In the fall, three of the region’s bat species migrate south to stay the winter: the silver-haired bat, the eastern red bat and the hoary bat. The other three species: the big brown bat, the little brown bat and the northern bat hibernate in natural caves, abandoned mines and even in dwellings. Since 2012, Ambioterra has added a bat habitat protection component to many of its projects, as the majority of species present in Quebec are at risk. This is how their team discovered that 6 of the 8 bat species found in Quebec are present in the Montérégie-Ouest region.
Our allies
Did you know that in Quebec, bats are strictly insectivores, and that they help reduce insect populations? An individual bat consumes more than 25% of its body weight in insects per night. A female bat, at the peak of lactation, can consume almost 100% of its body mass in a single night. Bats help reduce the use of insecticides in agriculture, and consequently soil and water pollution. For example, according to U.S. scientists, bat deaths associated with white-snout disease will cost the agricultural sector an additional $3.7 billion in pest control costs.
What is white-nose syndrome?
It’s a disease caused by a fungus that attacks cave bat species during hibernation. This infection causes them to waste the reserves they need to survive, and those that have exhausted their reserves emerge from hibernation too early, eventually starving to death as their food is not yet available. This disease has reduced certain bat populations by 90%, such as the little brown bat, a species now considered endangered by the Government of Canada. Unfortunately, there is no effective large-scale treatment for this infection.
Despite this disease, the Ambioterra team has found them in several local homeowners thanks to these biodiversity protection projects, including one of the Montérégie region’s largest maternity homes.
If you find bats living on your property, here's what you can do to help them
- Avoid the use of insecticides;
- Learn to co-habit with bats;
- Reforest;
- Encourage forest management that creates small openings. The creation of small openings helps bats in their movements and their search for food;
- Maintain dead trees with a diameter of 10 cm or more and the dead parts of healthy trees. These are ideal roosts for bats.
To find out more, visit www.ambioterra.org/protection.
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For more information, contact us by e-mail at info@scabric.ca or call 450 427-0911.
