up in biologists’ mist nets.

NDOW has only caught four in the entire state of Nevada, the two Klinger found in Railroad Valley, one last year in the Toquima range and another in 2001 in Moapa Valley, Klinger said.

She added that while the species was first described in 1891 it wasn’t until 1960 that someone caught a live specimen.

“It is just one of those species we don’t get our hands on very often,” she said.

The bats’ habitat ranges from British Columbia to Mexico and they’ve been captured in diverse environments, from low desert to mountain ranges.

The two Klinger caught last week were in a riparian area surrounded by cottonwood on a department-owned ranch.

There are a few reasons they tend to avoid capture, Klinger said.

For starters, unlike some more common species, spotted bats don’t leave their roosts until several hours after sunset at a time when many bat surveys are shutting down.

Also, they fly higher than some more common species which means they’re less likely to end up in low-hanging nets. The Railroad Valley survey deployed nets at both eight feet and 26 feet above the ground and the spotted bats got caught by the higher net.

Spotted bats are also more solitary than other bats which means they aren’t necessarily going to show up in places with heavy bat traffic.

“It is probably the poorest known North American bat species out there,” Klinger said. “It is uncommon and they are difficult to catch and difficult to study.”

According to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, spotted bats prey primarily on moths from which they remove the wings and eat only the abdomen. Their primary predators are owls, raccoons and skunks, but human changes to their habitat are considered their biggest threat. Pesticides that can accumulate in their diet are another concern.

Klingler caught the Railroad Valley specimens during a routine survey in which biologists deploy nets near a water source just before sunset.

Researchers note their size, weight, gender, species and reproductive status before letting them go unharmed.

The Railroad Valley bats were both females weighed about 14 grams, which is about as much as six pennies.

The rarity of capturing spotted bats makes each capture significant in terms of furthering bat research.

For example, it was interesting to Klinger to have captured two in one evening in the same spot given members of the species are thought to live largely solitary lives.

“The fact we actually caught two in one evening is very important information,” she said. “That is how we figure things out.”