FORTVILLE — Children and adults gathered to listen to an educational presentation about bats and to see two live bats just in time for Halloween.
Vernon Township Trustee Florence May had reached out to Dr. Tim Carter, a professor from Ball State University (BSU), who visited Monday evening to share his knowledge on the nocturnal mammals. Carter has studied bats since the 1990s and has taught mammalogy and wildlife biology at BSU since 2006.
Carter’s presentation was split into two sections — the first being more kid-friendly and the second diving more in-depth about bats for the adults in the crowd.
As kids sat listening to the presentation, they found it hard to take their eyes off the two bats that were hanging upside down on display. Their names were Chocolate and Petunia.
Carter said both Chocolate and Petunia were rescued after suffering from issues that led to both bats being unable to fly. Chocolate was rescued after being hit by a car, damaging his left wing, and Petunia was eventually given to Carter after a woman tried to nurse her back to health but unfortunately did not use the right supplies, causing malnutrition which hindered her flight capabilities.
Nonetheless, Carter has been taking Chocolate and Petunia on field trips to educate the public on bats. He has about 25 to 30 programs to do through the rest of the year.
“When I was a kid, I always loved animals and I also always loved talking to people about animals,” Carter said. “It wasn’t until I was in college I realized you can put the two of those together and be a professor.”
Carter said that a colleague of his was a part of a bat conservation group and used to be on talk shows. Because of him, Carter realized that he could incorporate live bats into the presentations.
“And of course, everybody loves live bats,” Carter said.
Carter’s presentation included educational topics such as how bat wings contain the same parts as human arms and how bats use echolocation to help see at night. Carter said that Indiana has close to 12 species of bats, including the red bat, which is one of the two most common bats in Indiana.
Carter also talked about the Northern Long Hair bat, which he said used to be one of the most common bats seen in Indiana. However, White Nose Syndrome, which is a fungal disease, reduced the population by 98%.
“I have not seen one of these in the wild in five to almost 10 years, and so these guys are really hurting bad,” said Carter during the presentation.
The program for the evening was also partnered with the Vernon Township Public Library and offered crafts for the kids, such as bat coloring pages and supplies to create bat activity scenes during the section of the presentation that was tailored more toward adults.
“It sounded like a fun event for October with Halloween coming up, so it sounded like something families would find appealing and kids always love animal programs, especially bats. It’s not an animal you get to see very frequently,” said Melissa Loiselle, library director for Vernon Township Public Library.
Vernon Township has also acquired five bat houses to install in the near future by their community gardens. Carter took a look at the houses, and after a few minor changes, May said that the goal is to have four out of the five houses installed before Halloween.
Carter said that, by the spring, bats will start to move into the houses, with some of the houses being installed in shaded areas for hot days and some in direct sunlight for cooler days.
