1. This PowerPoint is meant to accompany the teacher’s activity guide and student activity book “Bats in Our Backyard: Meeting Minnesota’s Marvelous Mini Mammals”, distributed by the Lake Superior Zoo.
Books, print-outs, and supplemental information are available on:
Slideshow Development:
Victoria Chraïbi, Fulbright Canada-RBC Eco-Leader
Sarah Wilcox, Lake Superior Zoo, Department of Education,
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Visit our bat website:
Lake Superior Zoo Education Office: LSZoo.org,
Bat Conservation International: batcon.org
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources: dnr.state.mn.us
Bats in Our Backyard!

2. What is a bat? Mammal Only flying mammal Small Nocturnal Live in caves
Eat insects and fruit
wildirdarden.inc

3. Myths and Rumors
Blind
Vampires
Fly into hair
Dirty
Carry rabies
Mice

4. © Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International, www.batcon.org
Meet the Stars!
Big Brown
© Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International,

5. © Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International, www.batcon.org
Meet the Stars!
Little Brown
© Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International,

6. © Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International, www.batcon.org
Meet the Stars!
Hoary
© Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International,

7. © Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International, www.batcon.org
Meet the Stars!
Northern Myotis
© Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International,

8. © Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International, www.batcon.org
Meet the Stars!
Tri-colored
© Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International,

9. © Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International, www.batcon.org
Meet the Stars!
Eastern Red
© Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International,

10. © Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International, www.batcon.org
Meet the Stars!
Silver-Haired
© Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International,

11. Differences between Species
Tri-colored
Little brown
Northern myotis
Eastern red
Big brown
Hoary
Silver-haired
© Merlin D. Tuttle, Bat Conservation International,

12. Bat body

13. Bat Skeleton

14. Bat Skeleton
Ear

15. Bat Skeleton
Eye
Ear

16. Bat Skeleton
Eye
Nose
Ear

17. Bat Skeleton
Eye
Nose
Teeth
Ear

18. Bat Skeleton
Eye
Nose
Teeth
Ear
Fingers

19. Bat Skeleton
Eye
Nose
Teeth
Ear
Fingers
Tail

20. Bat Skeleton
Eye
Nose
Teeth
Ear
Fingers
Tail
Foot

21. Bat Skeleton
Eye
Nose
Teeth
Ear
Ribs
Fingers
Tail
Foot

22. Bat Skeleton
Eye
Nose
Teeth
Ear
Thumb
Ribs
Fingers
Tail
Foot

23. Bat Skeleton
Eye
Nose
Wrist
Teeth
Ear
Thumb
Ribs
Fingers
Tail
Foot

24. Echolocation
Echolocation video by Jump Start available at

25. 20 bats x 1200 mosquitoes x 2 hours =
Bat Math
1.) Twenty little brown bats live in a bat house colony. If one bat can catch 600 mosquitoes in one hour, how many mosquitoes can the entire colony catch in two hours?
20 bats x 1200 mosquitoes x 2 hours =
48,000 mosquitoes

26. Bat Math
2.) To drink water, bats skim the surface of a stream and drink water drop-by-drop or lick the water off their fur. A big brown bat flies a maximum of 30 miles a night. How close would the big brown bat want its home to be to water?
30 miles total = 15 miles there and 15 miles back =
15 miles

27. Bat Math
3.) Bats eat insects like moths. Bats can eat half their weight in one night. If a Northern myotis weighs 12 grams and a moth weighs 0.3 grams, how many moths can the bat eat before it feels full?
12 grams bat weight/2 = 6, so a bat can eat 6 grams
6 gram appetite/0.3 grams moth weight =
20 moths

28. You could eat 35 pounds of food!
Bat Math
4.) A Minnesota bat can eat half its weight in insects in one night. How much food could you eat in one night if you were a bat?
Depends on weight of student
Example: 70 pounds/2 = 35
You could eat 35 pounds of food!

29. Bat Math
5.) Bats have one or two babies (pups) every year. If a tri-colored bat has pups every year for 16 years, having one pup half the time and two the other half, how many pups would she have?
8 years x 1 pup every year = 8 pups
8 years x 2 pups every year = 16 pups
8 pups + 16 pups = 24 pups total
24 pups

30. Human baby would weigh 45 pounds
Bat Math
6.) A bat pup weighs 30% of its mother’s body weight. If a mother red bat weighs 14 grams, how much will her baby weigh? If humans were the same way, and a mother weighed 150 pounds, how much would her baby weigh?
14 grams mom weight x 0.30 = 4.2
Bat pup weighs 4.2 grams
150 pounds x 0.30 = 45
Human baby would weigh 45 pounds

31. Bat Math
7.) A bat colony can have over one million (1,000,000) bats living in one cave. Duluth has 86,000 people. How many times would the population of Duluth fit into a bat cave colony?
1,000,000 / 86,000 = 11.6
~12 times

32. Bat Math
8.) White Nose Syndrome, a dangerous disease, can kill 90% of a bat colony. If a colony of 10,000 bats becomes sick with WNS, how many bats would survive?
10,000 x .90 = 9,000
10,000 = 9,000 = 1,000
Or… 10,000 x 0.10 = 1,000
9,000 die; 1,000 survive

33. Bat Math
9.) Baby bats are born in spring. They grow quickly, gaining 18% of their birth weight each day. If a pup weighs 3 grams at birth, how much would it weigh by the end of one week?
3 grams x 0.18 = 0.54 gram weight gain
0.54 gram x 7 days = 3.78 grams
3 grams birth weight gram weight gain =
6.78 grams

34. Bat Math
10.) In summer, bats that will hibernate eat a lot to store energy for winter. They hunt after dusk and before dawn. A little brown bat catches 600 mosquitoes in one hour. How many mosquitoes can a little brown bat catch in 4 hours?
600 mosquitoes x 4 hours =
2,400 mosquitoes

35. Bat Math
11.) In fall, a hoary bat migrates south to spend the winter. A hoary bat travels 1,400 miles from Duluth to Texas. If a hoary bat flies 20 miles per night, how many nights would it take the hoary bat to reach Texas?
1400 miles / 20 miles per night =
70 nights

36. Bat Math
12.) In winter, some kinds of bats hibernate. They have to wake up to drink water and urinate. If a silver-haired bat wakes up every 19 days during hibernation, and winter in Minnesota lasts six months, how many times does a silver-haired bat wake up?
6 months x ~30 days in a month = 180 days
180 days/ 19 days =
~ 10 times

37. Bat Benefits Pollination Pest Control Seed Dispersal
Seed Dispersal
Bat Cave Ecosystems

38. Bat Benefits Word Search

39. Situation: You find bats living in your attic.
Are You a Good Neighbor?
Situation: You find bats living in your attic.
What Should You Do? (A.) Seal the entrance the bats use. Leave them and their babies inside to die. (B.) Build a bat house somewhere else on your property. Bats will move there instead. (C.) Put speakers playing static in the attic. The bats will not like the noise and move out. (D.) Hire a professional to humanely remove the bats alive.

40. Situation: You find bats living in your attic.
Are You a Good Neighbor?
Situation: You find bats living in your attic.
What Should You Do? (A.) Seal the entrance the bats use. Leave them and their babies inside to die. (B.) Build a bat house somewhere else on your property. Bats will move there instead. (C.) Put speakers playing static in the attic. The bats will not like the noise and move out. (D.) Hire a professional to humanely remove the bats .

41. Situation: You find a sick, injured or dead bat.
Are You a Good Neighbor?
Situation: You find a sick, injured or dead bat.
What Should You Do? (A.) Touch it, pick it up and take it home with you. (B.) Do not touch it. Let an adult know you found it so it can be removed safely by a professional.

42. Situation: You find a sick, injured or dead bat.
Are You a Good Neighbor?
Situation: You find a sick, injured or dead bat.
What Should You Do? (A.) Touch it, pick it up and take it home with you. (B.) Do not touch it. Let an adult know you found it so it can be removed safely by a professional.

43. Are You a Good Neighbor?
Situation: You have lots of mosquitoes and annoying insects in your yard.
What Should You Do? (A.) Do not use pesticides. The chemicals could make bats or other animals sick. Let the bats eat the insects; they may be gross to us, but they are yummy to bats. (B.) Use lots of pesticides to get rid of the nasty bugs.

44. Are You a Good Neighbor?
Situation: You have lots of mosquitoes and annoying insects in your yard.
What Should You Do? (A.) Do not use pesticides. The chemicals could make bats sick or other animals sick. Let the bats eat the insects; they may be gross to us, but they are yummy to bats. (B.) Use lots of pesticides to get rid of the nasty bugs.

45. Are You a Good Neighbor?
Situation: You and your friends are walking around in winter and find a cave.
What Should You Do? (A.) Go in and look around! The bats will not mind if you wake them up. (B.) Waking bats up from hibernation uses energy reserves, so they might not survive winter. Do not enter the cave.

46. Are You a Good Neighbor?
Situation: You and your friends are walking around in winter and find a cave.
What Should You Do? (A.) Go in and look around! The bats will not mind if you wake them up. (B.) Waking bats up from hibernation uses energy reserves, so they might not survive winter. Do not enter the cave.

47. White Nose Syndrome
WNS is a deadly bat disease 1.) Identify - white, fuzzy nose or body 2.) Report - DNR ) Prevent - Don’t enter bat caves - Clean shoes and cave gear
Healthy
Sick

48. Help Bat Conservation!
Build a bat house so bats have nice places to live.
Volunteer to clean up trash from forests, streams or lakes. A clean habitat makes a happy bat.
Tell your political representatives that you want them to help protect bats with laws and research funding. Use the postcard below!
Learn more at
Plan a conservation project with your class or school.