by wyandottecaver » Dec 9, 2011 4:16 pm
Indiana bats in Wyandotte cave rose from less than 3000 to nearly 30,000 all while commercial tours with fixed lighting passed directly beneath them year round. A thermal imaging study could find no statistically valid correlation to bats arousing from slumber and tours. There was a correlation to their natural 7-10 day arousal cycle.
Now, those bats were obviously acclimated to a certain level of disturbance, and hibernacula can be disturbed by visitation...Gray bats in particular are simply intolerant of disturbance in general. But bats DO arouse even in the absence of any people, and for most caves and species reasonable and responsible visitation poses a threat only to those individuals on the edge of surviving the winter anyway.
I'm not scared of the dark, it's the things IN the dark that make me nervous. :)