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Bat Found to Have Migrated 400+ Miles

PostPosted: Feb 17, 2015 9:31 pm
by Cheryl Jones
From USFWS Northeast Region's Facebook page:

An Indiana bat tagged from a maternity colony in Berks County, Pennsylvania in 2013 was identified in a hibernaculum survey this week in Bat Cave, Kentucky - a migration of over 400 miles! Experts say this is the longest documented Indiana bat migration to date.

https://www.facebook.com/usfwsnortheast ... =3&theater

I'd say this is proof that apparent long jumps in WNS must not automatically be attributed to cavers.

Re: Bat Found to Have Migrated 400+ Miles

PostPosted: Feb 18, 2015 12:30 pm
by Steve Pitts
This is interesting, but I think it was already known that bats migrate long distances based on band recovery data. The so called "jumps" are just poor interpretation of statistics and bad science. I never believed the "jump" nonsense.

Re: Bat Found to Have Migrated 400+ Miles

PostPosted: Mar 2, 2015 8:41 am
by JSDunham
Yeah, the jumps disappeared years ago when one accounted for sampling bias. The only way anyone came up with any jump was to measure locations in, for example, PA found to have WNS in year three and count the whole distance back to Schoharie as a "jump" even though no one had checked most of the areas in between. There was never any evidence for it (just as there has yet to be any evidence that humans have spread WNS, ever, under any circumstances--the most we know is that it is theoretically possible, but not probable, based on lab conditions).